"Colors for All Seasons"

LowTide Morning - November 10, 2018

"Colors for All Seasons"

[The following is an article that I wrote while employed with the UGA Cooperative Extension Service. There are a couple of noteworthy changes since this writing. My dear Master Gardener friend, Ray Prior and his wife, Rita are no longer with us. My resistance to spring colors in the fall has softened.]

He said, she said... My thoughts were revolving around the garden in fall, when one of our Master Gardeners, Ray Prior submitted an article on Fescue lawns. After reading Ray’s article, I realized that we see things through different eyes. Ray likes a green fescue lawn in the dormant season, noting " I’ll admit a well manicured bermuda lawn looks nice during the summer and early fall; but even though I have lived in the South for 25 years, I still can’t get used to a lawn being brown in the winter time." I sympathize with those moving from northern climates where cool season grasses, such as fescue are the norm. A few years ago, a northern transplant called the Extension office in such a panic over his bermudagrass lawn that was "turning brown and dying." I reassured him that in the South, warm season grasses, such as bermudagrass are expected to turn brown and go dormant in the fall. Having lived in the South from a young age, I appreciate the buff-colored lawn as perfectly natural in the fall and winter months. I actually prefer the foil of buff-colored turf against the fall colored leaves that inevitably collect on the lawn.

Initially, what prompted my thought process regarding the change of season was the sight of a fall blooming azalea. I love flowers as much as the next enthusiasts, but the sight of "spring flowering" shrubs blooming in the fall somehow throws me out of sync. It feels like Easter in October. I like that idea about as much as Christmas decorations at the retail stores in September. The point: things which occur at unexpected times may or may not be a good thing.

In the field of horticulture, there are explanations for a plant that is blooming out of season. One explanation is that it could be a signal of distress. When a plant is under pressure from insect, disease or environmental conditions to the point of possible demise, it may flower in an attempt to perpetuate the species before dying. When a plant reaches this state of decline, there is little that can be done to reverse the condition.

Of course, extreme fluctuations in weather conditions may also cause a plant to flower out of season. For instance, if there is unusually cold weather early in the fall season and then the weather warms up significantly, plants may receive the signal that it is spring and begin to flower. If the plant is otherwise healthy, it should adjust and eventually return to its normal schedule.

A third explanation is hybridization. There is a difference between plant hybrids and variety. According to Michael Dirr’s book, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, a hybrid is a "plant resulting from a cross between two or more other plants which are more or less alike." Dirr also defines variety as a "subdivision of a species having a distinct though often inconspicuous difference, and breeding true to that difference." Essentially, a hybrid is manmade, and a variety is naturally occurring. Some plants, such as Encore azaleas have been hybridized to bloom twice per year; once in the spring and again in the fall.

All in all, I am a naturalist at heart. I appreciate nature for what it is. I find buff colored grass peaceful; a signal of sort that it is time to rest from the routine of mowing and weeding. I think Golden Rod is beautiful, and no, it is not the culprit for allergies. I’m a fan of fields of rust-colored broomsedge, fall-blooming asters, and soft pink swatches of Mulhy grass, which blooms naturally this time of year. So, if they introduce a beautiful rust-colored Encore azalea, I might be interested—until it blooms in my spring garden. Maybe I’m narrow-minded and stuck in my ways, but I appreciate spring-blooming plants most in spring and the unique beauty of fall at this time of year.

~ LowTide explorer, Carolyn Fjeran

[LowTide is an eclectic collection of discoveries and reflective writings.]