Tired of holding your breath outdoors?

Yes, we’ve had plenty of smoke. Believe it or not, the first day of fall is in less than a week! How did that happen? This must have been the shortest summer ever. Not to mention the wettest spring and then the driest. We just went from one extreme to another.

Enough whining. Maybe we’ll be lucky and get a nice long fall, hopefully with clean air and no more smoke. Got your fingers crossed?

I hope you have good luck with any newly planted chrysanthemum plants as they are only marginally hardy in our area. To increase your chances of success, try to find and plant them in the spring. That way they have a much longer season to get established and that helps greatly with their hardiness.

The hummingbirds have pretty much “flown the coop” by now. In fact a lot of our local birds seem to have disappeared. This may have been caused by the prolonged smoky skies we’ve had. Even the robins seem to have pulled up stakes.

Remember not to fertilize anything now, other than annuals. Another reminder is pruning. When this is done, it tells the plant to put out new growth. Not a good idea now as it is too late in the season for that and there won’t be time for it to “harden off.”

Have you ever noticed strange and unusual growth on a plant? Sometimes there will be two flowers that look like they’re glued back to back. Other times you may see a completely flattened stem. These occurrences are called fasciation. I had a big foxglove plant this year that showed some very strange growth. It seems this is just an occasional natural occurrence and not caused by a disease, etc. Very odd.

Mosquitoes are still out and about. It helps to take a walk around your property often to find and dump out any standing water. It’s a pretty good bet this is not from rain, but it could certainly be from sprinklers. The diseases they carry are moving closer all the time.

It’s time to begin gathering seeds to plant next spring. Many annuals are good at reproducing. Some of my most faithful ones include cosmos, dahlberg daisies, larkspur, poppies and various morning glories. Don’t waste your time and energy on hybrids as these will not “come true” from their seeds. Instead, they will revert to some ancestor and are rarely anything you want.

Try to catch the wanted seeds as the pod has ripened but before it has split open and dropped the seeds. Keep the varieties separate, place them in a flat pan and bring indoors. As soon as they are dry, put each type into a zip lock bag with the name written on it using a Sharpie pen. Store in the refrigerator until next spring.

Overheard in the store recently: One person was bemoaning all the recent disasters by mentioning all the wildfires, hurricanes and earthquakes. She says, “What do you think is going on with Mother Nature?” The second person says, “I don’t know, maybe it’s PMS.”

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Elaine Cerny has gardened most of her life, starting in 4-H. She has belonged to garden clubs in three states and is currently serving as secretary for the River City Gardeners Club in Post Falls. Her column appears in The Press every other Sunday from early March until late October.