Garden Tools: tips, resources and reviews for gardeners

Treat fallen leaves like the resource they are. Under the dripline of a tree, let leaves lay where they fall so nature can recycle the nutrients back to the tree. Yes, the leaves may kill the grass, but tree roots don't like the competition from grass anyway. Outside of the dripline shred leaves with your lawnmower. Mixed in with grass clippings the shredded leaves will break down fairly fast and feed the lawn.

Cyclamen start blooming in the fall. Diana Wells, in her book 100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names (Algonquin Books, 1997) reports that Cyclamen's common name is "sowbread" because they were supposedly used to feed pigs. The name cyclamen comes from the Greek "kyklo" meaning circle and probably referring to the seed stalks that curl up to a tight coil as they ripen.

Wells writes about another autumn flower, Japanese anemones. Plant hunter Robert Fortune sent seeds of the plant to England in 1844. He noted these white flowering perennials were often growing on graves in China and remarked Anemone "[a] most appropriate ornament for the last resting places of the dead."

A few other fun books on the lore and history of plants are Cornucopia the Lore of Fruits and Vegetables by Annie Lise Roberts (Knickerbocker, 1998) with colorful photos and recipes and the classic Who named the Daisy, Who named the Rose by Mary Durant (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1976) that gives a folk history of American wildflowers.

Chrysanthemum coronarium is an edible annual known as Shungiku in Japanese cuisine. Sow seeds in spring as you would lettuce and harvest leaves about 4-5 weeks later. The flowers are also edible, but only the petals taste good.

Trees are the answer! Or at least trees make our lives better by casting shade, cleaning the air and giving refuge to birds. It's important to find the right tree for the right place.

• Great Plant Picks has selected plants that are proven performers in the Pacific Northwest. Complete profiles of all selected trees are available at their website www.greatplantpicks.org or give them a call to get their free booklet (206) 362-8612
• Use SelectTree, a database from the Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute to select attributes that you want your tree to possess, such as clay soil, dry, resistant to verticillium wilt and fragrant flowers (that search suggested ornamental pear). Over 1,000 trees are profiled.
• More tree information can be found at Virginia Tech Dendrology department fact sheet database, including a recording of the proper pronunciation of the Latin name. Over 800 trees are listed.
• Friends of the Trees promotes planting trees in our cities to improve our quality of life. Their website also offers tree profiles and has a list of suggested trees for planting under power lines.

Make new plants by taking softwood cuttings. Cuttings Through the Year, a booklet published by the Arboretum Foundation(available for sale at the Washington Park Arboretum gift shop) suggests which plants to propagate month by month and how to do it. A few September plants include: Rock Rose, Salal, Lavender, Holly, Penstemon, evergreen azaleas, Sweet box, Salvia, California Lilac and many others.

For a tutorial on taking softwood cuttings go online to a Fine Gardening article complete with clear color photos: www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/g00002.asp

Take root cuttings in autumn, once rain has arrived, to make new plants of many popular perennials like oriental poppies, verbascum, garden phlox and black-eyed susans. The September/October 2004 issue of Horticulture Magazine gives clear instruction on this easy propagation technique, and suggests many other suitable plants. In a nutshell:

1. lift the plant to be propagated with a garden fork
2. shake off soil to expose the roots
cut out a few roots that are about the thickness of a pencil, noting the "top" of the root (closest to the plant)
3. cut the root into 2 inch pieces
4. insert the pieces into a small container of potting soil, with the top end just under the surface
5. keep the container moist, not wet, and inside in bright light until new growth appears
6. transplant into individual pots when growth is a couple of inches tall