Fall Gardening and the Myths of Golden Rod Allergies

Well, most definitely the late summer flowers are now starting to bloom in most of northeast Ohio gardens.

Among my favorites:

• Fall Crocus
• Rebloooming Iris
• Autumn Joy Sedum
• Mums
• Asters
• Yellow Golden Rod
• Ornamental Grasses (Seed Heads Are Pronounced)
• Autumn Flowering Clematis

And as most gardeners will note, often times the summer annuals seem to be reinvigorated to bloom more heavily during the cooler nights of late summer and early autumn. Some annuals, most notably petunias and nicotenia seem to quit blooming shortly after Labor Day and become long straggly plants devoted to producing seed. On the other hand, impatiens and snapdragons go through a major blooming frenzy right up to the first frost.

Fall Garden chores to add to your list:

• Flower bulb planting
• Tilling under the vegetable garden,
• New Lawn Planting
• Fall Tree Planting and Fertilization
• Division of Some Perennials

The next several blogs will be devoted to fall gardening.

But a myth needs to be dispelled about fall allergies.

Quite often, people will say that they are allergic to Golden Rod.

However, most likely, their real allergy could be to Ragweed, which is in bloom at, the same time Golden Rod is flowering.

Ragweed has green flowers, which are camouflaged amongst the plant’s leaves. The green flowers are not noticeable to the showier flowers of golden rod. Because ragweed releases its pollens in the air at the same time the noticeable yellow golden rod is in bloom,  people will mistakenly claim that they are allergic to golden rod when in reality their allergy is likely towards the invisible ragweed blooming and dusting the air with its pollens.