Trees and Shrubs

• If the month is dry, watch for watering needs during dry spells so that trees and shrubs will go into dormancy well hydrated – especially newly planted or transplanted ones.  Evergreens – both the conifers and the broadleaf types – are particularly vulnerable to winterburn from lack of hydration.
• Trees and shrubs can be planted until the ground freezes.  And lots of them are on sale or reduced in the garden centers (like Behnkes!).
• Fall is also a good time to fertilize trees and shrubs (up until the ground freezes).  Newly planted and very young trees and shrubs benefit the most from tree fertilization, also trees that haven’t been fed for 3-4 years and seem to be growing slowly.  (It’s rarely necessary to fertilize a full-grown tree.)  Apply a granular, low-phosphorus fertilizer under the tree’s canopy and 8-10 feet out from the canopy.  Trees that are surrounded by lawn get some fertilizer when the lawn is fed, so probably don’t need additional feeding.
• Deciduous (leaf-dropping) trees can be pruned this month after they drop their leaves and go into dormancy – it’ll be easier to see the structure of branches and determine what pruning needs to be done. Begin pruning by removing all dead, diseased branches and then make any necessary cosmetic cuts.  Don’t prune spring-flowering shrubs now, though (except to remove dead or broken branches) or you’ll just cut off their blooms. Wait til just after they’ve bloomed to do it.  Be sure to use sharp pruners or loppers; otherwise the could may not heal properly, leading to disease and insect problems.  And remember, try not to remove more than one third of the overall branches of a tree or shrub at any one time.
• Don’t prune evergreens (conifers or broadleaf types like Photinia) now – wait until late winter or early spring (March or April).
• Don’t worry if your rhododendrons or conifers are showing yellowing and dropping of some of their interior older leaves – that’s normal for this time of year.

Edibles

• Spinach, lettuce, arugula, kale, and other cool-season crops can be protected from freezing with a cold frame, plastic sheeting or floating row cover to extend their productivity.  Be sure to vent the cold frame or plastic cover on sunny days to prevent excessive heat build-up.
• Carrots, parsnips, and turnips can be over-wintered by covering the bed with a deep straw or leaf mulch.   These root crops can be harvested through the winter, as needed.
• Spinach can even be sown this month, for early spring harvest.
• Plant garlic soon after the first frost.
• This is a good time to incorporate organic matter (like composted manure) into garden beds.   Speaking of organic matter, you can use shredded leaves to keep the beds covered over the winter to minimize the risk of soil erosion and nutrient run-off.  The leaves can be tilled into the garden in spring or left in place as a mulch between rows of vegetables.
• Alternatively, grow a cover crop to improve the soil for the next season and protect the soil from erosion and run-off all winter.  Clover is great as a cover crop – it fixes nitrogen – drawing it from the air and putting it into the soil. Annual Rye grass is another great option – when turned under in the spring it adds organic matter and the roots break down the heavy compacted clay soils.
• Remove all dead and weak herb plants from the garden. Dried herbs should be stored in a cool, dark location.

Outdoor Bulbs, including Tender “Bulbs”

• It’s not too late to plant spring-blooming bulbs like tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths.  If you can’t get to them all right away, do the daffodils and small bulbs as soon as possible; the tulips can wait until December if need be – as long as the ground isn’t frozen.
• Dig cannas, dahlias and other tender bulb-like plants before the killing frost if you want to save them for next year and store them in a cool dry place.  After the frost has turned the foliage black, cut the tops back to 2-3″ (or for cannas and dahlias, 4-6″), dig up the “bulb”, brush off the soil and let it dry for 1-3 weeks to sure.  Store in a dry spot that’s ideally 40-50 degrees – perhaps an unheated basement or a crawl space – in boxes, pots, or mesh bags filled with bark chips, peat moss, vermiculite or perlite.  Check periodically for shriveling or decay.  Store caladiums, dahlias and tuberous begonias in slightly moistened peat moss. Gladiolus requires an 8-week chilling period at 35-41° F.

Indoor Plants, including Bulbs

•  Bring houseplants, tropicals and other tender plants inside before the killing frost. Check for mites, mealy bugs, scale or white fly.
• It’s a prime month for potting up paperwhites, Amaryllis and other bulbs to “force” to bloom indoors over the winter.   You might stagger a batch every couple of weeks for flowers all winter.  See Kathy Jentz’s article about how to force bulbs.
• For your regular houseplants, be careful not to over-water them over the winter – let the soil dry out between watering.  And unless your indoor plants are growing under high light conditions, don’t fertilize them during the winter months.

