Snapdragons for Fall blooms

Even though it may be autumn, it is not too late to sow and grow. With the right strategies, even in cooler climate zones, it is possible to grow your own throughout the whole of the year. The key is to choose the right strategies and the right crops and varieties for your specific situation.

While spring cleaning gets all the glory, here at The Spruce, we believe in consistent decluttering sessions. It’s much easier to keep on top of clutter with regular cleanouts, and this is especially true if your primary goal is to maintain a minimalist aesthetic at home.

As all good gardeners know late September marks the beginning of the spring-flowering bulb planting season. Pop these fleshy, modified stems in the ground this autumn and you’ll be casting a kind of horticultural spell that will magic up a world of beauty, a form of horticultural alchemy that never ceases to amaze.

Fall brings out my desire to “bring the outdoors in.” Collecting berries, seedpods, and dried flowers is a passion I share with many gardeners. Using these to display in the house helps us to remember the beautiful days of summer. Harvesting these things gives a feeling of satisfaction of what we, as gardeners, have grown over the season. But there are a surprising number of fabulous fall plants that we don’t usually see growing here in the Pacific Northwest. One shrub that I rarely see in gardens here is winterberry (Ilex verticillata and cvs., Zones 3–9).

The centerpiece of a traditional American landscape has long been a verdant, weed-free expanse of lawn. But all too often conventional lawn care is achieved by applying an onslaught of synthetic fungicides and fertilizers that are detrimental to soil health. In my mind, an organically maintained lawn uses a mix of turfgrass species and clover and has the added benefit of supporting pollinators and a host of soil-dwelling organisms.

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When Neil Patterson Jr. was about 7 or 8 years old, he saw a painting called “Gathering Chestnuts,” by Tonawanda Seneca artist Ernest Smith. Patterson didn’t realize that the painting showed a grove of American chestnuts, a tree that had been all but extinct since his great-grandparents’ time. Instead, what struck Patterson was the family in the foreground: As a man throws a wooden club to knock chestnuts from the branches above, a child shells the nuts and a woman gathers them in a basket. Even the dog seems engrossed in the process, watching with head cocked as the club sails through the air.

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Fall is sort of the pre-game of the holiday decor season. Shifting your home's accessories a bit for the chillier months can help you create a relaxing and inviting space to unwind in the evenings.

You can't think about fall without thinking about school supplies. Though school-age children are the primary enjoyers of school supplies, there's not reason adults can't join in the fun too at their home workspaces and desks. Fall desk accessories and decor will remind you that the harvest season is here, even if you're stuck instead. It's especially nice if you don't have any good foliage trees you can admire through a window.

Sara Tramp