Gardening

Time to Look for Bargains

Many garden centers and nurseries offer significant deals in the fall, especially on plants that they would have to overwinter. Take advantage of these special sales to fill any holes in your landscape while saving a few dollars. After all, fall is an excellent time to plant most hardy plants. Avoid only plants that are slow to settle in, such as magnolias and rhododendrons: they really need a whole summer to fully take root, so plant them in the spring. You can however plant without worry other perennials, shrubs, trees, evergreens, etc.

There is one group of plants, though, that will need special care at this season: those plants that bloom in the fall (asters, chrysanthemums, rudbeckia, coneflowers, hydrangeas, etc.). That’s because a plant in bloom will be putting its energy into blooming, not into rooting. Therefore remove their beautiful flowers just before you plant them. This will redirect the energy of the plant where you want it: to rooting, thus ensuring the smooth success of your planting. Sure, you’ll miss that first season of bloom… but if you treat these plants right, there will be many more to come!

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Garden writer and blogger, author of 65 gardening books, lecturer and communicator, the Laidback Gardener, Larry Hodgson, passed away in October 2022. Known for his great generosity, his thoroughness and his sense of humor, he reached several generations of amateur and professional gardeners over his 40-year career. Thanks to his son, Mathieu Hodgson, and a team of contributors, laidbackgardener.blog will continue its mission of demystifying gardening and making it more accessible to all.

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