Designing a Thanksgiving Garden

Thanksgiving gardens are not a frequent sight. True, the holiday focuses more on the dinner table and surrounding accoutrements. Still, there is no reason that the landscaping hobbyist has to put aside her ideas for gardens in the late fall season. Incorporate whimsical landscape path ideas into a Thanksgiving garden that thrives with fall veggies and cool weather plant color. A little bit of planning makes it possible to virtually guarantee a vibrant fall palette in late November.

Plant Ideas for Gardens in November

• The Russian silverberry (Elaeagnus angustifolia) - aka Russian olive - is so easy to grow in virtually any soil that the Forest Service declares it a "noxious weed" in Colorado and New Mexico. It is a perennial shrub that features reddish drupes up until early winter.
• To add blue touches to the landscape, consider adding the Northern bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica). The shrub is deciduous; even so, the fruits remain on the shrubs well into the fall.
• Ensure gorgeous blooms with Winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum), which offers bright yellow flowers late in November and throughout the winter months.
• Fall veggies include carrots, sweet potatoes and a wide array of other root vegetables. Remember that most of these plants need balmier soil temperatures to germinate, so be sure to get the seeds into the ground early enough to guarantee at least two weeks of these warmer temps.

Landscape Paths

Since most of the other plants will have died back by the time Thanksgiving arrives, develop landscape path ideas that redirect the focus from bare landscape spots to either the makeup of the paths or to the areas where winter flora blooms. Use tinted mulch - neatly placed between rock and wood borders - as the main path material. Color options include orange, red, green and also blue hues. More permanent pathways call for the use of stones and ornamental tiles. Let the path lead past a garden trellis adorned with typical fall ornamentation.

Thanksgiving Decorations for the Yard

Round out a gorgeous Thanksgiving garden with whimsical ornaments and fall decorations. Hay bales, gourds, big orange pumpkins, wreaths made up of fall foliage, and turkey figurines are just some of the ideas that drive home the point of the holiday. Durable plastic garlands in traditional fall colors may be spread over evergreen hedges and trees in the yard.

Do not forget to also wrap some garlands around the fence! Thanksgiving flags are not just for the front of the home. Smaller flags, such as you might place in a flower bed, are perfect for placement alongside the landscape paths and near the flowering winter plants.

Who knew that Thanksgiving gardens would be this easy to put together?

Source

US Forest Service: "Species - Elaeagnus angustifolia"

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