Garden Guide: Your autumn garden checklist

Autumn is here and the landscape is changing! Cooler days and longer nights are triggering our late season flowers to bloom while our other plants get ready to sleep. Here are a few things you need to know.

Don’t prune flowering shrubs

Late summer is a great time to prune plants, but now that we are less than eight weeks before our average first freeze date, it’s best to hold off on pruning most shrubs and trees. Hydrangeas, rhododendron, camellias, and azaleas are setting their flower buds for their spring and summer shows and you’ll cut off next year’s flowers if you prune now.

Pruning also triggers plants to grow which is a problem because they should be slowing down. Tender new growth is less resistant to winter weather.

While this advice is a general good rule, there are exceptions. Trees can be pruned in autumn, and should be pruned when they are dormant for winter.

Be selective about fertilizer

Most fertilizer encourages growth and that’s something we want to avoid this time of the year. If you’d like to give your plants a nutritional boost, choose a fertilizer with phosphorus or something labeled for building strong roots. A slow release fertilizer will give you the best results.

Plant chrysanthemums early

Mums are a favorite autumn annual, that often gets tossed at the end of the season, but they will come back year after year with just a little extra attention. Plant these early in the season and in large containers (or right in the ground). This will give the plants time to build strong roots to support them over the winter.

Don’t clean up (too much!)

There’s nothing wrong with a little yard maintenance as the leaves fall down, but you should leave them as mulch to keep your plants safe from temperature extremes (and give pollinators a place to sleep for winter). Old flower stems from plants like echinacea(cone flowers) are a great source of food for birds. It’s one of their favorite native plants!

Start a tasty new garden!

Kale, cabbage, lettuce, and plenty of other leafy greens love these cooler days. Plant these early in the season for a Thanksgiving harvest. During mild years, or with a cold frame, these veggies will survive the winter. Enjoy!