We have reached the fall equinox, which means we have equal day and night hours in a 24-hour period, with the night hours getting progressively longer.
Poinsettia plants understand that means it is time to initiate their flower buds. Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 is the magic time frame for that to happen, and nature never fails in the diminished day length.
So I am saying that if you have kept your poinsettia from last year and want it to be blooming for Christmas, you have to make sure that it gets no artificial light for the next month.
With nature, when it gets dark, it stays dark until dawn … no exceptions. But obviously the plant still gets sunlight during the day. So if you turn on the light in a room where the poinsettia is sitting, you just messed up the schedule and probably confused the poor plant.
I have never checked how forgiving they are, but there are consequences to messing with nature.
We have moved from the early apple crop to midseason varieties, which means we can expect better flavor, texture and length of storage.
Late varieties are the top tier in that department. That doesn’t mean the other varieties aren’t good. It just means we can expect some really great apples in October.
It is interesting that some of the best-flavored apples are available only at local orchards and markets. They are not grown commercially for the larger grocery stores.
Honey Gold is one of those varieties, as are Fireside, Connell Red and Regent. These are apple varieties worth the hunt if you are looking for amazing flavor.
I have been observing older, mature spruce and pine trees looking pretty tough this summer. Lots of dead branches and even entire trees are giving evidence of stress from the drought they have tried to endure for the last three summers.
Evergreen trees and shrubs do not have a deep root system as is the case with most deciduous trees. The lack of rainfall and resulting dry top soil is disastrous and the basis for the stress for these trees. Going into winter not adequately hydrated means needle burn from both the sun and wind.
We have had some rainfall lately which helps temporarily, but if replenishing the moisture in the top soil doesn’t happen naturally during October, I strongly advise watering those evergreens to help them survive the winter.