Ep 232. Late Season Tasks into Décor and Healing

Mary Stone reflects on late-season garden projects, including the removal of old telephone poles and the careful harvesting of boulders for new retaining walls—done with deep respect for the surrounding ecosystem. She shares tips for planting perennials with liner plugs, using Stress X to support transplanted shrubs, and managing fallen leaves to benefit both wildlife and soil health.

Weaving garden wisdom with seasonal reflection, Mary Stone shares her tradition of decorating with roadside finds, turning late-fall garden tasks into natural holiday décor while honoring the beauty of gathering gently and respectfully from the land. This episode is a quiet meditation on care, change, and the healing that continues beneath the surface.

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Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer

More about the Podcast and Column:

Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
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Transcript

 Ep 232   Ep 232. Late Season Tasks into Décor and Healing

Sat, Dec 06, 2025 5:31PM • 15:08

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

garden tasks, late-fall, décor, Virginia Beach, telephone poles, retaining walls, perennials, sedum, stress X, leaf management, roadside greenery, holiday decorating, deer repellent, winter care, community building

SPEAKERS

Mary Stone

Mary Stone  00:00

Mary, Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone, and welcome to garden dilemmas, delights, and discoveries. It's not only about gardens, it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learn from Mother Nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So let's jump in, the spirit of learning from each other, we have lots to talk about. 

Mary Stone  00:23

Hello there. It's Mary stone on a very cold screen porch in early December, and I'm laughing because it's nighttime, and Jolie is making up her bean bag chair. It's hilarious. I wish I had a video to show you. She and I are back from a family visit in Virginia. First at Virginia Beach, which has been a tradition over the last few years, although this year it was just she and I, and she did really well on the travel. I have to say, I was nervous about that, because she has not been great for long rides in the car or truck, I should say, probably because of the origin of her transport from the rescue situation that those lovely Angel rescuers did to bring puppies from a terrible death row situation in Biloxi, Mississippi, to where they can be adopted and bring life and love to all of us, such a beautiful thing. 

Mary Stone  01:25

While I was away, the long-overdue project continued, or I should say, the long-desired project about removing the rotting telephone poles and adding retaining walls from boulders that were harvested from the property. It was just so heartwarming to see the outcome, although I saw it underway, and I am very relieved to have that creosote smell gone. So summers will be far more pleasant here on the screen porch. It reminds me of an Episode 97, Etiquette of Pilfering Rocks, when I spoke about how people take rocks from public areas or stack stones and natural areas, which is a form of littering, I'll put a link in the show notes. But taking rocks from your own property and using them on your property is not a bad thing if you do so responsibly. For example, be sure not to harvest boulders that are stabilizing slopes. 

Mary Stone  02:21

Rocks and boulders are part of the ecosystem. They provide habitat for small animals, insects, and plants, and removing too many of them can damage the balance. We were very careful to harvest across the broad range of the terrain, and when the roots of trees were exposed, we did our best to replace the soil. Certainly, no taking boulders or rocks from wetlands or streams as it impacts the natural flow of waterways or compromises shorelines. So, as I mentioned last time, it was a fast and furious effort to dig out the perennials that I cherish, many given to me by my dear friend Marty, cuttings from her own garden. So I healed them in the compost pile, where they could have stayed until spring, and my associate, installer, Charles, did a magnificent job digging out the shrubs. But they were out and about, exposing their roots during the construction. I think it was about five days, but the Saturday morning before I left, he dug them back in the ground, just He. He came on his own because he knew it was so important to me. And there were some heavy rains while I was away, and so that helped them get a little bit adjusted. 

Mary Stone  03:31

The day, when I returned home, I planted all the perennials that were healed in during a light snow, and I had two flats of liner plugs of sedum that I was planning to use, and they were sitting there for quite a while. It is my secret to use liner plugs to cover lots of square footage for not so much money. You get 32 plugs in a flat, and that's what growers use to grow plants into gallon sizes, or whatever size they intend to grow in. But the roots of those liner plugs are large enough that they go right in the ground in certain situations. But keep that a secret, because, you know, it's my secret, but it is a great trick. And so I had fun planting those sedums, I have to say, though some of the cells were frozen and I had trouble getting them out of the flat. So I came up with a technique I just turned over the flat, and I kind of rattled a little bit, knocked it around a little bit, and they just came out beautifully. So it's funny how you can figure out ways to work around things that change in your life, even if timing isn't so ideal. But it was okay to plant those flats, and they're going to do just to do just fine because the roots were dormant. So there you go. 

