VOA慢速英语2021--秋天是修整花园的好时节

Should You Replant Flowers in Autumn?

Nobody ever said gardening offers immediate¹ results.

That is what Lee Reich warns in his latest report in a series for the Associated Press about gardening.

With this limitation² in mind, he dug up one of his flower beds recently.

For plants, autumn is a good time for a flower-bed makeover. A makeover changes the appearance of something almost completely, so it looks a lot better.

During the autumn, cooler temperatures slow water loss from leaves. This means that plants can better deal with being taken out of the ground and roughed up before having their roots placed back into soil. Leaves help support new root growth, helping³ the plants re-establish themselves in their new homes.

However, if you gave most plants this kind of rough treatment in the summer, most would die.

Why a makeover might be needed

The major reason for Reich's flower-bed makeover was some Siberian irises⁵ that had grown wildly. They threatened to take over the whole bed. It might be that you cannot have too many iris⁴ flowers, but after the flowers disappear, you surely can have too many iris leaves. His were taking up space where other, later flowering plants could be beautifying the garden.

The same could be said for the daffodils in that bed. Both Irises and daffodils grow from round bulbs. They found the bed much to their liking⁶, and created many more bulbs year after year.

They presented a glorious⁷ and welcome sea of yellow each spring. But the yellowing leaves that followed were a sorry sight for too long. At least the iris leaves looked orderly⁸ the whole season.

Autumn is also a good time for a flower-bed makeover. That is because any planting mistakes -- lack of midsummer flowers, poor color combinations⁹ or too many irises and daffodils -- are still fresh in mind.

In addition, Reich's bed suffered from becoming too much of a disordered mix of flowering plants. It had become a home, although it was supposed to be only a temporary one, for many flowers that he had been given or had bought without any thought.

Make a plan

Diving into this chance to redo the whole flower garden, Reich made a plan on paper. A good idea is to draw a bird's-eye view of what the garden should look like from above. This shows where in the garden each of the flowers should be planted. But also draw a human's-eye view — that is, the garden as you would see it from ground level.

In this human's-eye view, Reich was able to imagine a pleasant mixture of irises, delphiniums and gayfeathers, asters, spireas and black-eyed Susans. Including a butterfly bush and baby's-breath flowers would -- Reich hoped -- bring everything together.

Then the actual work began. To thin out plants like irises, he used a garden tool to dig beneath the thick group of plants and lift them out. Once out of the ground he cut the group down the center and pulled it apart. He replanted parts of the clump¹⁰ and gave away the rest to a fellow gardener for planting.

And the daffodils? He just dug them up, separated the bulbs by hand, and replanted the largest ones.

Readying the bed for winter and next year

Reich watered everything well to make certain that the roots started to grow as soon as possible.

After that, he put about five centimeters of small wood pieces, or chips, over everything -- except for the delphiniums. He added compost before putting the chips around those plants because they need fertile¹¹ soil to grow.

Wood chips are a kind of mulch, or soil covering, that keep the soil from drying out. It also keeps soil temperatures from dropping as low in the winter or changing too fast. That means mulch gives roots more time to grow before temperatures start to freeze. And it prevents freezing conditions from pushing new plants out of the ground.

For gardeners, there is a downside to autumn flower-bed makeovers.

The bed looks a little forlorn from the autumn through the winter because you have dug it up and the plants are not ready to grow. But everything will look fresh in the spring.

Yes, it is true gardeners can wait until spring for a makeover. But there are many other things to attend to in the spring garden!

Words in This Story

roughed up –v. (phrasal) to hit, strike or beat something; to treat harshly¹²

bulb –n. a round, underground part of a plant that grows into a new plant in the next growing season; a round object

glorious –adj. something that should be famous; something that is beautiful or very enjoyable

bird's-eye view –idiom seen from above or as a bird would see it

clump –n. a somewhat¹³ round mass of something

compost –n. a mixture of plants and organic¹⁴ material that is breaking down and that improves soil

forlorn –adj. sad, lonely or hopeless; empty or in poor condition

1 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

2 limitation   

n.限制；局限

参考例句：

• I am willing to accept certain limitation on my freedom.我愿意接受对我自由的某些限制。
• We shall continue to work for the limitation of nuclear arms.我们将继续为限制核子武器而努力。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 iris   

n.虹膜，彩虹

参考例句：

• The opening of the iris is called the pupil.虹膜的开口处叫做瞳孔。
• This incredible human eye,complete with retina and iris,can be found in the Maldives.又是在马尔代夫，有这样一只难以置信的眼睛，连视网膜和虹膜都刻画齐全了。

5 irises   

n.虹( iris的名词复数 )；虹膜；虹彩；鸢尾（花）

参考例句：

• The cottage gardens blaze with irises, lilies and peonies. 村舍花园万紫千红，鸢尾、百合花和牡丹竞相争艳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The irises were of flecked grey. 虹膜呈斑驳的灰色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

7 glorious   

adj.美丽的，辉煌的；荣耀的

参考例句：

• It is a glorious thing to die for the people.为人民而死，虽死犹荣！
• We had a glorious time at the seaside.我们在海边度过了愉快的时光。

8 orderly   

adj.有秩序的，整齐的，一丝不苟的，和平的；adv.有秩序地，有条理地，依次地；n.勤务兵，（医院的）勤务工

参考例句：

• It's an orderly room.这是个整洁的房间。
• The books are in orderly rows on shelves.书籍整齐地排列在书架上。

9 combinations   

n.合作( combination的名词复数 )；密码组合；联合体；排列

参考例句：

• The music students are learning how to score tunes for various combinations. 学音乐的学生把曲调改编为各种器乐组曲。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some antigens, or combinations of antigens, are much more potent than others. 某些抗原或者联合抗原可比其它抗原作用强得多。 来自辞典例句

10 clump   

n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走

参考例句：

• A stream meandered gently through a clump of trees.一条小溪从树丛中蜿蜒穿过。
• It was as if he had hacked with his thick boots at a clump of bluebells.仿佛他用自己的厚靴子无情地践踏了一丛野风信子。

11 fertile   

adj.肥沃的，富饶的；多产的，丰产的

参考例句：

• The district is fertile of wheat.该地区盛产小麦。
• Plants grow well in fertile soil.植物在肥沃的土壤里长势良好。

12 harshly   

ad.严厉地；苛刻地

参考例句：

• The grit beneath her soles grated harshly on the wooden deck. 粘在她鞋底的沙砾蹭在木甲板上发出刺耳的声音。
• We should not judge the young writers too harshly. 我们不应当对青年作家太苛求。

13 somewhat   

pron.一些，某物；adv.多少，几分

参考例句：

• The cake we made was somewhat of a failure.我们做的蛋糕不大成功。
• The two office buildings are somewhat alike in appearance.这两座办公楼在外形上有点相似。

14 organic   

adj.有机的，有机物的；有组织的

参考例句：

• Organic farming is expanding everywhere.有机农业正在各地迅速发展起来。
• The organic fertilizer shall keep the soil in good heart.这有机肥一定会使土壤保持肥沃。