Good morning. The buses are running, the flowers of summer have gone as the New England asters show their pretty faces and the brown-eyed Susans are still showing their sunshiny colors. It must be fall. Ads are everywhere for pick-your-own apples and farm stands are loaded with the garden’s bounty. It is a beautiful time of year, but it’s also bittersweet as we say farewell to our gardens once again.

There are chores to do, if you want. Try to get the weeding done because it will make spring much easier and cut back as many plants as you can manage. It always makes spring gardening easier when you aren’t raking up bent, wet and rotten flower stems.

Don’t forget to clean up under any roses you have. It will help keep next year’s black spot and other nasty things under control. The spores of those bacteria and fungus winter over in dead leaves under the bushes. I don’t recommend cutting roses back in the fall because of our sometimes harsh winters. You may be cutting the canes that would survive. In the spring, it is quite easy to see which canes have succumbed and which are alive and well. Prune your roses then.

Make sure to cut your peonies back to the ground. They do better with a clean start in the spring. I always leave the stems about an inch or two high, so I don’t step on them in my rush to get things cleaned up after the snow. Do not mulch your peonies, they don’t like it.

If you planted perennials in summer baskets, it is time to get them out and put them in the ground so they have a few weeks to adjust. Make sure any plants you put in now get mulched really well after the ground freezes. This gives those plants that have not had time to develop an extensive root system a little extra protection.

When you are raking, save the pine needles in a separate place from the leaves if you have hydrangeas, blueberry plants or rhododendrons. Once the ground freezes, pile the pine needles on the ground around these plants. They are acid lovers and pine needles are an excellent source of acid in the spring when they have broken down a bit. Work them into the soil around the plants, You do not need to remove them unless you put on a very thick layer.

Speaking of hydrangeas, don’t forget to cut a few for your house this winter. In another week, after we have had a series of cold nights, they will dry the best. Just cut the flowers on the stems, strip off the leaves, remove any brown areas and put them in a vase out of direct sun. Voila, you will have a bouquet that keeps a little piece of your garden right in sight. If you grew geraniums this summer, they can be potted up and brought in for the winter as well. If you have good light and cut them back around Christmas, you will have flowers for most of the winter. They like to be fed every two weeks in the house.

For those of you who like walking in the woods and a sense of adventure, September and the first weeks of October are a perfect time to go mushroom foraging. Many of the edibles are showing their caps. If you do not know your mushrooms, don’t do this because the poisonous ones are out there as well. If you would like to learn, winter is a perfect time to do so, and there are numerous web sites and books available. Then take a class in the spring to test your knowledge. It might open up a whole new fun activity for you and supply part of your dinner. My granddaughter, Nola, and I went to a workshop last weekend at Nezinscot Farm in Turner. It was not only interesting and fun, but we both learned a lot. Nola found one that is supposed to glow in the dark. And last night for dinner, we enjoyed the fruits of our hike and search. They were delicious. Just a thought. Did you know that many mushrooms are now being studied and tested for their effectiveness as medicine here in the United States? People in Asia have been using them for medicinal purposes for years. So knowing your mushrooms might prove to be valuable and not just on the dinner table.

Until next time, enjoy the fall flowers, pick some apples on a sunny day and say goodbye to the hummers and songbirds because they are making their exodus for another year. And, don’t forget to plant some bulbs to enjoy next spring

Happy gardening.

Jody Goodwin has been gardening for more than 25 years. She lives in Turner with her husband, Ike, and two cats. She may be reached by writing to her in care of the Sun Journal, 104 Park St., Lewiston, Maine, 04243-4400 or by e-mail at [email protected].

OOPS! Jody Goodwin did not string fishing line between two trees to create a huge spider web on her Turner property. This was done in a Florida garden. The photo caption, which ran with her Sept. 2 column, was an editing error. 

You can have color late into the season

Veteran gardener Jody Goodwin visited the Joan of Arc Garden in Quebec, where displays reflect not only the signs of fall but also how you can have colorful flowers late into the season. Notice the red cannas along the edges that light up the green shades of flowers that have gone by. Cannas are tropical and will not winter, but you can keep them from year to year in your cellar and they continue to bloom through most of September. When the frost gets the flower, just cut off the growth and bring in the entire pot or dig up the bulb and store it like a dahlia. And, if you haven’t noticed, the city of Lewiston’s flower gurus have planted them in many public areas — and they are striking.

Also take note of the late brown-eyed Susans and the Joe Pye weed adding some more color in the background. Gardeners also placed large areas of annual pink wax begonias in spaces created by plants that have gone by.