Take fall to re-envision your outdoor spaces

The autumnal equinox occurred Tuesday, indicating a transition to a slower yet still productive and abundant time of year. We are midway between the bright, full-tilt expansive energy of summer growth and the near standstill dormancy of winter.

While we can hit the pause button for another month on the judicious pruning and cleanup of perennial beds, there are other things to tend to just the same. It is not time to throw in the trowel quite yet!

With that in mind and knowing that leaf-dropping deciduous shrubs and trees will reveal their bare bone silhouettes in a few months, we can lightly shape shrubs now so they’ll be at their best when form and line rules the visual dominance of the winter landscape.

Weighty rose hips and seed heads compounded by excessive growth from plenty of summer moisture might be causing your shrubs and trees to look rather rangy. Removing some of the lower growth on shrubs such as the taller varieties of ninebark, viburnum, spirea and lilac will reveal their trunk and beautiful form whether they are fully decked out or leafless.

While dead and damaged limbs can be pruned at any time, wait to shape and correctively prune your shade and ornamental trees until after they’ve dropped their leaves. The exception is that maple and birch trees should be pruned during the growing season to minimize their tendency to bleed sap.

Enjoy the sunny days and call forth some quiet Zen-like diligence to clear garden beds now of seed-dropping weeds to minimize an explosion in the spring. You’ll be grateful you did.

It’s also a reflective time for contemplating exciting new landscape design ideas to enhance less than optimal areas. In that regard, I am beginning to agree that less is indeed more. More single-minded focus and appreciation of individual plants or groupings of them. Less clutter and overwhelm, more openness and an overall lighter feeling within the space. On a subtle level, it allows for room to breathe, whether we are viewing these areas from a distance or in the midst of them.

Seeing the wood-mulched earth lends itself to a feeling of groundedness. This seems so natural and earthy, with the same look and feel of being in a forested environment, so it provides a welcome sensory experience for the staycationer!

You can get free wood mulch at the City’s Recycling Drop-Off Facility at 1702 Riverside Ave. and the Gardens on Spring Creek at the north end of their parking lot.

Repetition of mulch and plant material, boulders and stone, color and form, will help tie the various areas of your landscape together, even if you have a number of different microclimates to contend with.

Outdoor lighting is another way to add magic to your life and landscape, so if you’ve maxed out your plantings and garden beds, envision taking things to the next level by adding lighting. It will encourage you to spend more time outdoors entertaining and it adds that “Thomas Kincaid Painter of Light” touch to your landscape. Solar lights work well in sunny areas, while those close to electrical outlets accommodate string lights and other possibilities.