In the perennial garden autumn also brings on some of the loveliest flowers of all, such as the amazing Toad-lilies. Pictured here is 'Samurai', a photo just taken yesterday on our Ontario nursery by Richard Gruener. Toad-lilies are like bizarre little jewels, so easy to miss but begging to be seen up-close and personal. I always suggest giving these a frontal position in the shade border, maybe near a pathway or sitting area. Perhaps combine them with other fall-bloomers such as Wax-bells (Kirengeshoma), Autumn Monkshood (Aconitum) or Bugbane (Cimicifuga) and a drift of Colchicum (mine are just popping out of the ground!). Autumn really can offer a great many new things to the perennial garden, and it only takes the slightest bit of effort to make it so.

Fall always makes me think of bulbs. Spring bulbs in particular, but it's also a reminder that soon it will be time to dig and store all those tender bulbs indoors for the winter, things like Dahlia, Canna and Gladiolus. The very best place for information is The International Flower Bulb Centre for ALL things bulb. The site was recently redesigned, and it's always the first place I turn to when the bulb questions begin to pour in.

This time we did a draw for three winners, and each will receive a copy of our Perennial Gardening Guide. Congratulations go out to: LoisAnn — Bunker Hill, Illinois, Mike — Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Donna — Toronto, Ontario.

Here are some of the comments that came in:

"Primarily along a 125-foot perennial border, I have been picking the hideous beasts off each evening when I get home from work. I have picked close to 1000 in a single day, just from the roses, dahlias and cannas (top three beetle attractors in my garden). Boy, Knockout roses are incredible in terms of disease-resistance and non-stop bloom time, but the Japanese beetles LOVE them. Any other rose, too, except 'New Dawn', for some reason — I have three with no Japanese beetles at all.
They never feed on any plant whatsoever in my shady gardens. In fact, they seem most happy in hot afternoon sun, eating in the hottest part of the garden. This really has been an incredibly bad year for them. It has actually, for the first time in my adult life, made me somewhat less inclined to visit my garden, which is usually a priority, of not an obsession. To see 25 shiny nasty beetles clumped on a newly opened 'Bronze Star' rose flower makes me sick and depressed. I will use Milky Spore this year, no doubt [a bacterial spray applied to turf areas to kill JB larvae], and may even consider pesticides next summer when the adults emerge, although I look at the Monarchs and hummingbirds visiting alongside the beetles and realize that I cannot." — Lauren (armed with a bucket of soapy water), Stewartstown, Pennsylvania.

"Japanese beetles are voracious leaf and flower-eating machines!! I am on constant beetle patrol in my garden. They have devoured my Virginia creeper, eaten the leaves on my flowering almond, weeping cherry, roses, raspberry, and destroyed the buds and flowers on all roses, giant mallow, geraniums and hibiscus. It is common to find 15 or so on a single bud. I have sprayed them off, picked them off and finally have resorted to a small shot of Raid, which does kill them. I have been told the Japanese beetle traps just attract more to the garden, so I do not use them." — Meryl, Welland, Ontario.

In general, gardeners west of the Mississippi, in the Southern States, Great Plains, Northern Ontario, Canadian Prairies and west of the Rockies can relax. Your regions are likely not infested, and government regulations on plant products shipped from infested regions have been in place for awhile now. For a detailed listing about the beetle life cycle, identification (including pictures) and regions where they are/are not currently found, head to Japanese Beetle - Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

For more pictures and some great information on Japanese beetle control (including organic methods), head to USDA - Managing the Japanese Beetle. I've compiled a rather large list from the contest entries, including plants that Japanese beetles love and those they tend to avoid. Only a few plants were reported on both sides of the line, which may mean local beetle populations do change their feeding habits when they're hungry enough. The list is so long, I will have to go ahead with adding it to our Advanced Search over the winter. In the meantime, here is an edited-down version of what our readers reported:

Your Observations — plants that Japanese beetles regularly infest:

• Shrubs & vines: roses (most types), Wisteria, Hibiscus (Rose-of-Sharon), Grapes, Virginia creeper, Prunus (Cherries, particularly Purple-leaf Sandcherry, Japanese Cherry, Flowering almond), Amelanchier (Serviceberry), Japanese Maple
• Perennials: Perennial Hibiscus, Hollyhocks, Salvia azurea, Summer Phlox (reported also as resistant), Malva, Japanese Anemone, Echinacea (reported also as resistant), Joe-pye Weed (Eupatorium)
• Annuals/tender perennials: tropical Hibiscus, Dahlia, Canna, Zinnia, Passion vine, Pineapple Sage, Morning Glory

Your Observations — plants that Japanese beetles leave alone:

• Shrubs & vines: Dogwood (Cornus), Burning bush (Euonymus), Holly, Boxwood, Forsythia, Lilac
• Perennials: Threadleaf Coreopsis, Rudbeckia, Liatris, Chelone, Iris, Salvia nemorosa, Sea Holly, Peonies, Coral Bells, Lavender, Yarrow, Shasta Daisy, Hosta, Toad-lily, Michaelmas Daisy (Aster)
• Annuals/tender perennials: Pentas, Verbena bonariensis, Gladiolus, Impatiens

QUESTION: "About bearded Irises: [see the August 2005 Newsletter, Question of the Month]: the advice to place them in the middle or back of the border, I really do not support.
The form of the leaves gives the border architectural structure and a distinctive footing. Behind more airy and loose-growing plants they can form a contrast. Besides, in the middle or back they will get hardly any sun on their shallow roots. Just like other open-space plants, they need the warmth of the sun to bloom and survive." Eduard — the Netherlands

ANSWER: You raise some excellent points here, and I thank you. Yes, it's true that Bearded Iris do require lots of direct sun to grow well, and even as I wrote the advice to plant them back further, this fact did occur to me. However, in my region (and much of North America), Bearded Iris leaves become so badly disfigured by pests and diseases during the summer, and I think also they just simply look bad from the effects of extreme heat and humidity. They almost always look just terrible by July, and so we can't count on them as an attractive foliage accent in the same way many European gardeners can. However, in cooler-summer regions of North America they can and do remain attractive.

Club Members will be receiving the second issue of The New Perennial Insider in a week or so, this month featuring Echinacea.

Our best-selling book, the Perennial Gardening Guide (4th edition, March 2003) is a handy reference used by gardeners across North America — written by John Valleau, horticulturist for Heritage Perennials®. Available at your local Heritage Perennials® Dealer.