Mary Stone  04:46

So then yesterday, we had this other snowstorm, and in the early part of the morning, just when the snow was unfolding, I went out with five-gallon buckets of water mixed with a potion called Stress X from North Country Organics. It's a seaweed extract that my dear friend Marty introduced me to years ago, and I cherish the last bit I have because she's been the local distributor. And I'm not sure who's going to take on that role. But I have transplanted perennials in full bloom in the heat of the summer using stress X, you know, watering it in, and the plants remain unscathed, as if nothing happened with the move. So I really wanted to get those transplanted shrubs a full dose of the stuff. I used four packages of it. So it was a big deal up and down the basement. Jolie's wondering what's going on, but I got it all done, and the snow is coming, and it was quite an event yesterday. And I have to say I'm a little tired from it, but it was glorious knowing that those roots are going to be active and busy recuperating over winter, as roots do.

Mary Stone  05:51

Si I was out there, I confess I was looking at the Fall leaves I have not cleaned up, but I have to say I'm not that fastidious about leaves in the yard or gardens, unlike a certain someone who lived here. But many of the leaves blew into the garden beds, and I'll leave them there for now, because critters nest in that over winter, and I'm not a lawn worry wart about the other leaves on the lawn. And while there are pockets of too-deep leaves in certain areas, perhaps between snowfalls I'll gather them up and tidy them a bit, and I'll put them in the woods to cover the ground disturbed by harvesting the boulders. 

Mary Stone  06:30

I should mention that it's fine to have 2 to 4 inches of leaves in your garden beds, and as spring approaches, you can reduce the depth of some leaves, such as oak leaves that tend to mat, which makes it hard for plants to grow through them. And there are other large leaves, such as Magnolia and Sycamore leaves, that are hard to have too deep in your garden. So the point of reference is: if you have those large leaves, keep it no deeper than two inches; whereas the light, fluffy leaves, like maple leaves, can be as deep as four inches. So there you go. And it turns into leaf mold that suppresses weeds and provides nutrition as they decompose in your beautiful gardens. 

Mary Stone  07:11

I should mention, though, there is a truth to the fact that if you have deep leaves in your lawn or gardens, moles or voles can take up residence there during the winter months, and they can eat young trees and shrubs. But on the natural forest floor, leaves are typically four to six inches deep, and so you know, it is part of the natural cycle of things. A side note here, not that I'm a lawn enthusiast, as you know, but it's better to keep the leaf layer less than a half an inch. And using a mulching mower, you can break them down as natural lawn fertilizer. So that's enough about leaves. But you know, I have a thing about leaves, because they are indeed the confetti of nutrition that brings life to the next year of growth. So they serve such an important role. So why clean them up so fastidiously? Right? 

Mary Stone  08:01

So, in the last episode, I shared about the buck rub on Ellie's Memorial Holly, which brings to mind a story from a while ago about using roadside leave-behinds in your holiday decorating. And it starts like this. 

Mary Stone  08:16

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. Last week, I shared about the buck rub on Ellie's Memorial Holly and how the branches ended up strewn at the base of the tree during the rub. Deer often chew on lower branches, then paw at the soil and urinate to mark the territory. I saved the branches to decorate the window boxes, keeping them outside, of course, where pea male belongs. That's right, Jolie, you're not the only one who leaves messages. Anyway. The buck rub casualties reminded me of an ongoing holiday habit: decorating with roadkill, roadside leave-behinds, that us.

Mary Stone  08:54

The tradition started years ago when I was busted. My buddy Paulette from Blairstown caught me picking up white pine branches along the road. My philosophy is, if you can't find all you need in your own digs, there's nothing wrong with a little roadside clean-up. Road kill, Paulette, wittily said, as she saw me picking up the wintry finds. She even shared another spot where she snagged down branches. Glad I'm not the only one, but please no pilfering on others' properties without permission. 

