Gardeners get a second chance in the fall.
That’s the time to take a fresh look at the plans you made in spring and put a final polish on your garden.
The tempo in the garden changes after Labor Day, but it doesn’t have to skip a beat. Mild temperatures revive summer plantings fatigued by the heat, and autumn- blooming flowers add dazzling colors to the palette. It’s a lot like spring, but without the frenzy.
“Fall is the best time to fix all the mistakes I’ve made” during the spring and summer, says Michael Petrie, owner of Handmade Gardens in Downington, Pa., near Philadelphia. “Sometimes it’s a misunderstanding between me and a plant — now we’ve gone through one season together, and I’ve learned what doesn’t work, or what needs to be adjusted.”
Petrie’s 20-odd years in the retail garden business have taught him that fall is one of the best times of the year for digging, dividing, transplanting and working on the finer points of garden design.
“I’m not a fan of gardening when it’s 90 degrees,” he says. “In the fall, there’s not so much stress, for you or for plants.”
Perennials are often on sale at garden shops in the fall, and trees and shrubs may be marked down. Lots of garden shops also restock. You’ll find mums and asters in abundance, but they’re only part of what you can expect.
“These days gardeners are looking for something besides the traditional mums and gourds and kale,” says Laura Geoghegan of Proven Winners, a company that develops and distributes plants chosen especially for their fall interest and cool-season performance.
“You want to go with the season,” Geoghegan says, “and there are lots of choices for yellows and oranges, dark maroons and for spicing the garden up with fall reds.”
The colorful daisy-faced flowers of Osteospermums last a long time in fall, when nighttime temperatures are a little cooler. Ornamental grasses are at their best when the angle of the sun gets a little lower and backlights their feathery inflorescences.
The variety of mums, asters and pansies grows every year, but Geoghegan suggests mixing them with something new, too.
She recommends freshening up fall flowerpots with unexpected combinations of flowers and foliage plants. Coral bells (Heuchera), ajuga and euphorbias — all perennial plants with handsome foliage that flourish in pots — are great companions for annuals, she says. Hybridizers have expanded the palette of coral bells, introducing varieties with soft chartreuse foliage, brilliant orange leaves and two-tone leaves that seem to glow like embers.
‘”They have that fall look,” Geoghegan says, “and mixed with super bells, you have a beautiful combo.”
Fall is also the perfect time of year to begin a collaboration with someone who works full time to help gardeners realize their dreams. The garden is at its fullest — maybe a little overgrown, or perhaps a little thin in places — and it’s easy to recognize the trouble spots.
In spring, designers and gardeners are rushed along by the season, but in the fall, there’s time to step back and think about how to use the spaces in the garden better.
“A garden designer can help you look at your landscape and understand what you want it to do and get it organized,” Petrie says.
Fall, of course, reminds us that there is more to plants than flowers. It is a good time to make plans for the spring, to get a jump on next year.
Now that you’ve been out walking around in your garden all spring and summer, you’ll have a good idea where to lay down a line of stepping stones, for example.
This is also the time to get rid of that struggling rose or to dig out an aggressive, spreading perennial. Root it out now to make room for something better. Put up a trellis to add architectural interest through the winter. And as the days get a little cooler, a new garden bench will be all the more tempting.
Garden-fresh ideas for fall
It’s not too late to put good design ideas to work, says Michael Petrie, owner of Handmade Gardens (handmadegardens.net). A bench, a patio, a new path or a piece of garden art will give you great pleasure the rest of the season and in the years to come.
If you can arrange furniture and hang pictures, you can design your own garden, Petrie says, but don’t hesitate to call a professional designer for some fresh ideas.
This is a great time of year to plant trees and shrubs. “Trees do things in a landscape that little plants just don’t accomplish,” Petrie says. They soften and frame the architecture of your home, shape your views and, in general, anchor and define the landscape.
Flowerpots add bright spots of color all the way through the fall. If you’re not sure how to plant combinations in pots, walk around a garden shop and experiment with combinations in your shopping basket before you buy — or try just one spectacular plant in a pot by itself. Proven Winners offers suggestions on its website, .
Perennials flourish in pots year round in mild climates. In cold-winter areas, move them to a protected place for the winter. They’ll be bigger and better next year.
