Howto Do Things You Want To Do

Often gardening in autumn is focused on what should be planted for the spring garden but it can still be a time to enjoy many things in the garden. The vivid hues from the falling leaves are contrasted with the delicate beauty of many autumn blooms as well as the late splash of summer color.

 

 Standard Podcast [3:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (420)

Late summer flowers – The dahlia is well known for its late summer blooms, leading in to the fall season. Dahlias are many and varied and can suit any garden. Asters are a good inclusion as they will cope with an early frost where the dahlias won’t. Asters and sedums will bring wonderful color to the autumn garden, along with other types of daisies. Fuchsias can be seen in many summer and autumn gardens either in hanging baskets or in the ground. A number of summer flowers will give a second flush of blooms if dead-headed quickly.

Autumn color – Prairie flowers are great in the garden during autumn. There are also the bulbs which lie dormant during summer and come to life as the weather turns. Nerines and gladiolus are examples of the autumn bulb. Chrysanthemums and pansies are favorite annuals for providing color in autumn months.

Shrubs – As with the summer garden, shrubs provide a background. Many have bright leaves, while others have flowers. Azaleas have wonderful blooms in autumn and rhododendrons provide beautiful foliage in the fall and flower in the winter. The tall growing shrub known as the strawberry tree provides flowers and fruit in autumn. You might like the bright colors of the chokeberry shrub or the wonderful purple berries from the beautyberry bush. Other shrubs with vivid autumn-colored leaves include the oriental photinia and Virginia sweetspire.

Trees – Nothing beats the sight of those beautifully colored autumn leaves falling. Maple trees are gorgeous with their red, orange and yellow colors. Dogwoods are also popular for autumn color. You might also like to consider a conifer for your autumn garden. Conifers come in a variety of colors, not only green. You can plant gold, bronze, yellow, purple, blue or green conifers and their color lasts year-round. Foliage can change color through the seasons making this tree one worth considering for your autumn garden.

Vegetables – The autumn vegetable patch will deliver cool season crops. In the fall you can reap lettuces, spinach, kale and turnips. Late summer pumpkins will be available from your garden along with cabbage and green onions.

If you are a lover of the falling leaves of autumn and the different textures of green in your garden, you will enjoy your autumn garden for its variety of color and the freshness the cooler weather brings.

This was the first of 5 episodes dealing with gardening in the Fall.  We hope you enjoyed it and that it provided you with ideas you hadn’t thought of for your gardening all year round.

For much more information about Successful Gardening All Year, please visit our site at:

http://gardening.howto-you.com , where you will find an additional email list of ideas, as well as our book ‘Guide to Successfull Gardening All Year’

Thanx for being here!  See you in our next episode!