Autumn Is The Time To Plant

Posted on September 27, 2012 by

Most think spring is the perfect time for planting. The nurseries are stocked with colorful plants and everything is in bloom…but that’s the problem. Spring turns into summer and before you know it the temperatures are in the mid 80s and it hasn’t rained for weeks.

In our recent New England springs, the weather has gone from a late winter freeze into summer heat wave within a few days. This puts stress on a plant that is pushing out new leaves to make food (going through the process of photosynthesis), trying to reproduce (make flowers), and grow new roots.

What most people don’t realize is that autumn is the perfect time to plant. Here are just a few reasons why:

  • Now that leaf, seed, and flower production are complete, plants have nothing but cooler days to contend with and roots are the only thing they have to grow.
  • Along with the cooler temperatures comes end-of-season sales. That Oxydendron (Sourwood) tree you wanted all season? It now costs less and it’s showing its beautiful burgundy autumn foliage.
  • Watering is also easier now because, unlike summer months, town water bans have usually been lifted.
  • Need to patch your lawn? Do it in the autumn! Spring and fall are seasons when grass is the greenest. Grass will sprout in the warm days of the autumn and continue to grow until the ground freezes.
  • Plant bulbs for spring color in the autumn. Bulbs need to be planted in the autumn to develop roots before the ground freezes. Early blooming crocus give pollinators such as honey bees nectar early in the season when very few other flowers are in bloom. Daffodils are deer and rodent resistant and live for many years. Tulips add late April and May color.

A little bit of work in the cool of the autumn will give you a beautiful yard in the spring. So what are you waiting for? Get planting!

Photo via FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Rare Book on Display

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Hillary T.

News from Mass Audubon Visual Arts Center:

A rare 19th-century book, with stunning illustrations and a dramatic history, was donated to the Mass Audubon Visual Arts Center in June, and now the exhibition Nests, Eggs, Heartbreak & Beauty (September 30 – January 13) has been organized around it.

Though the historic volume bears a dry, unwieldy title (Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio), it’s a compelling blend of ornithological observation and artistry, and its creation was a triumph of love through adversity.

In 1876, 29-year-old amateur artist and naturalist Genevieve Jones saw John J. Audubon’s Birds of America at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and conceived the idea for a companion publication—of similarly high quality—to depict the nests and eggs of American birds. Her father, who had forbidden her to marry the man she loved, financed the project to provide her a distraction from heartbreak.

Jones’ brother Howard collected the nests and wrote the text, and she learned to draw on lithographic stones to create the printed images (which would later be colored by hand). After completing only five drawings, Genevieve died of typhoid fever, and her grieving family determined to finish the book, with her mother taking the role of artist.

Only 90 copies of the book were printed, and fewer than 25 are known to exist today. Mass Audubon’s copy, which belonged to Howard Jones, is considered the most significant because its color plates served as the patterns for other copies, and it includes a unique gilt title-page and important manuscript material.

In 1878, Harvard ornithologist William Brewster, who would later be Mass Audubon’s first president, described one of Jones’ drawings as “in its kind a perfect masterpiece.”

Nests, Eggs, Heartbreak & Beauty will open on Sunday, September 30 at the Mass Audubon Visual Arts Center in Canton. The exhibition opening will be celebrated by a reception with light refreshments from 1 to 5 pm. Joy Kiser, whose research uncovered the story behind this remarkable volume, will be at the reception, signing copies of her new book America’s Other Audubon.

Image: Field Sparrow by Virginia Jones, Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries