Never too early to plan fall planting
By STEVE JONES The Plant Man
Fall planting? But it's only just summer! It's way too early to be thinking about fall planting, isn't it? Nope.
This is an excellent time to be thinking ahead to the cooler days of fall and what you can plant to enhance your landscape. What makes "right now" so special?
Right now your landscape foliage on shrubs and trees is full and lush. Many of your summer plants are in bloom.
Take a look around your landscape. Walk around and see it as if with fresh eyes.
This is the best time of year to see where the gaps are. Later in the year, and of course in winter, this is less obvious as deciduous trees
have shed their leaves and even evergreens are more dormant.
Perhaps there's an awkward space between plants that looks empty, like a smile with a missing tooth. Maybe a dead plant had been removed and never replaced. Or perhaps an older plant has outgrown its usefulness, dwarfing smaller plants around it and preventing sunlight and rainwater from reaching them.
Not only that, but at this time of year you can look at your landscape and see some of your favorite
plants at their best and decide
if it would be a good idea to invest in one or two more.
As a general rule, it makes sense to place lowgrowing plants at the front of the beds with medium sized plants behind them and the taller shrubs in back.
Now is the time to look at your beds and determine if there are some plants that are "out of whack" in your landscape. Instead of waiting until fall or next spring, decide now.
Need some idea starters? Here are some plants you can research right now and pre-order for fall planting.
Low growers:
• Ajuga black scallop PW is a neat little fastgrowing ground cover with deep, dark burgundy leaves and blue blossoms in spring, lingering into summer. I prefer this one to regular Ajuga bronze due to its larger leaves and deeper color.
• Creeping red thyme is a fast-growing evergreen ground cover with wonderfully aromatic foliage. If you'd planted it last season, right now you could be enjoying a profusion of lovely red flowers.
Medium-height plants:
• Heuchera lime ricky PPAF is a superb choice to plant behind the Ajuga Black Scallop because the scalloped leaves are a glowing chartreuse in spring turning lemon-lime in summer, emphasizing the contrast with black Ajuga foliage. Mature height around two feet.
• Heuchera villosa Tiramisu PPAF offers splashes of brick red color spattered around your garden, lightening to chartreuse in summer with a light silver overlay.
Tall plants:
• Carolina allspice is a dense, deciduous shrub that can grow to five or six feet or more at maturity, Carolina Allspice has lustrous dark green foliage and very fragrant, brown to reddishbrown flowers.
• Buddleia bi-color is an easy to grow and extremely fragrant plant that sports two different colors on the same bloom stalk, rich lavender and butterscotch yellow. It will bloom all summer and attract swarms of colorful butterflies to your garden. Grows to five or six feet.
Send your questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward. org.
