Page 14 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, SEpTEmbEr 26, 2025 Saugus Gardens in the Fall Here’s what’s blooming in town this week to make your walks more enjoyable By Laura Eisener A few leaves are falling around town against a backdrop that is still mostly green. Red maples (Acer rubrum), sugar maples (Acer saccharum) and honey locusts (Gleditsia triacanthos) are among the trees that we first see changing color. With the autumn equinox having passed, no one can argue that it is still summer. Ripe apples are common symbols of the harvest season, as different varieties typically ripen from August through October. In various parts of town, there are a wide range of crabapple trees that have ripe red or yellow fruit now, and most of them are beginning to show some attractive foliage color, too. Some of these were deliberately planted in gardens, while others have grown up in new locations from seeds dropped by birds over the years. Some apples with larger fruit may actually be remnants of old orchards, but the majority of trees are those with smaller fruit that were grown for their colorful flowers in spring and ornamental small fruits in fall and early winter. The trees with smaller apples were bred for a different purpose. Larger fruited trees bred for eating apples are messy and also require more maintenance to prevent insects and diseases. Smaller fruits may be eaten by birds, but even if they are not, the small fruits will usually disappear into the grass once they have fallen. A fallen sugar maple leaf shows up on the paved pathway at Saugus Iron Works. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) Hostas (Hosta spp.) have been a staple of many gardens for decades, but since they are favorites of rabbits and deer, gardeners often go outside one morning and find the leaves almost all gone. The plants have many great attributes, such as colorful leaves (depending on variety, the foliage may include blue-green, yellow-green, white, yellow, combinations of those colors, or plain medium green). The bold texture of many varieties makes them a strong contrast to ferns, plume flowers (Astilbe spp.), bleeding hearts (Dicentra spp. and Lamprocapnos spectabilis) and many other reliable, shade-loving plants. Hostas are also surprisingly drought tolerant considering their big leaves. In the sun, their leaves usually have quite a bit of brown by the end of the summer, but in shade their leaves still look quite healthy until much later in the fall season. There are so many hosta varieties it is hard to keep track of them all, and they reproduce fairly quickly so many gardeners find themselves with the need to divide A crabapple on the riverbank at Saugus Iron Works produces abundant fruit. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) them every few years. Hostas have purple or white blossoms that look a bit like small trumpet lilies and might bloom any time between July and September. The rows of hostas along the wooden fence at the upper part of Saugus Iron Works are an older variety with plain green narrow foliage, and their purple flowers are at peak bloom right now. Autumn colchicum (Colchicum autumnale) is a hardy bulb that grows foliage in the spring, then goes into a summer dormancy for a few months before sending up showy pink blossoms in September. Rabbits, groundhogs, squirrels and other mammals that often damage the tastier bulbs in our gardens avoid eating either blossoms or bulbs of this plant so they are likely to survive to bloom and multiply for many years. Margie Berkowitch gave me some of her plants a few years Zinnias in autumn colors bloom against a yellow pumpkin on my own front steps. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) ago when she was redesigning some of her garden beds, and I now have six nice sized clumps of them blooming among the mint plants in my semi-shaded front garden. While they are often called autumn crocus, it would be dangerous to confuse them with any of several species of autumn blooming crocus if you are planning to eat any part of them, since all parts of these lily family (Liliaceae) members are highly toxic. True crocuses that bloom in fall include saffron crocus (Crocus sativa), which is not hardy this far north, and a few other small autumn blooming crocuses. Despite some similarity in flower appearance, they are not closely related to colchicum and belong to the iris family (Iridaceae). The true crocuses are more likely to be eaten by a variety of small mammals, so they are less likely to be seen in gardens. There are many annuals that have become popular as decorative plants for fall pots and displays. Many of these are tender plants that will keep blooming up to a hard frost. Especially popular colors are orange, yellow, purple, red and white. The Zahara Sunburst zinnias on my front steps are a nice shade of orange against the pale yellow pumpkin. As each day goes by now, I see more interesting fall arrangements with harvest or Halloween themes in every neighborhood. Editor’s Note: Laura Eisener is Hostas bloom at the edge of the Saugus Iron Works parking lot. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) Autumn colchicum blooms among spearmints in my garden. (Photo courtesy of Laura Eisener) a landscape design consultant who helps homeowners with landscape design, plant selection and placement of trees and shrubs, as well as perennials. She is a member of the Saugus Garden Club and offered to write a series of articles about “what’s blooming in town” shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was inspired after seeing so many people taking up walking.
15 Publizr Home