Fall is for gardening

The temperatures are starting to cool down (Yes! Notice! OK, you have to do this before dawn … but soon it will transcend into daylight hours).

The days get shorter. The weather gets drier.

All this leads to good growth underground, which is vital to most perennials and evergreens in the landscape, which are the backbone of a landscape.

And some above-ground activity is still ongoing.

The final hurrah for trees is soon upon us. Magnolias are busy producing their seed cones, the transformation of their huge, fragrant, white-petaled flowers into propagating machines.

You would think the seed would sprout and create thickets of Southerness.

Those seeds are prime fodder for — guess! Squirrels! I heard Cuckoos also like them… I can’t verify that.

If you wait until the bright red berry-like seeds ripen, soak them in water for a day or two and then rub off the flesh and rinse with dishwashing detergent to eliminate the oily covering. Sow into a sterile medium and wait 15 years for them to grow and bloom.

In the meantime, this is the time to plant the seeds of the native wildflowers that are so glorious in the late spring and summer.

For instance, seeds of Coreopsis lanceolata  (or alternately, leavenworthii), the Florida state wildflower (also called tickseed), should be sown now. They will germinate and the plants remain a low rosette. If a freeze kills back the top growth, the roots remain viable and leaves sprout back in the spring, and the sunny yellow flowers, often with a maroon center, bloom throughout summer. Let the seedheads form before mowing down. Or collect the seedpods, rub apart, dry on newspaper for a couple of days and store in a paper sack in — surprise! — the refrigerator before reseeding later in the fall.

The seeds are relished by goldfinches. Don’t think we have them? Keep an eye out. They migrate through our area in October, looking mainly for thistles.

A good place to browse for  native plants, including seeds of wildflowers, is the semi-annual native plant sale at Morningside Nature Center, 3540 E. University Ave., Gainesville (three miles from dead-center downtown). This year’s sale is Oct. 4, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. It will include a guided wildflower walk.

This event is hosted cooperatively by the Paynes Prairie chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, Friends of Nature Parks and the City of Gainesville's Nature Operations Division of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs. Call 352-334-3326 for more information.

If you couldn’t make it to the sale, check out the local native-plant aficionados at their regular meeting: the third Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at the United Church of Gainesville, 1624 NW 5th Ave. Members come from Alachua, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Gilchrist, Levy, north Marion, Putnam and Suwannee counties, so a vast array of information is available.

Have a weird/wonderful thing growing in your yard? Bring it to the meeting at 6:15 and the experts will identify it for you. And tell you if you want it.

There is also a new “Nature Next Door” program begun by the city of Gainesville that introduces folks to their natural neighbors. Programs will take place in various nature parks on the first Saturday of each month. Call 352-334-3326 for themes and program details. This program is open to all ages, and it is free. §

Marina Blomberg is a freelance writer who has lived and gardened in Gainesville since 1972. She may be contacted through the editor: editor@towerpublications.com.

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