It's that time of year.....overused phrase for sure....but it's really time to divide many perennials and plant them, too! One of the greatest benefits to transplanting and planting as fall leaves fly is spring, summer and fall blooms for 2015. The second greatest benefit is the 30-50% off sales of perennials at garden centers in the front range communities. The plants may not look pretty and the blooms may have long ago given their beauty away but they are ready and willing to go into your garden so that you can enjoy blooms next year.
If you read the spring garden entry, you learned that its a great time to divide and plant because the soil is warming and the air is cool! Roots become established and the plant has a chance to start sending up new growth all with either no or limited amounts of water. And, guess what....the fall season is also a great time to plant and divide perennials for many of the same reasons. The air is beginning to cool and the soil is still warm. You may still not be convinced that fall planting is for you but the growing season for these plants can last until October and early November in Colorado's Front Range.
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| 2 of 4 1/2 bags of iris given away since August. |
Some of you are friends with me on FACEBOOK so you have already seen the posts for free plants. This includes about 4 1/2 large mulch bags of iris this season, a large grocery bag of hens and chicks, bags of daylilies, low-growing sedum, and grape hyacinths. I've transplanted purple coneflower, red hot poker, four different varieties of grasses, Asian lilies (think Easter Lily), sedum, hens and chicks, peonies, Centaurea Montana (perennial bachelor buttons), garlic chives, and started adding bone meal to bulbs and other blooming plants for their fall/winter feeding. I'll grant you that grasses may actually want to wait until early spring to be divided in your garden but, hey, they are free and I was in the mood to move them.
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| Hens and Chicks (Sempervium), Grape Hyacinth (Muscari) and Stonecrop Blue Spruce and Angelina (Sedum Reflexum and Sedum Rupestre) ground cover given away. |
You may be thinking, "BUT Cheryl, we already had some nights with temperatures in the mid 30s! It snowed in Boulder!" Yes, we will have some freezing temperatures but this conversation is about hardy perennials. They don't mind a few frosty nights or even some snow cover as long as their toes are cozy in the soil. The soil will eventually get cold enough that it may freeze. At that point, it should be the goal that your plants are established and ready for a good snooze before the thaw begins.
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| Late summer Hens and Chicks (Sempervium Tectorum) or Common Houseleek. |
It's also time to start preparing perennials, especially tender perennials for winter especially if you are worried about winter kill which is caused by the drying of the plant's crown. Mulching is a great way to keep moisture and temperatures up around the plant's roots. For this I have used leaves as mulch, partially because it's light in weight but mostly because it's free. I have to admit that I've dumpster dived for these when neighbors have filled the dumpsters with bags of leaves rather than adding them to the city-wide compost program or putting them in their own compost piles. Leaf mulch creates pockets of air that stay warm; it holds some moisture so the plant doesn't dry out; and it starts breaking down into the soil. Carefully apply the mulch. There are some plants like thyme that like their tops to exposed to the sun. It's easy to kill creeping and woolly thymus by covering them. Hens and Chicks, however, love to be under a covering of a light winter mulch. In the spring because Colorado is often very dry, I have the option of leaving the mulch on the ground, digging it into the soil or raking it all up for the 'brown matter' for my compost pile. Snow still benefits plants especially when the outside temperatures dip below zero degrees Fahrenheit. It will provide protection from extreme, dry cold while adding slow draining moisture into their roots.
With any gardening project, there are lots of resources out there. Fall and spring are the swing seasons for gardening which for me means the main times to revitalize the garden and prepare for the seasons to follow. Gardening is an optimistic and hopeful prospect. I am optimistic that you will be renewing your love of the outdoors and preparing your plants for their long winter's nap.
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| Bees love the Garlic Chives ( Allium Tuberosum). |
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