Turning the Corner

It’s hard to believe, but kids are heading back to school and another Indiana summer is starting to turn the corner. Back-to-school season has always been an important marker on our calendar. Summer vacations wind down, routines return, and after spending much of July just trying to keep everything watered through the heat, people start visiting garden centers again and thinking about what comes next.

And fall is coming. We’ve been preparing for months — the mum fields are filling with color, late-summer perennials are putting on a show, and we’re looking forward to pumpkins, gourds, grasses, and all the rich color and texture that make fall gardening so much fun. That doesn’t mean summer is over. There’s still plenty of growing season left. But gardening is always about appreciating what’s beautiful right now while looking forward to what comes next.

This week we’re celebrating my personal favorite perennial, answering a question we hear every year about whether fall mums are really perennials, and talking about something every gardener eventually wrestles with:

· An appreciation of Echinacea — the nearly perfect perennial
· Are the mums we grow actually perennials?
· When is it okay to move on from a plant you’ve cared for all summer?