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October is the month when our thoughts start to turn toward home. The houseplants that spent the summer on your porch come back inside before the first cold nights, a harvest of pumpkins and mums comes home to grace the front steps, and our thoughts turn from summer vacation to quality time spent with friends and family. It's a great time to plant hardy trees, shrubs and perennials, with beautiful weather to do it.
This week we offer a few thoughts about the harvest season: nurturing your houseplants through the transition indoors, three ways to have some hands-on fun making a one-of-a kind craft, and a few thoughts about garden art.
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What's Hiding in Your Houseplants?
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Renee keeps a spider plant in her office here at Hoerr Nursery, the old-fashioned, plain green kind. It's not the showiest plant, but it was started from a cutting of her grandma's. Last summer she'd repotted it and left it in a shady spot outdoors until it rooted, then moved it back into her office come fall. She was working away when she heard a munching sound. Going to investigate, she found a plump grasshopper, happily chewing away on grandma's spider plant.
The grasshopper was evicted back outdoors. The spider plant is doing just fine.
Grasshoppers are an unusual houseplant pest, but plants that spend the summer outdoors often come back inside with company: aphids, spider mites, scale, mealybugs, and even the occasional ant colony.
Moving your houseplants outdoors during the growing season can help them grow big, healthy leaves, but with colder nights in the forecast next week, it's almost time to bring them back inside. Most popular houseplants come from tropical places, and they start to suffer once nighttime temperatures drop into the 40s. Wait too long and you could see cold damage to the leaves, especially if the plants are out in the open.
A few precautions up front will keep pests from moving in to your living room when you make the transition:
- A stiff spray with the garden hose will knock off many insects, as well as washing away any dirt from the foliage. Be sure to catch the undersides of the leaves.
- Set the pot in a tub of room-temperature water for about fifteen minutes, with the water just below the rim of the pot. This will encourage anything living in the soil to evacuate.
- Take a close look for minute webbing, white "cotton" in the leaf crevices, or little brown bumps. These are caused by spider mites, mealy bugs, and scale insects respectively, which are some of the biggest houseplant pests.
- If you spot anything, use a houseplant systemic, which works from the roots up, or an insecticidal soap to treat it. Bear in mind that the roots may be affected as well as the leaves.
- Keep your relocated plants apart from your regular indoor houseplants for two weeks, checking them periodically to make sure that you don't see any other pest problems.
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Not sure what you're looking at? Bring us a photo, or a leaf in a ziplock bag, and we'll help you figure it out.
Your plants may sulk and drop a few leaves, but that's normal. They're moving from bright, outdoor light to less intense light indoors. Skip fertilizing for the winter, and later a little less than you did while the plant was outdoors, as the reduced light will also lead to reduced growth. Once your plants have adjusted, you can move them back to their winter homes. A roomful of greenery is a welcome sight, especially in the winter.
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Bird Baths, Fountains & a Few Friendly Frogs🐸
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You might think of spring as the season for garden art, but October is actually the best time to place a piece. Your garden beds are at their fullest, so you can pick out a bare place, a boring spot, or an awkward corner, and be confident that your new garden piece won't get overgrown.
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Another thing that makes October ideal? It's when our new statuary arrives. Our new shipment from Campania arrived this week, and Gary and Lisa have been unpacking it and carrying it out to the floor. Campania makes their pieces by hand in the USA, cast from a high-density stone mix, and its in-house artists design every piece.
Lisa took the time to give us a mini tour of her favorite pieces. She enjoys the green patina pieces, especially the peaceful frog collection. The subdued, mossy tones invite you to consider the piece up close.
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She also pointed out her favorite bubbler fountain, made to resemble a tree stump, with water that wells up in the center and spills back into the reservoir inside. Birds are attracted to moving water, so a bubbler is one of the easiest ways to draw them. Lisa has a matching piece in her own garden.
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Three tips to find the perfect spot for a statue:
- Sit wherever you spend the most time. It might be your patio or kitchen window, or a front porch swing. Notice where your eye lands. Is there a good spot to add a focal point?
- Give your piece a solid footing. We've got a range of different sized stepping stones out at Stone Market that can serve as a firm, level foundation. A small bed of gravel works well too. If we're delivering and setting up the piece for you, we'd be happy to bring an appropriately-sized stepping stone along.
- Imagine how the surrounding plants will frame the piece when they're fully grown. Ideally they would surround and compliment your garden art without blocking your view of it.
What about winterizing?
Before the first hard freeze, be sure to drain fountains and bird baths. Bring fountain tops into a protected spot for the winter, along with fountain pumps and small parts, because anything that holds water has the potential to crack. Alternatively, slip a waterproof cover over the top of your fountain base or bird bath and secure it down, making sure that your cover doesn't collect water.
Bird bath bases and statues can stay outside, as long as they aren't sitting directly on the ground. If you've got questions about how to winterize your piece, ask us, and we'll walk you through it.
A fountain, bird bath or a statue gives your garden structure and life, inviting you to rest for a few minutes and enjoy the view. Our Campania shipment of bird baths, fountains, and statuary is on the floor now. Bring a photo of the spot in your yard if you have one, and we'll help you choose a piece and arrange to get it home.
Happy gardening!
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Make Something of Your Saturday:
Fall Workshops
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There's a natural urge to slow down and settle in as the weather cools and the nights get cozy. Our fall workshops offers a great way to spend some quality time with a friend or two, working on something with your own hands. This season's workshops range from a pressed-flower pumpkin that's an elegant alternative to the usual jack-o'-lantern to a way of growing houseplants without a pot at all. Sign up at hoerrnursery.com/workshops or call 309-691-4561.
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Choose a Hoerr homegrown pumpkin and decorate it with real pressed leaves and flowers using decoupage, the craft of sealing flat, decorative materials under a clear finish. The result is a one-of-a-kind pumpkin that shows off the colors of the season. Our designer Bekah will guide you through the process.
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Kids' Mini Pumpkin House
A walk-in kid's craft for autumn
- When: Saturday, October 17, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Cost: free
All ages are welcome, and no signup is required
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Create a tiny fall scene around a mini pumpkin house, complete with a little garden made of dried plant material. Kids are welcome, along with any adults who want to join in. Kelly will be available from 11am-2pm on Saturday, October 17th, ready with all the materials and inspiration you need. It's a relaxed, hands-on way to enjoy the harvest season.
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New! Houseplant Hacks: Grow Without a Pot (click the link to sign up!)
- When: Saturday, November 7, 10 a.m.
- Cost: $40, all materials included
Want a new way to display your favorite houseplants? Try kokedama.
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This Japanese planting style (the word 'kokedama' is pronounced koh-keh-DAH-mah, and it translates to "moss ball" in English), involves growing a houseplant in a ball of soil, moss and twine—no pot required. Display your finished kokedama on a dish, set it in a decorative bowl, or hang it up like a living ornament. They're easy to care for, as long as you know how.
Join Ayden as he shares the secrets to kokedama. You'll learn how to build and care for a planted moss ball, and take home a completed kokedama of your own.
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Workshops are better with company. Bring a friend or family member, and you can compare notes afterward on how yours turned out. No two are ever alike!
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