Autumn Gardening Tips

Shorter days and cooler weather don’t mean the end of gardening season.  Autumn is a great time to refresh your landscape, put a little pep in your yard, and get ready for next spring.

A quick and easy way to punch up your fall landscape is to add the colors of autumn to containers.  They are easy to put together and add seasonal interest to a yard that has become a little tired after giving its all throughout the spring and summer.  Some great cool-season container plantings include Bergenia, whose leaves turn a glossy red or bronze in the fall, calendula and pansies, which in a mild climate can offer color throughout the winter, and the always-reliable aster.  If you are looking for fall color in your permanent landscape, autumn is the perfect time to choose trees and shrubs.  Make a visit to your local nursery after the leaves begin to turn so you will know the shade of yellow, red, or orange that you can expect from each plant.

Other fall garden tasks include:

• Plant bulbs for spring bloom.
• Plant trees, hedges, and other perennials.  Autumn planting gives them the opportunity to develop good root systems.
• Tend to any turf problems and apply a fall lawn fertilizer to your established lawn.
• Sow a new lawn.
• Trim hedges.
• Divide evergreen perennials.
• Protect frost tender plants with mulch or wrap.  Dig up delicate tubers and bring them inside.
• Clean up beds, remove spent plants, and rake fallen leaves.

For more ideas on container plantings and landscaping your Eichler or Mid-Century Modern home, check out our landscaping idea page.  It is loaded with all sorts of ideas for bringing glamor and color into your yard!