We're also the source for two other fine brands of plants: Jeepers Creepers® "Down Low and Fun to Grow" groundcovers and Rock Stars® "Cool Plants for Rock Gardens".

As the season winds down, we continue to work busily here at the nursery growing the crop for next spring, and things are looking terrific. There are lots of new varieties you'll be reading about over the next few months as we get back to our neglected New Perennial Club newsletter and also introduce a way to view the new plants on our www.perennials.com website. Fall is busy but it's my favourite season, so please enjoy what's left of it wherever you garden!

Round One winners:
Rita from Seward, Alaska. Sharon from Beeton, Ontario. Susie from Winter Springs, Florida.

Round Two winners:
Leah from St Catharines, Ontario. Vivian from Surrey, British Columbia. Lynn from Ailsa Craig, Ontario.

CONTEST RESULTS
This was a timely contest topic, and the main reason it came up is that Ontario introduced very strict controls on pesticides this past April. In essence, gardeners in this province can no longer use any pesticide product for cosmetic purposes i.e. controlling or killing insects, diseases, fungi or weeds in an ornamental garden setting. This is reflected at the garden centres and hardware stores, where shelves once brimming with chemical control products now contain a mere shadow of what they once did.

The Ontario bans also extend to the use of these products by municipalities, botanical gardens, golf courses and everything other than farm, nursery or greenhouse use. Many of you mentioned how weedy your local golf courses were looking this past season.

Gardeners in other regions, take note! It's highly likely your province, state, county or city will move in this same direction over the next few years. Aside from that reason, the vast majority of gardeners would prefer a non-chemical answer to their pest problems, particularly weeds. We wanted to know just what sort of results acetic acid is giving in the hands of actual gardeners.

I must mention one extremely important issue here. It's very well summed up in the words of one of our readers:
"Recently two representatives of the Ministry of the Environment have told me, in person, that what I am doing is absolutely illegal. I have had excellent results from using regular household vinegar (5%) on the weeds edging my driveway. It seems that I may have to accidentally "spill" some there again this year while taking groceries from the car!"

Yup, it's illegal folks. Using any non-registered pesticide product for the control of any garden pest is just simply breaking the law. In other words, use at your own risk. Where this really is an important consideration is if you happen to be a gardening advice-giver at a nursery, garden centre, hardware or farm store, Master Gardener's hotline, clinic, etc. It is very against the law to recommend a product for use as a pesticide that has not been registered specifically for that purpose. That includes practically 100% of all "home remedies" i.e. home made concoctions.

So, here we remain neutral and are not recommending anything, but rather reporting what others have told us about their experiences.

Acetic acid in any form is no magic bullet. It cannot magically kill weeds and leave your "good" plants unharmed. How it works is simple: acetic acid burns the leaves and soft shoots. If it comes in contact with an annual weed or newly germinated seedling, chances are good it will be killed outright. Perennial or biennial weeds with strong root systems will most likely grow back. Some gardeners claim that repeated applications will eventually exhaust these weeds to death, while others have said they have experienced little effect on the really pernicious kinds like Bindweed, Horsetail or Canada Thistle.

"When we wanted to take out a lot of lawn and replace it with a graveled sitting area, we used a large garden sprayer filled with household (5%) vinegar. We sprayed the lawn thoroughly and it did a great job of killing the grass. Within a few days we had dead yellow grass everywhere and were just left with a few weeds to dig up and remove. With small children at the time, I felt better about using vinegar on my yard." — Sherri, Cambridge, Ontario

"We use ordinary kitchen vinegar (5%), undiluted, in a spray bottle to kill weeds in our interloc driveway. It usually takes two applications, and is very effective. Although it does not cause me any breathing difficulties, it does evoke a craving for French fries." — Joan, Ottawa, Ontario.