Lawn

•  And you can still apply a lawn fertilizer, up until November 15.  After that, it’s illegal to apply fertilizers to lawns and gardens until spring (March 1). This is to reduce fertilizer runoff to the Bay.  Here’s more information about the new fertilizer law.
• Lime can be applied to your lawn any time of the year, including November.
• Don’t let whole leaves accumulate on your turf – they can smother and kill it.  Those leaves are a great source of nutrients and organic matter for your lawn, however – if you just chop them with a mulching mower and allow them to decompose over the fall and winter.
• It’s definitely too late to start grass seed.
• After your final mowing is a great time to take your mower in for service.

Perennials and Borders

• It’s not too late to add pansies to your garden or outdoor pots.
• There’s also still time to plant, divide, or transplant perennials (especially peonies, which should only  be divided in the fall).
• Leave the large seed heads of black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, and native grasses for birds to feed on over the winter. They also add interest to the winter garden, as do nonnative ornamental grasses.  They can all be cut down in late winter, or after a snowstorm has flattened them.
• Other dead seedheads you might want to leave standing are perennials, biennials and annuals that you want to self-sow – or just shake their pods around before removing the remains of the plant.
• Cut back and compost other annuals and perennials after hard frost kills the top foliage.   Just don’t compost foliage from plants that suffered from disease problems this season – like leafspot or other fungal diseases, especially around disease-prone plants like peonies, roses and irises.  Fall clean-up will help to make your garden healthier next year by reducing disease spores and insect eggs, which overwinter in plant material.
• This is a good month to prepare new beds the slow way that avoids the use of a rototiller – by applying cardboard or thick layers of newspaper, with mulch on top.  It’s called the Lasagna  Method and there’s more lots about it online.
• Don’t begin mulching your perennials until after the first hard freeze, usually around mid-November. The mulch should be 2-3 inches deep and surround the plant crowns. Waiting to mulch will help the ground to cool and remain cold during winter.  It can be either a good layer of compost (LeafGro® is excellent natural compost), shredded hardwood or pine mulch.  Don’t use a moisture-trapping mulch like hardwood or compost around lavender, though; pea gravel would work better at keeping the lavender dry.
• Cover any bare soil with mulch or groundcovers, to prevent erosion over the winter.  Fall is an ideal time to add organic matter to your borders by mixing in 6-8 inch layer of leaf compost or well-rotted manure and then covering with a layer of shredded or mulched leaves.

Wildlife:

• It’s not too early to start feeding the birds. You might pick up some unusual birds at the feeder as they move South for the winter.  Click here to read the how-to’s of feeding birds in winter, as reported by our wildlife expert, Natalie Brewer.
• Now’s also a good time to clean all nest boxes and feeders. Scrape and remove debris and scrub with hot, soapy water. Rinse and let dry. Some birds that are cavity nesters such as (chickadees and titmice) may use the nest boxes for roosting during the winter.
• Don’t put your bird bath away. Birds need fresh water for drinking and bathing throughout the fall season. Clean frequently and keep filled with fresh water.
• To provide shelter for wildlife, you can build a brush pile in the corner of your yard or near the edge of a wooded area using your fall trimmings. Brush piles offer winter protection for ground dwelling birds, small mammals, snakes and box turtles.

Pests

• Keep applying deer repellants to your plants – the deer are still hungry. Actually they are more desperate for food than in summer, and they’ll soon be eating azaleas and evergreens unless deterred.
• Hemlocks that look like they are coated with spray-on snow are likely infested with the super-destructive wooly adelgid.  If seen, they should be sprayed with horticultural oil anytime between now and March, provided the temperatures will be above freezing for 24 hours after application. Heavy infestations cause considerable damage or kill trees and should be treated with a registered systemic insecticide. Adelgids are particularly attracted to trees that are fertilized with too much nitrogen.
• Shade trees and shrubs that have had scale problems can be sprayed with horticultural oil after leaves drop. Again, do it when the temperatures will remain above freezing for 24 hours after spraying oil.
• Remove any bagworm bags you see in your trees and shrubs, and dispose of them in the trash.
• Remove any egg masses of the Eastern tent caterpillar by pruning away the branches they’re on.  They look like shiny, black styrofoam and are usually on the ends of wild cherry and crabapple trees.
• Spruce spider mites are active this time of year on evergreen trees.   You can check for them for tapping branches while holding a piece of white paper underneath, then looking for moving specks. They can be controlled with ultra-fine horticultural oil.
• Watch for egg cases of gypsy moths. You may find them in protected areas attached to the house, or on tree trunks or branches. They are oval-shaped, flat, tan, felty,and about the size of a dollar coin. Scrape them into a jar of rubbing alcohol or soapy water.

