Saugus Gardens in the Fall

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

By Laura Eisener

Tree lighting tonight happens in Saugus Center, with the Town Hall lawn changed by recent tree pruning and the removal of several trees. For weeks to anyone driving or walking around Saugus Center the preparations have been noticeable as lights on branches have been tested and adjusted and the bows and star positioned on spruce in the center of the rotary where the Civil War monument is. By evening tonight, additional holiday figures will be positioned for the delight of the crowd that always gathers for this event. Be sure to bundle up!

Lights are already shining at homes and businesses around town. Some are best seen during the day, and others at night. As it gets closer to Christmas, new decorations are being added. A walk or drive to the grocery store or out for coffee is likely to include the sight of a new wreath on your neighbor’s door or someone up on their roof attaching lights.

There were plenty of red roses (Rosa Knockout ‘double red’) still blooming in front of the post office on Monday, though by the time we wake up tomorrow morning their petals will likely be pretty crispy.

Before we opened the first door of the Advent calendar on Monday, December 1, Black Friday had already brought us some white stuff. It was not even enough to be considered a coating, but enough to photograph, and it melted pretty quickly. In the photo above, a few flakes are briefly cradled in the evergreen leaves of Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis).

Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) on the stone walls of Park Press still showed some bright fall color this week. This climber on the warm south facing side of the building benefited from stored heat in the stones to keep warm a little longer than it might in any other microclimate. Despite the common name, this vine is not native to Boston, Mass., or Boston, England, but to Asia. The common name came from its abundance on stone and brick buildings in Boston and Cambridge, Mass. It is closely related to Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) and slightly less closely to grapes (Vitis spp.), all of which are in the grape family (Vitaceae). Even more surprising for this time of year were the sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) blooming in front of the building on Thanksgiving Day!

Many people have been noticing spots caused by a fungus disease of maples known as tar spot (Rhytisma spp.). While it is not fatal to the trees, it can be unattractive as the foliage becomes discolored, first by yellow spots, which by late summer or fall become black, hence the descriptive common name. While I have seen it primarily on Norway maples (Acer platanoides), most other maple species (Acer spp.) are also susceptible. This fungus can spread from one maple species to another, especially in wet and windy spring weather when spores are produced. Fungicide applied in spring can help trees not yet infected, and cleaning up affected leaves from the ground in late summer and fall will help keep it from spreading from one tree to nearby healthy maples. Unfortunately, compost piles don’t usually get hot enough to destroy the fungus, which is capable of overwintering in our climate.

Many woody plants have already dropped their leaves, but a few non-evergreen species still have some foliage attached. Branches “let go” of their foliage when a thin specialized layer of cells at the base of the leaf petiole develops and separates from the branch. Changes in plant hormones cause this layer to develop, and the timing can be influenced by weather, such as decreasing temperatures or drought, by disease and in part by decreasing day length. Diseased or stressed leaves may drop in summer while temperatures are still high. Genetics also plays a part, since in some trees, such as many oaks and beeches, the leaves remain attached through much of the winter, even after the foliage is brown and dry.

  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.