"I have tried vinegar and it will work on some weeds, but not all. I did find something that works. It's a small cane with a little propane tank at the other end. You light the propane and burn the weeds. It's called the gardener's flame-thrower. It works better than vinegar." — Rita, Victoria, Prince Edward Island

"The fumes from [20%] acetic acid used by my neighbour to kill dandelions caused him to develop a nosebleed that evening. Many people in my area think that the new measures being taken — vinegar, bleach, etc. — are worse for the environment than most of the domestic chemical controls we were allowed to use before April, 2009." — Jane, Leamington, Ontario

"With the 20% acetic acid products it is a very strong formulation, and all the standard precautions must be taken when dealing with any strong acid. I recommend wearing gloves and protective clothing and if it's a windy day I would also recommend a mask." — Debbie, Baldwin, Ontario

"Vinegar has no systemic or residual value. It is also non-discriminatory, it will scorch anything green. The results at full strength and in bright sunshine are visible within hours, sometimes minutes. Do not breathe the vapours, they will do a number on the lining of your nose and mouth. Also thoroughly clean any metal parts on your sprayer after use, as vinegar will corrode steel, brass, copper and aluminium very effectively." — Kees, Strathroy, Ontario

Several readers told of an effective home-made mixture using varying amounts of household vinegar, salt and sometimes dishwashing liquid. If you are using such a mixture, bear something in mind: table salt, just like road salt or sea salt, will accumulate in your soil and takes a long time to leach away. This may be fine and good between the stones on a patio or in the driveway cracks, but remember that nearby trees, shrubs and other plants with long-reaching roots could eventually suffer stress from salt contamination. We do not recommend salt as a herbicide!

You can ask a perennial gardening question of your own by clicking the "Ask an Expert" link on the top of this newsletter. Due to time constraints, please — no questions on flowering shrubs, trees, evergreens, lawns, hydrangeas, roses, etc.

QUESTION: "I bought one of those Spiral Rush plants this spring and have it growing in a pot in my pond. Any suggestions on what to do with it for the winter?" Cindy — Columbus, Ohio

ANSWER: With this plant you have a couple of choices. You might try sinking the pot into the ground outdoors in a sheltered location. Come spring, trim it back to about 3 inches to get rid of any dead or damaged foliage, then plunk the whole pot back in the pond.

You are welcome to define yourself in whichever group fits you best, but here are our recommendations... and all rules are easily and harmlessly broken if your itchy trigger fingers insist.

• Tall autumn-flowering grasses: These mostly look spectacular right now and as the weather cools they develop their almond-tones for winter, with plumes still held aloft well past the New Year. Wait to trim until early to mid spring, if you can. These can have great winter effect but that's a subjective thing, up to each gardener to decide for themselves. If you prefer to look at cut-down stalks, trim them down to 4 inches whenever you want. Pictured above is one of this group, Miscanthus sinensis 'Malepartus'.
• Edging or border-front grasses: Blue Fescue is a classic example. These truly want to stay evergreen for the winter, and we recommend leaving them alone until spring, then using scissors to trim off any brown or damaged leaves. In no time they grow new foliage during the cool spring weather.
• Midsized grasses, middle of the border: Switch Grass fits into this group. They still look great in late fall, but any sort of major snow or ice storm will have them flattened during the winter and looking a mess. The answer might be to trim these down to 4 inches once your ground freezes hard, or on some sunny winter day when you need to get outside and do something.
• Evergreen Sedges: The very popular Japanese Sedges and also the strange bronzy types from New Zealand (I call them "everdead") also want to remain evergreen. We suggest leaving them alone and giving a light trim in spring only if they look shabby. They grow best anyhow in regions like the Pacific Northwest where winter snowcover is sketchy at best, and they continue to look great all winter.

Tell us why you think the product is cool, and if possible a web link to a manufacturer or supplier would be great.

We will pick the three best entries, and each will receive a signed copy of the Perennial Gardening Guide. Winners will be announced in the November newsletter, along with a sampling of the cool gadgets and sources whenever possible.

Our best-selling book, the Perennial Gardening Guide (4th edition, March 2003) is a handy reference used by gardeners across North America — written by John Valleau, horticulturist for Heritage Perennials®. Available at your local Heritage Perennials® Dealer.