Fall News
Article
FALL IN THE PERENNIAL GARDEN
Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor, and
Andrea Luchini, Graduate Assistant
University of Vermont
Fall in the perennial garden is the time to start getting your garden ready for winter. If you’ve planned your garden well, there still should be some plants flowering, such as Autumn Joy sedum and fall asters. A garden that has been well-maintained all summer shouldn’t require much work in the fall. However, if you’ve let your garden get overgrown and weedy, now is the time to clean it up.
Continue to keep up with dead-heading (cutting off spent flowers), de-leafing (removing dead or diseased leaves), and weeding. We usually like to wait until spring to cut back perennial leaves and stems. Many have a nice fall and winter effect (many ornamental grasses and bee balm), may provide seeds (asters, joe pye weed) or habitats (grasses) for wildlife, and will recycle nutrients back into the soil. Since spring is usually very busy, you may want to cut back in fall just to save time. Especially cut back any perennials, such as some daylilies, whose foliage has become unattractive.
You may have noticed some of your spring and summer flowering plants have grown a clump of green leaves at their base (called rosettes) after they were done blooming. Plants of this type include Oriental poppy, tickseed, jacob’s ladder, sage, and foamflower. Don’t cut those small rosettes back for the winter as plants will grow from these next spring.
There are certain perennials which are considered evergreen and also should not be cut back in the fall. These include bugleweed, rock cress, sea thrift, wormwood, heart-leaf saxifrage, pinks, barrenwort, spurge, hellebore, coralbells, dead nettle, creeping phlox, some primrose, lungwort, saxifrage, creeping sedum, hens and chicks, and thyme.
In early fall, spring flowering (and maybe some summer flowering) plants can be divided and transplanted. Don’t wait too long, though, because plants need to become established and well-rooted before the winter. If you didn’t get to it in late summer, you can divide your Oriental poppies, bearded iris, and peonies now.
Now that the heat of summer is over it is a good time to plant if you didn’t get it all done in spring, or if you bought more! Don’t forget to plant some spring flowering bulbs now too. Most hardy ones are perennial, except for most tulips. Daffodils are a good choice if you have deer nearby, as they wont bother these bulbs or flowers.
Take a walk around your gardens and write down ideas for next year and plants that will need dividing in the spring. It also might be good to notice what plants worked and which ones didn’t do so well and note what the environment was like for that plant (dry or moist soil, sun or shade, etc.). If a plant really didn’t do well and you know you want to get rid of it, throw it out now to allow room for something new in the spring.
If you want to create new beds next year, now is a good time to cut the sod. If the area is small you can probably dig the sod yourself. For larger areas, a sod-cutter might be helpful. Check rental shops for these. Add compost to this new bed and work it in to start preparing the soil for spring planting. Add lime if called for by a soil test.
It is probably not best to fertilize plants in the fall as they don’t need to get any extra boost in growing, but adding compost may be a good idea. Compost adds organic matter to the soil, helping to create a healthy environment for your plants, as well as to add some nutrition.
Sometimes stores will have left over mulches and sell it cheaper than they would in the spring. You can buy some and spread it now, or pile it up and save it for spring.
If you like to give your plants extra winter protection, that can be done late in the fall, before the snow begins. In areas that get ample snow cover, winter covering is probably not necessary. Snow acts as a natural insulator and will keep the plants near freezing. If you’ve chosen the right plants for your climate, they should make it through the winter with little or no injury. If you have tender plants that you want to give a little added protection, you can cover with straw (not hay), pine needles, leaves (shredded, or else they may compact), evergreen boughs, or wood chips.
Still have some time? Then you could even edge your beds now to be ready for spring. Finally, clean and store your tools and roll up your hoses (make sure to get all the water out). Sharpen hoes with special files you can find at hardware or complete garden stores. Make sure you’ve cleaned and properly stored power equipment as well.