The first leaves began to fall last week and we had about a week to enjoy them before our first rain. Heavily wooded Beverly is a lovely Chicago neighborhood in fall, and I try to find time to walk about in it watching the leaves change one species at a time. This is a time when delayed gratification does not work. If you wait, it will rain again, so enjoy today's leaves before you worry about disposing of yesterday's.
While everyone knows about clean-up in autumn, surprisingly few take advantage of the season to plant. Fall is actually a better time to plant trees, shrubs, and perennials than is spring. The soil is warmer in the first part of autumn than it is in April, and as the top of the plant begins to go dormant, its energy can focus on its roots. Seasonal rains and lower temperatures also assure the new plant of a decent water supply. Spring plantings, in contrast, try to put on shoot and leaf growth before roots have had a chance to get going. The plant can easily confront hot temperatures and dry weather before its roots are established.
The only real disadvantage of autumn is that nurseries let their stock dwindle away. They don't want to have to over-winter their excess stock. So choices tend to be more limited while prices tend to drop.
My rule of thumb is that you can plant perennials as long as you can recognize what is in the pot, and you can plant trees and shrubs as long as you can get your shovel in the ground. In this case, delayed gratification is definitely the right course to take.
If Autumn is a good time to plant shrubs and perennials, it is the essential time to plant spring-flowering bulbs. They have to go through a dormant period before they can flower. That means they have to be planted just before winter arrives. And that means you should order and plant 2015's bulbs in the next month. More on this next time.
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| Crocus bulbs |
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