Unfortunately, fall is the forgotten season when it comes to planting. Big box stores usually don’t even stock plant materials in the fall except for mums or pumpkins. Garden Centers don’t want to overwinter plants, so they typically want to dump whatever is left over and picked over all season long. These retail stores want to get rid of anything and everything. Note, these may not necessarily be plants that would transplant well in the fall.
Shhh…. Is Fall Planting the Best Kept Secret?
We’ll spill the beans. Did you know that many plants do extremely well when planted in the fall of the year? In fact, fall is the best time of year for planting.
One of the best benefits of fall planting comes from warm soils and cool air. This combination encourages newly planted plants to make lots of new roots now. When your plant develops new roots before winter comes, it’s taken a huge step to successfully establish itself in your landscape.
Plants can concentrate on establishing some new roots, rather than produce blooms or fruit. Any plant installed in the fall will take off in the spring as though it had spent an entire year in the ground, not just planted in the fall.
Starting a new backyard orchard or adding on to an edible landscape? Planting fruit trees in fall will give you a jump on spring flowers and you may even see some fruit next year, too. Fall planting is a “life hack” to boost production!
Nature Hills is Ready for Fall Planting Season
Here at Nature Hills, we have beefed up our plant production specifically timed for our fall sales. Fresh new crops of plants are ready to ship.
Pro tip? It’s actually easier to plant in fall. Many times, you can benefit from plentiful rainfall and cooler temperatures. Plants are starting to shut down into their winter dormancy, so they will use less water now, too. That’s a win-win for you and your plants.
Amazing Plants for Spring Blooms
Flowering Cherry, Weeping Cherry, Flowering Pear, and all of our selections of Redbud will establish beautifully in the fall. They will concentrate on making new roots now. In spring, they’ll be able to produce all of those beautiful flowers with a nice strong root system.
Magnolias and Flowering Dogwood trees have incredible flowers and fleshy roots. They will work to make a lot of nice, new roots this fall too.
Early spring blooming Serviceberry are slow to establish, but you can get a jump on new roots now. They’ll be so glad they had a nice cool moist season to establish. They will be much happier next spring.
There are many spring flowering shrubs too that will greatly appreciate a fall transplant as well. Don’t do any pruning on these spring flowering shrubs when you plant them this fall, because the flower buds are already growing along their stems.
Check out some of the best spring flowering shrubs well suited for fall planting:
- Azaleas (many including reblooming varieties)
- PJM and Korean Rhododendrons
- Forsythia varieties
- Quince varieties
- Lilacs (many varieties)
- Camellias
- Korean Spice and other Viburnums
- Deutzia
- Abelia
- Spring Bouquet Laurustinus
Fall is the Perfect Time to Divide and Transplant Plants
Large clumps of perennials such as Hosta can be easily divided to give you more plants. Fall is the right time of year for this task. If you want to relocate plants to a more suitable location, now is the time. Peonies love to be moved in the fall and so do Iris and Astilbe too.
Maybe you are looking to add some new perennials to your border this fall? Our #1 containers can successfully be planted in fall. Bareroot shrubs and trees do beautifully. Follow our instructions on how to plant bare root carefully.
Mulch Tips and Tricks
Don’t forget to add mulch over the top of the roots of any landscape plants, perennial borders, shrub borders, and trees to protect them from extreme temperatures and moisture loss. Just remember, don’t pile the mulch up against the trunks of trees or up against the stems of shrub and perennials.
Falling leaves do not have to a pain in your back. Hang that rake up and use your mower to shred them. On your lawn, simply mow them over and continue to mow right up until the last of the leaves have fallen. Some like to shred them and add them to compost piles or use as mulch. At the Biltmore Estate they shred and save the leaves and use them as mulch around the many annuals they plant in the spring to maintain good moisture and control weeds.
Take advantage of this beautiful time of the year! Plant in fall to help your plants grow new roots to get a big jump on spring!