Miscellaneous

• Drain hoses and bring them indoors for the winter. Winterize outside faucets by cutting the water off to the faucet inside the house (there should be a cutoff on the pipe), then opening the faucet to let any water in the pipe drain out.  If you don’t do this step, your faucets and pipes could freeze and crack over the winter.  Easily.
• Now’s the time to buy seasoned or Kiln-dried fire wood.  Keep it stored away from any wood structure of the house and a minimum of 6 inches off the ground. Check with local codes and/or HOA’s for storage regulations.
• Even the laziest of gardeners can do a “cold compost” pile. Instead of dumping all your leaves at the curb, put them in a big pile in the corner of the yard. By the end of summer next year, they will have decayed for the most part, and you can spread the compost on your garden.

 Paperwhite photo credit.  Cardinal photo credit.  Hose photo credit.  Firewood photo credit.

LAWN

Thick lawn thanks to yearly feeding and overseeding.

TREES AND SHRUBS

• It’s peak planting time, right up until the ground freezes.  (Why? They’re beginning to go dormant for the winter, so planting them now causes very little stress to the plants. And since they will have been in the ground over the winter, their roots will grow more vigorously in the spring. Also, you will not have to worry so much about watering them as often, once they have lost their leaves.)
• It’s also a good month for moving deciduous trees and shrubs; for evergreens it’s best to wait til spring if you can.
• If October is dry, give your shrubs and trees a good soaking.  Evergreens are particularly vulnerable to drying out over the winter, so don’t forget them.
  

  Serviceberry in its fall glory.

• Speaking of evergreens, don’t panic if you see some browning or yellowing of the needles this time of year – that’s normal.
• DON’T PRUNE this month, except to remove any dead, damaged or diseased wood.   Pruning any more than that will encourage new growth that could first frost; anyway, the plant’s energies need to go to root development, not new leaves and branches.
• Feed with a slow-release fertilizer like Holly-tone to boost root growth over the next few weeks – more roots support more shoots, and shoots bring flowers and fruit!
• Plants that are susceptible to breakage can be protected with Shrub Guard plant protector wrap – and get it in place this month before the snows come.
  

BULBS

• Time to plant your spring-blooming bulbs – tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, anemone and crocus, to name a few.  If you can’t get them all in the ground this month, tulips CAN be planted in November with good results – as long as the ground hasn’t frozen, of course.  For best results, add bone meal or a bulb fertilizer like Bulb-Tone into the planting hole as you prepare the soil.
• In choosing and planting your bulbs, it’s best to plant in drifts, rather than tiny groups of just one to three.
• Got deer?  Plant daffodils, hyacinths, fritillaria, scilla, muscari, galanthus and ornamental allium for best results.  Deer love tulips and crocus, so avoid them.
• Gladiola, dahlias, cannas, elephant ears and other tender bulbs should be dug up before the ground freezes and stored in a cool dark area.  Just wait til frost blackens the foliage, then cut back the tops to 6 inches and dig carefully.  Next, brush or wash off soil and let dry for two weeks to cure. Store in boxes or potted filled with peat moss or bark chips in a dry place like an unheated basement or crawl space around 40-50 degrees.
• If you need to move your autumn-flowering crocus, do it now – after they flower.

HOUSEPLANTS, TENDER PLANTS

POND

 Wildlife

• September is when the birds start their winter migration, so it’s a good time to send them off with a full energy source.

Lawn photo credit.

Creeping Phlox

by Larry Hurley

Are you getting tired of the “one nice day in a row” weather we’ve been having so far this spring? I know I am.  It feels like the coast of Washington State instead of the ‘burbs of Washington, DC.  That said, there are some mighty fine perennial gardens in the Pacific Northwest, and the cool weather has extended the blooming period for plants in the gardens here, so maybe we are on to something.

Our perennial departments are so full of plants that we are running out of space; around 25,000 plants between the two stores.  We have a lot of interesting perennials in smaller pots this year, good for containers or if you want to plant 5 or 7 of something.

Our phlox sale is extended for another week: 20% off all phlox, all kinds. The woodland phlox and creeping phlox are in bloom, in white, pink and red. Simply glorious.

