Perennials: Fall

Perennials

Class 1: Some Perennials Basics
Class 2: Garden Design
Class 3: Putting Pencil to Paper
Class 4: Soil Preparation and Planting
Class 5: Maintaining your Perennial Gardens
Class 6: Troubleshooting

One day, you feel a chill in the morning air and you realize that fall has arrived. The spring-blooming plants are only a memory -- though a few may put out a second display of flowers once the weather cools down. And even the most diligently deadheaded summer-bloomers will begin to fade. However, if you’ve planned your garden to include fall bloomers such as asters, chrysanthemums, and sedum, then these will begin to take center stage.

Though the garden is winding down, consider tackling some jobs now that will make your spring chores lighter. For example, by now grass is probably encroaching into the gardens, and it will continue to spread until the ground freezes. Take some time now to edge the beds, and you’ll have a head start on this chore next spring.

As the above ground parts of your perennials die back, you’re sure to find some weeds that had been hidden by the foliage. Pull these weeds now, so they don’t continue to grow and crowd your flowers.

Fall mulch. Gardeners often ask whether they should apply a deep, protective layer of mulch over their perennial beds in the fall. Generally, if the plants are hardy in your zone, they shouldn’t need any insulating cover. The exception to this is any fall planted perennials. These haven’t had time to establish far-ranging roots, so some protection is helpful, mostly to prevent plants from being heaved out of the ground as the soil alternately freezes and thaws during the winter.

One of the drawbacks of mulch is that it provides hiding places for rodents. Voles and mice can be particularly destructive to fruit trees as they gnaw on buried bark. They will also readily dig up and devour bulbs like tulips and crocus.

All and all, it’s probably not worth the trouble, or risk, to apply fall mulch to established beds. Snow is a great insulator, so in snowy regions, pine boughs placed over beds will help catch snow and keep it from blowing away.

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Chrysanthemums are popular fall-blooming perennials.

The key to fall mulching is to wait until temperatures have dropped and the ground has begun to freeze. If you apply mulch too early, you’ll trap heat in the soil. This may sound like a good idea -- after all, it will allow roots to continue to grow longer into the fall. But it can also fool the plants into thinking its earlier in the growing season than it actually is. The plants may delay going dormant, and new growth will be killed by the first cold snap. If you wait until the ground has begun to freeze, the plants will have received the proper signals for entering dormancy.

Pine straw makes a good winter mulch. It's nice and fluffy and doesn't pack down.