By Jennifer Fairfield
(Publisher’s note: Part 1 of this column published yesterday.)
Flowers, Trees & Shrubs:
- Our recent storms left a lot of damaged trees in their wake. If your trees were among them, make sure you trim off any broken branches or limbs to prevent further damage to your trees. Generally, the best time to trim trees is in the winter, when they are dormant, so that you don’t risk attracting insects (and disease) to wounds. The exception to that rule is when you have damaged or dead branches. Broken branches and limbs left dangling can cause more damage to your trees if we get more storms, or when ice or snow weigh them down over the winter. So, trim them now (or have them trimmed by a professional, if they are out of your reach). If the damage is to an oak tree, be sure to treat the cut with a water-based paint or wound sealer immediately after pruning so that you aren’t attracting insects that carry Oak Wilt disease, which is deadly to oaks.
- September is a great time to plant new perennials, trees, and shrubs. Take advantage of the sales many garden centers have at this time of year, and get plants in early so that they have time to get their roots established before cold weather sets in. Until the ground freezes, be sure that your new plants are getting plenty of water – either from Mother Nature or you – since the roots are not very good at taking water up from the soil until the plants get well established. Once the ground freezes, give them a good layer of mulch to help keep the soil temperature consistent throughout the winter.
- If your container plants are starting to fade, pull them out and replace them with fall plants, such as mums, asters (September’s official flower), and pansies. We will have mums start to come in over the next couple of weeks and asters and pansies will be ready shortly after that, according to our local growers. Ornamental cabbage and kale also make great fall displays and should start coming in about the same time as the mums. One thing to keep in mind with mums – if you want them to last into the fall, don’t buy fully flowering ones too soon. The ones that are flowering now will be spent before fall really gets going, so either buy them before they start to fully flower, wait until after about mid-September to buy them, or plan to get some now and then some more later, in order to have beautifully-blooming mums throughout the season.
- Fall-planting bulbs will start to come into the store mid-month this month, with others arriving in early October. Plant spring-blooming bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, crocus, and hyacinths after we’ve had a couple of frosts, but before the ground is frozen. Don’t forget to add bone meal when planting bulbs, to encourage root growth. Bulbs can also be potted up in containers and forced for an early spring burst of color. We have information at the store on how to force all kinds of bulbs – just ask, and we will be happy to email it to you.
- As it cools down, and perennials start to fade, it’s a great time to divide and transplant those that have outgrown their space or started to get thin at the center.
- If you put house plants outside for the summer, treat them with a pesticide meant for indoor plants before bringing them back inside. A few pests now can turn into an invasion in short order, and nobody wants that in their house!
Lawn:
- September is a good month for getting your lawn in shape. One task to get done this month is to fill in bare spots on the lawn by overseeding. Iowa State University’s Extension Service offers helpful information on how and when to overseed.
- De-thatching your lawn is also a good thing to do now. Penn State University’s Extension Service published a thorough article earlier this year on what thatch is and how to deal with it.
- With our unusually rainy August, lawns really shouldn’t be showing patches of brown now – at least not due to the dry conditions that we usually see in August. If you have patches of lawn that are still brown when the rest of the lawn looks good, it’s possible that you have a pest problem. MSU’s Extension Service provides tips on determining what the problem is and what to do about it.
- If you only fertilize your lawn once per year, now is the time to do it, to encourage good root growth before winter. If you fertilize throughout the season, a September application should be your final one for the year.
- Continue to mow your lawn while it’s growing, which will be the case until we start getting significant frost. The Michigan State University Extension Service’s “Smart Gardening” program suggests mowing to a height of between 3.5” and 4” for the best protection against weeds and grubs.
Birds:
- Some overwintering birds will use houses left out in the winter for shelter during cold nights, so consider leaving your bird houses out all winter long. Clean out leftover nesting debris now to give them room for roosting over the winter, but remember to clean the houses out again in the late winter, before nesting birds come looking for a new home in the spring.
- Lots of birds are on the move now, both coming here for the winter from further north and going south after having spent the summer here. If you haven’t been feeding all summer, start putting out food now to help them with their journey. Migrating birds spend a lot of energy looking for things to eat in the wild, and the extra energy they get from your food offerings can make the difference in their ability to make it all the way to their winter home. For those birds that stick around here for the winter, natural sources of food will start to dwindle as the temps begin to fall, so what you provide can help them make it through the cold months.
- Also keep your birdbaths out, cleaned, and filled until we start to get freezing temperatures. You can leave your birdbath out all winter long if it is freeze tolerant or you use a de-icer.
- Leave hummingbird feeders out until well into October to help those beauties make their long journey. Most of the hummers that have been visiting feeders around here all summer will be gone by mid- to late-September, but others that spend the summer further north may still be making their way south as late as October and will be grateful for the offering. To keep them from cracking, bring hummer feeders in at night if the temperature is predicted to fall below freezing.
- Have you ever seen Chimney Swifts chattering and diving about in the evening? If not, you’re missing out on a great show – they’re a lot of fun to watch! Unfortunately, these beautiful birds have been in decline for years. Fortunately, Chelsea has a swift roosting spot at the old post office at the south-west corner of Main and South streets – now home to Ann Arbor Pediatric Dentistry. You can see these amazing birds in action right before sunset any evening this month. By early- to mid-October, they will head south for the winter, so be sure to check them out before they’re gone.