Heucheras in an assortment of colors

My personal favorite, Heuchera, is on sale this weekend (April 14 to 20) at 25% off.  Sometimes they are called coral bells for the flowers, which on some of the varieties are actually coral-colored and bell- shaped.  Most people grow Heuchera and related Heucherella (Foamy Bells) for the spectacular foliage colors: green, gold with red highlights, purple, nearly black, silver…it’s hard to believe they are real.  They are perfect for container gardening if you have a spot with some afternoon shade.

Itoh Peony

Just arrived: Itoh hybrid peonies.  These are hybrids of “regular” and “tree” peonies. They don’t die down completely in the fall, but make little woody stems that overwinter above ground like tree peonies.  They are vigorous and have colors that are unusual for peonies including yellow and coppery.  Expensive–oh, yeah.  But these are big, heavy plants, ready to bloom. We sold out quickly last year, so come and check them out.

Native Wild Heuchera on a Cliff

Heuchera, commonly called coral bells, is a group of North American-native plants, with several species native to Maryland.

In fact, if you go to the C&O Canal National Historical Park in Maryland to see the Great Falls of the Potomac, you can easily spot some Heuchera pubescens (I think) or downy alumroot, growing in the cracks of the cliff as you cross the bridge from the mainland to the island. Talk about “good drainage!”

There are several very active plant breeders working with heuchera, crossing the many species to create new hybrids. The hybrids feature colorful foliage, and sometimes also have nice flowers, depending on what was used in the breeding. If Grandma Heuchera had nice flowers, the offspring might, too. In fact, I’m old enough to remember when all the heuchera we sold had green leaves and attractive pink, red or white flowers. These have fallen out of favor with growers to some extent, but we try to have some of them available from time to time.

Fern Athyrium Ghost, with Caramel, Larry Hurleys Garden

Personally, I find that even those without showy flowers make an airy display when in flower, in a wispy sort of way. Often times, though, folks just pluck the flowers off as a distraction to the foliage, sort of like turning one eyebrow into two.

In the last couple of years, a lot of attention has been given toward developing heuchera hybrids that actually survive in the South. There is a heat-tolerant woodland species called Heuchera villosa (one of those found in Maryland) that imparts additional vigor to the hybrid mix.

Heuchera Georgia Peach

These hybrids have larger leaves, and are not as shiny as the others. ‘Caramel’, ‘Mocha’ and ‘Georgia Peach’ are some examples. Siting is important with heuchera. They are good in containers, as long as the container is sheltered in the winter, say up against the building out of strong winds. In-ground, they need decent drainage, especially in the winter. Better on a slope than in a low spot. Sun for a few hours in the morning is ideal.

Life expectancy: if sited well, perennials come back year after year, but there is a limit, and some perennials have a longer attractive life span than others. They are perennial, not immortal. Peonies frequently outlive their owners, and may be the only thing remaining as a reminder of where a farm house once stood. A heuchera only outlives its owner if the owner has had a serious spot of bad luck. More than three years for a heuchera is pretty good.

Midnight Rose and Caramel

I have some ‘Prince of Silver’ still looking nice in their sixth year; ‘Caramel’ and ‘Silver Scrolls’ doing well in year four; and ‘Mocha’ and ‘Georgia Peach’ doing great in year three. In fact, the ‘Mocha’ are spectacular, if I do say so myself. And let me tell you, I tend to garden in the manner that I believe to be the way many of you do. I dig the smallest hole possible and cram the plant into it. I feel that this helps in my recommendations for plants that are easy to grow. Plus, I am essentially lazy and I get a discount.

Terri, with Midnight Rose

This approach does not work well with heuchera. Not well at all. My heuchs that have survived and thrived are in:

• A large raised planter in the carport, in potting soil, and
• An actual prepared flower bed under a big oak tree that I have added compost and pine bark mulch to over the years to improve the soil

Deer resistance: heuchera often shows up on deer-resistant lists. I would say it’s not a preferred food source like pansies or hostas, but they definitely will hit them. At Sandy’s Plants display gardens near Richmond (Sandy’s is a wholesale grower which supplies many of our perennials) the deer eat just the heuchera flowers. In my garden, they will hit the foliage. I don’t have a lot of deer pressure, and I find that in my situation, repellants work. I like “Deer Solution,” because it smells like cinnamon instead of a junior high school gym locker. Makes you less unpopular with the neighbors.

Heuchera in Windowboxes, Brugge, Belgium

If you have tried heuchera in the past, and failed, give them another try. Start with containers (they are great color accents), and see what happens!