The landscaping season may quickly be coming to an end, but it ain’t over yet. Late September and October are great times to plant as whatever you are planting will not go into transplant shock this time of year as it is already going dormant for the winter. Now of course I’m not talking about planting a garden, but perennials, trees and shrubs are perfect to plant. This will allow the roots to grow under the surface while they have no top to support. When the plant wakes up in the spring it will have the advantage of a well established root base for growing. This is particularly important for fruit bearing trees and shrubs. The simple rule is, the more root, the more fruit and by planting in the fall you will ensure that your plants will grow bigger than if you waited until the following spring. 

So if fall is so great for planting why doesn’t everyone do it? Nobody suffers from spring fever in September or October and spring fever is a real condition. In the spring after a long winter, when the days are getting longer and the temperatures are getting warmer, we are conditioned to want to get out in the dirt and plant. This time of year, the days are getting shorter, the temperatures are going down and we start to go into hibernation mode where we just don’t want to do as much out in the yard. But if you can still muster some ambition, planting in the fall can help your wallet as prices are usually slashed as garden centers would rather discount plants to get rid of them before winter so that they don’t have to overwinter them themselves. So you could find some real deals out there, but selection this time of year can be a little limited and the only real new plants coming this time of year are fall mums, asters and daisies.

If you are looking for an apple tree, don’t get hung up on one particular variety, plan on looking for three or four varieties and the chances that you will find one of them greatly increases. 

You also get a chance to see how attractive some plants can be in the fall. Everyone knows the fire engine red color of burning bush in the fall, but many don’t know that most blueberry bushes get just as red. Many perennials are fall flowering like asters, anemones, Joe Pie Weed and Montauk Daisies. So you can plant some other things besides mums in the fall to keep color in your yard. If you do plant mums or asters this fall, remember what I said a couple weeks ago about cutting them back next spring and also put in some plant markers next to them so you know that it is your plant and not a weed next spring. 

Many novice gardeners often weed out their perennials the following season as they do not know what the new shoots look like in the spring. So if you are new to gardening, use plant markers, so you remember what and where your plants are.

So if you haven’t taken a look at your neighborhood garden center since May or June, it is probably worth a visit, you might just be surprised by what you find and what you can save. Also while you are there pick up some items that you might need to replace before prices go up next year. Most people will wait until next spring to replace a hose or shovel, but next spring they will probably be more than what they are right now. The last time I saw prices go down was two years after Covid when the supply chains finally got back to normal.