Mary Stone  09:25

It's fun to add a festive, wintry touch to your window boxes and outdoor pots, which will carry you through to spring. They are one of my favorite potted gardens to prepare. It reminds me of going on a scavenger hunt as a kid. Plus, the plant material is free. Adding greenery to your inside Holly décor is lovely, too. White pine branches mixed with spruce, cedar, or Hemlock make the perfect first layer for pots or boxes.

Mary Stone  09:53

If you have open wire boxes like mine, you can line them with ornamental grass or loose moss to nestle the branches. It's not the optimum time for pruning, but I always save a bit so I can tuck in berry-laden Holly as the next layer. Then whatever delights you find in the garden. Dry astilbe,  hydrangea flowers, ornamental grass plumes, pine cones, and anything else that tickles your fancy. 

Mary Stone  10:19

Which brings me to a confession. I have yet to do a fall clean-up in my garden. After tending to my clients' gardens, it's hard to get to my own, which makes a fine excuse. But truth be told, I always leave a good bit standing because dried plants provide food and habitat for wildlife, and I love the look of seed heads and dry foliage catching winter's light. Ornamental grasses are splendid left standing, their dry silhouettes swaying in the winter winds. Coneflower, which is echinacea, and Black Eyed Susans, Rudbeckia, have cute little seed heads. When frosted with snow, they become charming pom poms in the garden. Astilbie is another favorite. Its feather-like plumes look as beautiful dry as they do in bloom. If you'd rather not have volunteers of certain plants like rudbeckia, nicknamed rude Becky for a reason, you can toss seed heads where feather friends can feast or gather them and share them with your two-footed friends.

Mary Stone  11:20

As you go about tidying the gardens, take notes on plants to divide or move and spots to enhance come spring. Deeply water plants before the ground freezes and continue watering during winter warm spells, if Mother Nature doesn't oblige. Another late fall task is applying wilt-pruf or another anti-transpirant on evergreens, especially broadleaf ones like Rhododendron and boxwood, to prevent winter wind damage. The ideal time is late Fall or early winter, when temperatures are between 40 and 50 degrees. But the snow came early this year, and so I'll have to wait for the snow to melt and the foliage to dry before spraying both sides of the leaves. Once that dries, you may as well follow up with a deer repellent, such as Deer Out, for a double whammy of protection. Or you can create physical windbreaks with stakes and burlap to keep deer at bay. 

Mary Stone  12:14

So getting back to those roadside finds. Yesterday, Jolee kept sniffing the gathered white pine branches as we walked home. It dawned on me that perhaps another canine had marked them. Note to self - road kill, like casualties from Buck rub, may be best in outdoor decorations only. Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com.

Mary Stone  12:40

You know, as I'm having this conversation with you about decorating for the holidays, I'm just amazed at how quickly this year has gone by. I don't know how you feel, but it seems like time is just racing, racing, racing, and with that are times to pause and reflect on just the magnificence of the world that we live in. And all the beauty around us that nature provides, that we can make into beautiful decorations to enjoy without disturbing wildlife and the need they have for those leave-behinds, you know. 

Mary Stone  13:10

And another thing, holidays can bring a lot of feelings. A lot of changes that go on in our lives can bring sad hearts at a time when you wish family togetherness was still in place. As I'm going through changes in my own personal life, which changes family dynamics, it's an interesting time. And so I do take respite and comfort in knowing that with change comes growth and without having expectations of outcomes, just allowing and trusting and going with the flow like the leaf in the water. So anyway, I want to thank you for allowing me to share my story and bits of my personal life, and I love hearing about your nature and garden stories and how they help heal and grow your life, and what's going on with you. So I encourage those of you who would like to share your stories to email me at Ask Mary stone@gmail.com. We are building a community of like-minded people who find comfort in the world of nature and gardens and the joy of being amongst it, honoring and respecting it, and cherishing it. So thank you for visiting with me, and please share the podcast with a friend or two, if you would. So more can join us in learning and growing in this garden of life. I look forward to the next time, have a beautiful day. 

Mary Stone  14:37

You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook or online at GardenDilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag Mary MaryElaineStone. Garden dilemmas, delights, and discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch, and always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great da