Saugus Gardens in the Fall

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

By Laura Eisener

Dee LeMay has flowers throughout the year at her home on Springdale Ave., but one she especially looks forward to in mid-fall is the ‘Chocolate’ Eupatorium (Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’), which has snowy white blossoms against dark reddish brown foliage. Commonly known as ‘Chocolate’ white snakeroot, its foliage is an interesting contrast to green-leaved neighbors even before it blooms. Other snakeroot varieties have green leaves, but this dark-leaved variety has quickly become a very popular garden plant. Cut stems make a great choice for mixed bouquets, too, since its small white flowers can perform the role of baby’s breath as a contrast to larger flowers like roses or sunflowers.

If you are stuck in traffic on Route 1, you can’t help but notice the cheerful fall colors of yellow, orange and white dramatically lining the sidewalk in front of Route 1 Car Wash on the southbound side, just before Prince Pizzeria. Two hundred fifty mums (Chrysanthemum morifolium) covered with blossoms draw attention to the fall harvest display under the sign. It would be hard to count individuals that make up the array of pumpkins, squumpkins, turban squash, etc. in yellow, white, orange and green piled against hay bales. Owner Joseph Salines Jr. enjoys the colorful seasonal displays; this summer’s patriotic display of red, white and dark purple petunias was also very noteworthy. Manager Ed Pedone says they get many compliments from customers and passersby about the garden displays.

Roses are still in bloom in many places in Saugus, boosted a bit by all the sunny days we have had. My roses have been bunny breakfasts quite a few times this summer, and I thought mine would not likely produce another flower this year, but I was wrong. My fragrant pink “Memorial Day” rose is in full bloom again. This plant is growing beside some dwarf joe-pye weed (Eutrochium dubium ‘Little Joe’), which flowered profusely in late summer and is now gone to seed. I was surprised last week to see a bright pink bud peeking out from under its neighboring joe-pye weed, and this week it has opened up. The joe-pye weed is rabbit resistant and a fairly close relative of the white snakeroot, for a long time considered part of the same genus, but joe-pye weed has been reclassified as Eutrochium rather than Eupatorium.

The Topsfield Fair, one of America’s oldest agricultural fairs, is in full swing a few towns north of us on Route 1 and will continue through this weekend until Monday, October 13. People line up to see the largest pumpkin in the vegetable barn, and to pose for selfies with each year’s award-winning cucurbit. This year’s pumpkin is another record breaker. The 41st “All New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off” was held last Friday, October 3. This year’s winner weighs 2,507 lbs. and was grown by Alex Noel in Connecticut.

Pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo) and their close relatives in the same genus (Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita moschata) include many winter squashes and other fall to winter vegetables that people often refer to as squumpkins — squash/pumpkins and their hybrids. They have become a major symbol of the fall harvest season and in addition to being the competitive focal point of the fair, they appear as decorations throughout the fair and on steps and porches all around the region.

The Topsfield Fair’s Flower Building houses beautiful autumn landscape displays, cut flowers, especially fall bloomers, such as dahlias, and flower arrangements. It also includes a spectacular bonsai display highlighting trees and other woody plants that have been kept small and shaped according to ancient Japanese pruning and training techniques. One unusual plant in the exhibit this year is a porcelain berry (Ampelopsis glandulosa) being trained by Alex Manoogian of Saugus. It is also known as Amur pepperberry and is an Asian plant related to grapes and Virginia creeper. This vine can be invasive if not carefully managed, but bonsai techniques are very precise and labor-intensive. The vine’s common name comes from the sky blue “porcelain-like” color of its ripe berries.

Saugus beekeepers Dorie Duggan and Ryan Duggan have several items on display in the Beekeeping Building at the Topsfield Fair, and between them have won quite a few ribbons. Both have made beeswax candles and other decorative items from beeswax, including the barn and farm animals that won Ryan a blue ribbon (in the photo). The family has had many years of beekeeping experience in the Oaklandvale neighborhood of Saugus.

  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.