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Update your Yard for Fall colors

Dig in and start exploring beautiful and colorful flowering plants to add to your yard this autumn. Autumn is the perfect time to plant many different items, including grass, trees, tulips and daffodils. The season’s lower temps help plants to transition easier from pots to planting beds, and it’s also a welcome respite from summer heat for gardeners. Pests and disease problems typically dwindle in fall, and in many regions, seasonal rains help give plants a solid start. What should you be planting in fall?

Some plants that bloom in the autumn are perennials, so they’ll return every year giving you reliability and value! Just make sure that the perennials you choose will withstand winters in your area. Also, pay attention to your plant’s watering needs: Some of those hot, dry days of fall can be hard on plants.

Now, here are our six favorite fall plants and flowers for autumn color.

Asters are late bloomers, and they also attract tons of pollinators so you’ll enjoy the flowers and their visitors.

There are many types of sedums, but this variety Sedum Autumn Joy

is known for its upright form and bright pink flowers in late summer and early fall. The blooms on this perennial last for weeks, and pollinators love them!

Sunflowers range in size from a few feet to more than 10 feet tall! Plant the seeds in spring for late summer and fall color. And yes, some types have edible seeds you can eat or share with the birds!

Aronia bush gets an incredible autumn color that makes it a stunning foundation planting or accent in your landscape. Aronia also boasts spring flowers.

Chrysanthemums, or mums for short, come in every color of the rainbow! They’re technically perennials, which means they will come back every fall to brighten your yard.

Who knew cabbage and kale could be so pretty? These ornamental types add flash to your autumn garden. They’re annuals but will stay “in bloom” for months until a hard freeze.

So the next time you are looking to add a little color to your yard for the fall, try adding from the list of plants above.

Pumpkin Planters

Try a different approach to decorating your porch this halloween instead of carving all your pumpkins with spooky or silly faces, why not use one as a planter.

Any pumpkin is suitable for making pumpkin planters, but a round, fat pumpkin with a flat bottom is easier to plant in than a tall, skinny pumpkin. … To turn a plain old pumpkin into a flower pot, use a sharp knife to slice off the top. Make the opening large enough to allow for digging and planting.

Express your love of fall and gardening by planting ornamental kale, cabbages, chrysanthemums or a variety of edibles in homemade pumpkin planters.

Start by cutting a hole in your pumpkin around the stem (as wide as you need for your plants), hollow out the pumpkin (make sure to get all those pesky seeds out), and add in some soil and greenery. Voilà, you have your new planter for autumn!

How to make Elderberry Tea

Elderberries can be used in jellies, pies, or baked goods much like any berry. They can also be dried and made into teas, tinctures, and syrups for medicinal purposes.

This tea has a naturally sweet flavor on its own from the elderberries, but sweetened to taste with a small amount of raw honey if desired. I like adding herbs like turmeric and cinnamon for added benefits and flavor, but these aren’t necessary either.

Ingredients

16 oz filtered water or bottled water)
2 TBSP dried elderberries
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp raw honey (optional)

Instructions

Put water and elderberries into a small saucepan.
Add turmeric and cinnamon.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 15 minutes. This helps bring out the beneficial properties of the elderberries.
Remove from heat and let cool for about 5 minutes.
Finally, strain through a fine mesh strainer and pour into individual mugs.
Stir in raw honey if using.
Enjoy!

Notes

For an iced tea, pour into a mason jar and allow to cool, then refrigerate for up to 1 week. Serve over ice if desired.

Do you use elderberries to ward off sickness? What other natural remedies do you swear by? Please leave a comment:

Reboot your health

If you want to boost your immune health, you may wonder how to help your body fight off illnesses.While bolstering your immunity is easier said than done, several dietary and lifestyle changes may strengthen your body’s natural defenses.

Sleep and immunity :In fact, inadequate or poor quality sleep is linked to a higher susceptibility to sickness.Getting adequate rest may strengthen your natural immunity. Also, you may sleep more when sick to allow your immune system to better fight the illness. Adults should aim to get 7 or more hours of sleep each night, while teens need 8–10 hours and younger children and infants up to 14 hours.

If you’re having trouble sleeping, try limiting screen time for an hour before bed, as the blue light emitted from your phone, TV, and computer may disrupt your circadian rhythm, or your body’s natural wake-sleep cycle Other sleep hygiene tips include sleeping in a completely dark room or using a sleep mask, going to bed at the same time every night, and exercising regularly.

Eating: Whole plant foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes are rich in nutrients and antioxidants that may give you a boost of energy. Meanwhile, the fiber in plant foods feeds your gut microbiome, or the community of healthy bacteria in your gut. A robust gut microbiome can improve your immunity and help keep harmful pathogens from entering your body via your digestive tract .Furthermore, fruits and vegetables are rich in nutrients like vitamin C, which may reduce the duration of the common cold .

Drinking water: Hydration doesn’t necessarily protect you from germs and viruses, but preventing dehydration is important to your overall health. Dehydration can cause headaches and hinder your physical performance, focus, mood, digestion, and heart and kidney function. These complications can increase your susceptibility to illness. To prevent dehydration, you should drink enough fluid daily to make your urine pale yellow. Water is recommended because it’s free of calories, additives, and sugar.

Taking supplements:

Elderberry. One small review found that elderberry could reduce the symptoms of viral upper respiratory infections, but more research is needed .
Echinacea. A study in over 700 people found that those who took echinacea recovered from colds slightly more quickly than those who received a placebo or no treatment, but the difference was insignificant. A high quality, 12-week study in 146 people found that supplementing with garlic reduced the incidence of the common cold by about 30%. However, more research is needed.

You can read in an earlier post about growing Echinacea and check out Thursday’s post about Elderberry tea. These tips above are just a few ways to help keep and boost your immunity.

Talk about Tuesday: Air Plants

This Tuesday and for the next Tuesdays in the month of October I will be posting only a topic and I would love for my followers and viewers to comment in the comment box a question that would be related to the topic. Each week the topic will change and I will be collecting all the questions to answer them in a podcast that will be aired in November or December.

This Tuesday Topic is all about Air Plants

What would you like to know about air plants? Please leave your question in the comment box!