Written by Carolyn Altman

Brassicas like cabbage and kale make great winter ornamentals.

Pansies add color to a garden and delight to a salad.

Why Plant in Fall?

WRITTEN BY CAROLYN ALTMAN

TTypically, new gardeners are born in spring, shovel in hand, eager to transform. Gardeners with a little more soil under their nails know, however, that autumn is an excellent time to plant, and that there is a wide range of plant material that can brighten the landscape for the coming winter, add beauty and value to one’s property, and even feed the family.

There are many advantages to fall planting, some for people and some for plants. It’s nicer to work outside in a soft flannel shirt than to be fighting off gnats and mosquitoes. Gardening requires endurance, and the likelihood of completing a project is greater if heat stroke isn’t involved. There is also great shopping, since plant sellers know that in general, fall is a more merciful time for plants in the South.

Plants work hard to survive our summer heat. In cooler months, they can slow down a little. Cooler weather means a decrease in the demand for water,

which means less work for you. Molds and insects are less of an issue in the colder months, and if we are lucky, we will have a few cold weeks that will set pest populations back. In the shortening daylight of fall and winter, plants shift energy from branches and leaves to root production. Treasures planted in the fall will be more established and able to cope once temperatures begin to climb, since they will have had that much more time to spread roots.

There’s a sweet spot of time when the soil is still warm and the truly cold days are not yet here. According to the tables of the National Gardening Association and the experience of the Botanic Garden staff, it will be December before Statesboro experiences temperatures in the 30s. That means there is a good month or more to get plants in the ground so they can take advantage of the warm soil before they settle in for the winter.

Trees and shrubs do extremely well when planted in the fall. As long as one remembers to water them, they spend the winter rooting in and gaining strength so they can send forth leaves and flowers in spring.

There are many edibles that can color your garden and fill your belly during the winter. Curves of foot-long red, yellow, and green leaves of rainbow chard provide interest and color, and it only takes a leaf or two to make a nice salad. Kale shapes and colors abound, and the young leaves are tasty when steamed with garlic. Broccoli can be a pretty spectacular specimen flower, which sweetens up with a little cold or frost. Pansies can fill both a garden and a salad bowl with edible color. Many herbs, including rosemary, parsley, and mint grow just fine through a Bulloch County winter, and add flavor and interest to all sorts of dishes.

Root vegetables do well in winter, and are particularly gratifying to grow. After all, it is a wondrous thing for child or adult to pull on some ordinary looking greens and end up with a deep red beet. Easter egg radishes in gold, pink, and red are a quick and easy crop that can be planted throughout the winter. A freshly pulled carrot tastes rich and sweet. Winemakers speak of terroir, the unique combination of minerals and nutrients that give fruits grown in a certain soil their unique flavors. After spending time underground in your garden, winter root vegetables will offer flavor unmatched by anything packed in grocery plastic.

Fall can also be a good time to plant spring blooming bulbs. Before you get too excited, do know that some bulbs like tulips and hyacinth require long periods of cold that our southern climate does not offer. But other bulbs do well, including various types of daffodils, hardy amaryllis (Hippeostrum X johnsonii), and ornamental allium (onions), and snowdrops (Leucojum sp.), prolific white bells with a green dot on each dainty petal, as if painted by fairies. If you are a risk taker, you can plant caladium and hope they will not rot over the winter; in fact, before you plant any bulbs in the south, make sure your soil drains well. At the Garden, we used to pull caladium up every year and replant in the spring, but they have spread so successfully that we now leave them in the ground and are thrilled to see them emerge every year.

Summer flowers are bright eye candy, but the rich colors and textures of the cooler months offer serious pleasure. So don your jeans and your flannel, and enjoy the bright, leaf-scented days of fall. S

Find an extensive list of fall plants, their features, and cultivation requirements at http://tiny.cc/plantsale.

Many will be available Botanic Garden’s Fall Plant Sale, November 6th and 7th. GeorgiaSouthern.edu/garden

Trees, like this Japanese maple, do well when planted in fall.