(Part one of this column published yesterday.)
By Jennifer Fairfield, owner Garden Mill
Flower Garden/Trees and Shrubs
Early fall is a great time for planting perennials, trees and shrubs. The cool weather lets them get going without the stress of the heat of summer, but there is still enough warmth for them to get roots established before winter sets in. Some other things to do for your flowers, shrubs, and trees.
Dig up tender bulbs, such as dahlias, cannas, and gladiolas around the end of the month – before we get any heavy frost. Dry them and store them in a cool dry spot covered with peat for the winter so they’ll be ready for replanting next spring. If you don’t feel like going to that trouble, you can treat them as annuals, and plant new ones in the spring.
Divide and replant (or gift them to friends) perennials that have outgrown their space or are looking a little bare at the middle.
Replace warm-weather annuals with cool loving ones, like mums, asters, and pansies for beautiful color well into the cold weather season. Also consider mixing in some non-flower fall plants, like ornamental kale and cabbage.
Plant spring bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, crocus, and alliums around the end of the month or early October, depending on when we get our first frost. They can be planted all the way up until the ground freezes, but I recommend planting them soon after we’ve gotten our first couple of frosts, so they have time to get established before the ground freezes, but not so early that they start putting out shoots, because it’s still warm.
After we have gotten some frost (and this may be an early October chore, rather than September, but you never know in Michigan), add mulch to your perennials, trees and shrubs to help protect them from the freeze-thaw cycles we tend to get in the winter. You want to keep these plants consistently cool all winter so that they don’t get fooled into thinking it’s time to start growing again when we get a mid-winter thaw and so that their roots don’t get harmed by frost heave.
Stop fertilizing trees and shrubs so that they don’t put out new shoots that will be too young and tender to withstand winter’s cold.
Don’t prune any shrubs or trees at this time for the same reason – it promotes new growth that doesn’t have enough time to harden off before winter. Dead, diseased, or broken branches are the exception to this rule – they can be pruned pretty much any time.
Don’t stop weeding now. The more weeds you get rid of now, the fewer you’ll have next spring. Letting annual weeds go to seed means those seeds will pop up next year, and you’ll have even more weeds to deal with. Leaving perennial weeds gives them all fall and early spring to put down more roots and spread further come spring. It’s not the most fun thing to do in the garden, but it is one of the most rewarding.
Feathered friends
Clean out bird houses to get rid of pests and debris. Some birds will use houses left out in the winter for shelter during cold nights, so consider leaving them out all winter. Just be prepared to clean them out again in the late winter or very early spring, before the nesting birds come looking for a new home in the spring.
If you haven’t been feeding the birds all summer, now is the time to start up again. Lots of birds are on the move – migrating through on their way to their winter hang-outs – and can use as much additional food as you care to give them for their journey. They spend a lot of energy looking for things to eat in the wild, and that extra energy can be the difference in making it all the way to their winter home or not.
For the same reason, keep your birdbaths out, cleaned, and filled until we get heavy frosts (or beyond, if your birdbath is freeze tolerant). Consider adding a heating element to your birdbath so that you can supply those that stick around all winter with a source of water.
Also leave your hummingbird feeders out until well into October to help those guys make their long journey. If the temps are going below freezing at night, bring the feeder indoors for the night, and put it back out in the morning, so you don’t chance it freezing and cracking.
