Yes, if you haven’t heard, fall is for planting. With Mother Nature’s help, we are already seeing cooler temperatures and much needed rain. For you weekend warriors looking to add fall interest into your landscapes, here are some ideas to get you inspired.
Fall favorites
Pull out your tired, buggy annual bed plants and consider replanting them with pansies, violets, mums and ornamental kale and cabbage. There are lots of leaf, flower and color choices in these plants, and with the exception of chrysanthemums, they should continue to providing garden color and interest well into the winter. Change over deck and patio containers with pansies, coral bells, verbena and lobelia. These plants thrive in the cooler temperatures and will provide a nice splash of flower color until frost.
Want to plan ahead?
Plant your spring-flowering bulbs now. Yes, there’s plenty of growing season left for bulbs to acclimate and harden-off before winter. Spring bulbs and tubers great for fall planting include daffodils, tulips, hyacinth, crocus and iris.
For next year’s fall display, consider adding arrow-wood viburnum, burning bush, fothergilla, spirea, oak leaf hydrangea and chokeberry to your landscape. These garden shrubs will pop in your landscape with vivid yellows, oranges and reds during fall’s peak.
If you’re looking for a larger fall project and more tree color, Japanese, Red and Sugar Maples are spectacular choices for adding vibrant orange/yellow and red into the fall landscape. Other fall tree favorites include ginko, tulip poplar and beech for their bold yellows and dogwood, tupelo and oak for their deep reds.
Hope these ideas inspire…get outside and enjoy fall gardening.
Paul E. Lepard, Jr., RLA, PP
Paul is a principal at Nave Newell and director of the firm’s Land Planning & Landscape Architecture Departments. To learn more about these services contact Paul at plepard@navenewell.net or 610-265-8323.
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