This summer has been one of the more frustrating summers for gardeners in recent years. Persistent drought, heat, and pests have presented challenges than were not encouraging. I am grateful for the abundant rain we have been blessed with in the past week because going into winter with limited top and sub soil moisture can be a critical factor for survival of many of our trees, shrubs, and perennials.
This is the perfect time to spray your lawn to eliminate weeds. The herbicide is most effective when weeds are growing actively, and the moisture and cooler temperature have encouraged that growth. Persistent weeds like creeping Charlie will take more than one application for control, and spraying now gives enough time to hit it a couple of times this fall.
This is also the best time to move or divide perennials. The cooler air and warm soil encourage rapid re-establishment before winter so in the spring there is no growth set back because of root disturbance.
I’ve mentioned before that daylilies in particular benefit from division every four to five years. After that, the clumps get so crowded that the quantity and quality of blooms declines dramatically.
Additionally, in looking at your garden layout, if you want to rearrange or reposition perennials to make combinations more appealing or heights adjusted, you know exactly what is where so it is easier to make those moves now.
September is also a great time to plant new trees, shrubs or perennials, provided you can find the varieties that you want. Selection is always more limited at the end of the season, but growers really make an effort to maintain reasonable availability.
September and October are also the months to plant spring-blooming bulbs. I’ve been receiving mail order catalogs since June, and those companies start shipping later this month. The big box stores will have prepackaged bulbs available now also. Daffodils prefer to get planted before the end of September, but the other bulbs can be planted into October.
There are three main classes of tulips: early, mid and late bloomers. The latest-blooming are the Darwin varieties, and they have the largest blooms, the longest stems, and are the most reliable for blooming year after year.
Mid-season tulips are the triumph varieties. This is the tulip bulb we use for indoor forcing as well as outdoor planting. The bulbs are not quite as hardy as the Darwins but usually do pretty well in our Zone 4 climate.
There are several varieties of early tulips, with the emperors being the most common. Stems will be short and they do well in a protected area, but the fact of their blooming early makes them vulnerable to late freezes. A protected area close to the foundation will help with that threat in addition to being an area where the ground doesn’t freeze quite as hard.
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