Fall Gardening Tasks

10 Fall Gardening Tasks to Make Your Garden Sing Next Spring

It’s been a beautiful summer…and now you smell a hint of fall in the air and your thoughts are turning to pumpkins and warm cozy nights by the fire. Still, it’s not time to hang up your rake until the last gardening tasks of the season are complete. Here are ten essential fall tasks to finish before the snow flies

1. Evaluate your garden spaces

Take a good look at your garden. Where could you add new plants to create a private, outdoor oasis? How can you extend your garden’s season-long color, or add winter interest? Whether you choose to plant now or later, fall is a great time to plan and prepare your outdoor areas so you can jump right into garden projects next spring.

2. Divide and conquer.

Decide which plants need to be divided and/or moved to a better spot. Many plants will tolerate this activity just fine in the fall. Just be sure to have the spot where you want to transplant ready so you can drop the plant into its new home as soon as it’s uprooted.

3. Rid annuals from containers.

It was a great run, but by the time fall rolls around, it’s time for the annuals to go and to clean and store your pots away for winter. Healthy annuals can be composted.

4. Cut perennials back.

Once your perennials have gone dormant, it’s a good idea to clean at least some of their foliage out of garden beds. This is especially important around plants like hostas that have received slug damage during the growing season.

Wait until spring to prune shrubs, especially hydrangeas. A good rule of thumb for these bodacious bloomers is, when in doubt, don’t prune! Although panicle hydrangeas like Limelight Prime® and smooth hydrangeas like Incrediball® can be cut back by 1/3 every spring without affecting flowering, it isn’t strictly necessary to prune hydrangeas. You can leave their flowers intact for winter interest, and simply dead head them in the spring.

5. Dispose of diseased foliage; compost the rest.

While most of the annuals emptied from pots and cut back foliage

can go in your compost pile, you don’t want to risk spreading diseases back into your garden in the spring. Bag and seal any diseased plant material and dispose of it in the trash. 7. Don’t forget the bulbs!

Get those spring flowering bulbs in the ground now and you’ll be rewarded with bright, cheerful color next year, when winter subsides. Tulips, daffodils, crocuses,

and more are already on display at your local garden center. Pair them with small shrubs like dwarf butterfly bush, and perennials like hostas or catmint, so the bulbs’ foliage will be hidden by the time they go dormant.

Oso Easy Double Red Rose Photos courtesy of Proven Winners. Hydrangea Fire Light Tidbit

Spiraea Double Play Doozie

6. Fall is for planting!

Still-warm soil and relatively cool air temperatures promote healthy root growth in plants that return each year. Although broadleaf evergreens like azaleas and boxwood should wait until spring, you can plant many varieties of shrubs and perennials up to 6 weeks before your ground freezes. The date that your ground actually freezes varies from year to year, of course, and some areas won’t have frozen ground at all. If you’re unsure, mid-November is a safe planting deadline for nearly everyone.

Invincibelle Wee White

8. Provide supplemental water.

Autumn weather can be quite cool and rainy, but that doesn’t mean that new plantings should be ignored, particularly if weather has been dry and/or windy. Water all plants thoroughly after planting, and continue to water them as needed until the ground freezes. 9. Mulch.

Just as you pile on blankets and quilts when the temperatures dip, mulch acts as insulation for plants. While even established plants benefit from a nice layer of mulch, newly planted specimens especially appreciate the protection it offers from the challenges of winter. Shredded leaves make an excellent mulch for this purpose.

10. Bring the outdoors in.

Fall is the perfect time to gather cut branches and dried flowers from the garden to use in your indoor decorating projects. Hydrangea flowers, colorful branches, and plants with seed pods can all be brought indoors this time of year.

When you are just starting out, knowing when to plant can be intimidating. But don’t worry, Mother Nature is really pretty forgiving. The perfect time to plant isn’t just one or two days. Prime planting time goes on for weeks. So, relax, enjoy the sunshine and feel the dirt in your hands!

Feeling inspired?

Here are four Proven Winners® ColorChoice® shrubs that are perfect for fall planting:

Roses (Rosa) Try the Oso Easy® line of beautiful, low maintenance, disease resistant, roses. Oso Easy Double Red® rose is 3-4’ tall and wide and hardy down to zone 4.

Smooth hydrangeas (Hydrangea arborescens) Try the Invincibelle® line of super-hardy hydrangeas. Invincibelle Wee White® hydrangea is just 1-2.5’ tall and wide and is hardy down to zone 3.

Panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata) Try Fire Light Tidbit® (USDA 3-8) It’s the smallest panicle hydrangea on the market, reaching heights/widths of just 2-3’, so it will fit just about anywhere!

Spirea (Spiraea) Try Double Play Doozie®, which reblooms all summer without shearing. It reaches heights/ widths of 3’ and is hardy down to USDA zone 3.

NATALIE CARMOLLI Avid Gardener

Natalie is rooted in horticulture, having worked in the family floral business until college, where she earned her degree in fine and theatrical arts. Now, an avid gardener, writer, and public speaker for Spring Meadow Nursery, Natalie delights in sharing her expertise and enthusiasm about the art of gardening, using Proven Winners® ColorChoice® flowering shrubs.