Saugus gardens in the fall

Here’s what’s blooming in town this week to make your walks more enjoyable

  Clouds and rainy weather may have blocked the view of the lunar eclipse last Friday morning, but subsequent evenings of crisp and cloudless skies allowed a good view of November’s full moon, which is known as the beaver moon and sometimes as the frost moon. At this time of year, I spend some evenings bringing tender plants in containers indoors to save them from frost just a little longer, and bringing them out again in late morning when the thermometer has climbed. Some of the onions, herbs and rainbow chard will be included in our Thanksgiving dinner.

  While the first thing many people think of at a Thanksgiving feast is turkey, traditional foods typically include a wide range of late season vegetables and fruits which are harvested around the time of frost. Root vegetables, like potatoes, beets, turnips, carrots and sweet potatoes, which would have been dug up shortly before the ground froze and which can be stored in underground root cellars, would have been practical choices in pre-refrigeration days. Crops like winter squash and pumpkin would also be good choices. Leafy vegetables like cabbage and kale would also be seasonally appropriate. Fruits which could be stored for a few months and were not especially perishable include apples and cranberries, so we very often think of them in connection with Thanksgiving, too.

  Bell’s Seasoning, one of the oldest and most frequently used seasoning blends for Thanksgiving turkeys, includes rosemary, oregano, sage, ginger, marjoram, thyme and pepper. The William C. Bell Company started in Boston in 1867, making it 154 years old this year. The small, bright yellow cardboard box with the picture of the turkey was always conspicuous in my mother’s and grandmother’s kitchens when I was growing up, and the fragrance of that combination of herbs and spices will always be part of the Thanksgiving preparations in my memories. According to the company today, the blend has not changed since it was introduced a few years after the Civil War ended. The production these days takes place in East Weymouth and is owned by Brady Enterprises, and the Bell’s label also includes such Thanksgiving staples as gravy and stuffing.

  Common sage is a hardy perennial herb, and its fragrance in my garden always makes me think of Thanksgiving no matter what time of year I encounter it. On Thanksgiving day, I knew I would be greeted with that fragrance at my grandmother’s house once we had gone over the Saugus River and through the woods – or at least the tree-lined streets – from Lynnhurst to Pleasant Hills, where she lived on Herbert Avenue.

  When I was a volunteer in the Saugus Ironworks garden a few years ago, sage was one of the more familiar plants visitors recognized, if not by its appearance, then certainly by its foliage. One day a visitor from Italy came by with his son and lingered by the sage plants, which were especially aromatic because I was weeding around them. He said it reminded him of his father, who drank sage tea every day for his health. The original meaning of the plant’s genus name, Salvia, means to save or heal, and it got that name because of its medicinal reputation. It is recognized today as an antioxidant and in traditional medicine had a wide variety of uses.

  Common sage usually has grayish green leaves, a color often described as “sage green.” Ornamental varieties with colorful foliage are less hardy, and I usually consider them annuals. The variety ‘purpurascens’ has purplish overtones in the foliage, and ‘tricolor’ has white and purple areas as well as green. Both of these are edible and have good flavor, but you shouldn’t expect them to be back next year if they are growing outdoors in the garden. They can tolerate some frost, but our winters tend to get a little too cold once the ground is actually frozen.

  Oregano, marjoram and thyme are also hardy perennial herbs in our area. Several kinds of mint, though not so traditionally used in the turkey, also are a reliable perennial in our gardens. All of these are members of the mint family, Lamiaceae, as is the not-quite-hardy rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis). Rosemary can survive mild winters in Massachusetts, but generally people bring the plants indoors to overwinter. The variety ‘Arp’ shows more cold tolerance than the species usually does.

  Food may be the centerpiece of the table, but key to the enjoyment of the day is certainly gathering with loved ones if possible. Many people this year are braving all the challenges of traveling by plane, car, bus and train to be with family and friends again. Many of us may be recalling the words to Massachusetts poet and activist Lydia Maria Child’s poem “The New England Boys’ Song about Thanksgiving Day” even if we don’t necessarily recognize the poem’s name. Most of us just call it by its first line, “Over the River and Through The Wood.” Best known in her day for her abolitionist and women’s rights activism, as well as her books on domestic advice, she first published this poem in 1842 in volume 2 of “Flowers for Children.” Her home in Medford has been preserved by Tufts University. Hopefully, we will all be appreciating and enjoying our views of the river and the woods as we go over and through them to our celebrations!

Editor’s Note: Laura Eisener is a landscape design consultant who helps homeowners with landscape design, plant selection and placement of trees and shrubs, as well as perennials. She is a member of the Saugus Garden Club and offered to write a series of articles about “what’s blooming in town” shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was inspired after seeing so many people taking up walking.