Yesterday was Labor Day. Do you know how Labor Day came to be?
The first Labor Day was celebrated in New York City in 1882. A proposal by the Central Labor Union suggested that a parade take place to show “the strength and spirit de corps of the trade and labor organizations.” This was to be followed by a fair for the workers and their families. Twelve years later, after nearly two dozen more states had followed New York’s example, the United States signed it into law on June 28, 1894. It’s hard to believe the first day of fall is less than three weeks away on September 23rd. September 1st is already considered the first day of Meteorological Fall.
What Labor Day Means For Gardeners
What does that mean for us? It means this is a perfect time to begin planting for fall/winter color. There are some summer bloomers, like marigolds, petunias, geraniums, zinnias, etc., which will continue blooming until frost if you have been feeding them and deadheading spent flowers. Do remember, however, that they will persist only until the first frost.
Selecting Your Fall Plants
There are some great plants for fall color that will take light frost—chrysanthemums, snapdragons, forget-me-nots, calendula, sweet alyssum, and rudbeckias, for example (leave the spent flower heads on the Black-Eyed Susans—the birds LOVE them). And there are plants that don’t mind the cold weather at all, going all winter—pansies, ornamental cabbages, and ornamental kale. There are even late winter bloomers that will surprise you with flowers in February and March—bulbs like snowdrops and early species crocus and perennials like hellebores (Lenten Roses).
Decorating for Fall
And for fall decorating, well, get ready for cornstalks, branches of brilliantly colored foliage, as well as hundreds of pumpkins and gourds. I put pumpkins (not carved) out before Halloween and don’t toss them until after Christmas. After Christmas? Yes, I put Santa hats on them for the Christmas holidays!
Fall Veggies? Yes!
And remember, you still have time to plant some fall/winter veggies if you haven’t already. When you put up your scarecrow decorations for fall, you can start in your vegetable garden.