Around the Corner: Fall Equinox

With Labor Day just behind us, I’ve been relishing the ever so subtle suggestion of autumn. Its golden to hot red palette, its cooler nights, its cornucopia of harvests such as corn, squashes and pumpkins make for a definite message of seasonal change. New England - and let’s not forget, Canada’s Eastern provinces, are celebrated for their array of brilliant fall colors offered by maples, ashes, and layer, oak trees.

With the fall equinox, we can enjoy a much needed sense of balance. Half daylight and half darkness is a natural reality that we cannot change - at least not upon an immediate horizon. But it’s for a very short time. (I always dread the loss of an hour when daylight savings ends. Thankfully n Maxico where we head around this time, such time switches have been eliminated.)

But first I don’t want to bypass what has been blooming and delighting the eyes this September contributing to a type of glow all about. Sunflowers make for a definite uplift. They can’t help but bring a smile to our face be it from the front or the back.

Another golden “statement” is the current proliferation of goldenrods or solidago, which, for weeks, has been lining our roads and filling fields where corn or hay isn’t growing.

Another native and especially appreciated species by pollinators such as moths and butteflies, is the tall and billowy dusty pink bloomiing Joe-Pye Weed, or Eutrochium. It can be currently seen growing by streams and wetlands - not to be confused with the invasive purple loosestrife!

As I’ve learned, many plant names with the term, “weed”, including Milkweed and Ironweed, were so named by settlers unfamiliar with them. Milkweed or Aslepias, native east of the Rockies is particularly crucial to the ecosystem. It is a unique and crucial feeding source for monarch caterpillars which depend exclusively on their milky sap, a form of latex, as they head north from Mexico in the spring. Other pollinators are not so keen on it. (Round-Up, a powerful pesticide used in industrial farms, is a major factor in their population decline estimated at 90% since the 1980’s. Including them in our gardens or simply conserving land on their migratory paths can help reverse the trend.

Thankfully, at this time of year, on their long three thousand mile migratory routes south to the Oyamel trees in Michoacan. monarchs can thrive on numerous other plant species such as fall asters now also proliferating. (How impressive that in the span of a year comprising four generations, the last one can head “home,” a phenomenon that has been a mystery for decades.

Below, are two photos of Milkweeds’ fleeting beauty which seem to explode in whirls of silky threads with seeds resembling mini coffee beans.

Almost as a teaser that spring is sure to return in six months, are Colchicum or Autumn crocus flowers. Unique to fall they suddenly seem to pop up in my garden in mid-September. This is the case too with the ‘Infinity’ Iris also seen here

Before ending, I’d like to offer a few photos from my garden and neighborhood which inspired me to write this piece.

NOTE: In case you’re wondering what the tall, curving perennial is in front of the hydrangea, it’s Cimicifuga (now named Actea), also known as snakeroot and bugbane. Apparently it repels bed bugs!

Here are some good websites to learn more about native plants and also monarchs:https://monarchjointventure.org/