|
In this Issue
-
Beautiful fall annuals -- mums, cabbage, kale -- a variety of sizes and types
-
Perennials -- enjoy them NOW and get a head start for next year, too -- try our coach's picks
- A Four-Season Garden -- what does it mean and how you can get one
- Your September Garden -- What to Do Now
- Watering -- critical as we head into fall
-
Our ordering calendar -- just four more orders this season!
| |
|
Fall Annuals -- They're Looking Great!
(and they're selling fast)
| |
|
We love fall annuals because they deliver such a vibrant shift from the look of summer flowers. Mums, cabbages and kale offer colors, leaf textures and a variety of sizes, which makes them perfect to use to refresh containers and garden beds, and bring on a fresh scheme for the fall. When you place your order, our growers will bring your plants directly from the greenhouse or field to the Plant Club, so they won't spend days being neglected on a store shelf -- in fact, you'll usually have them less than 24 hours after they leave the nursery.
| |
Pot Sizes for Annuals -- How Do I Know Which to Choose? | |
|
This photo should give an idea of fall annual sizing, and help you decide which plants make the most sense for your particular situation.
From the left to right, these mums are:
4", 8", 2 gallon, 12" and 12" patio pot ($43.50)
- Choose the 4" size pots for window boxes or smaller containers/pots, or indoor decorations
- Install 8" and #2 pots into larger containers or for massing in beds
- Consider 12" pots for huge, statement planters at the front door or other significant locations
| |
Perennials -- What Are Garden Coaches Planting Now? | |
|
The Four-Season Interest Garden:
What's It All About -- and Why Do I Need It?
| |
|
We asked several Plant Club Garden Coaches for their favorite plants to include that add "four-season interest" to Midwestern gardens. We consider four-season interest plants to be ones that don't just disappear into the ground during their quieter periods, but instead deliver some movement, texture, color and depth to the garden, even when they are not at their peak blooming phase. This technique is favored by premier landscapers, and can be be seen throughout in the world in the most famous and photographed gardens.
This week there are some great ones available! Take a look -- one or more would be a great addition to your yard.
| |
|
Four-Season Interest and a Shady Garden
These first six plants are suggested by our teammate Kate Refine. Kate manages the Naperville Plant Club, and is a landscape designer, working as Kate Refine Designs. KRD offers professional customized landscaping services including both landscape design and garden coaching.
Throughout the process of landscape design, KRD practices sustainable landscaping efforts while employing the best management practices to keep the environment free of pesticides and herbicides.
We asked Kate for some favorite plants that deliver four-season interest in shady conditions, and are thrilled with the list she shared this week!
| |
|
Eastern Redbud
Winter - mature trees have a nice form, interesting zig-zag branching
Spring - beautiful bright magenta pink flowers before the leaves develop
Summer - nice heart shaped leaves, offers nice shade
Fall - great yellow fall color
| |
|
Pagoda Dogwood
Winter - unique form, horizontal branching
Spring - creamy, white flowers
Summer - blue berries
Fall - purple fall color
| |
|
Boxwoods do great in shade.
Upright boxwoods like Green Mountain in a shade garden, alone or in groups, left untrimmed get quite open in their habit and very pyramidal.
Can be a great backdrop to colorful shrubs or perennials.
| |
|
PJM Rhododendron
A broadleaf evergreen
Pretty pink or lavender blooms in the spring. They are best planted where they can receive protection from the afternoon sun - northeast side of a house. Also, they do not tolerate strong winter sun. They do well in more acidic soils, soils found under large evergreen trees like pines or spruces are generally good for rhododendrons.
| |
|
Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’
Does great in full shade to full sun.
Winter - dried flowerheads
Spring - green leaves, 4’ shrub
Summer - large white flowers
Fall - dried white flowers
| |
|
Virginia Sweetspire
Winter - dense, ground hugging shrub
Spring - white panicle flowers
Summer - glossy green leaf
Fall - red fall color
| |
|
Four-Season Interest and a Sunny Garden
These plants are suggested by our teammate Robyn Lindblad. Robyn is one of our Plant Club garden coaches, and the founder of The Best of All Season, a garden consultancy.
A certified horticulturist, Robyn is passionate about helping homeowners bring seasonal color to their gardens and yards. She shares inspiration with her clients to help them adjust their gardens from the summer to the fall season with ease, and within a budget. She is adept with perennials that thrive in the Midwest, and often uses them in her recommendations for container gardening, with creative and beautiful plans to transfer them to in-ground gardens, bolstering their appeal for the following season.
We love Robyn's suggestions for plants that deliver four-season interest in a sunny garden!
| |
|
Ginger Wine Ninebark
-- Vibrant deep contrasting foliage spring into fall
-- White clusters of spring blooms leaving interesting seed heads
-- Leaving "layered "bark" stems for winter interest
| |
|
Common Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginia)
-- Unique seasonal interest
-- Green leaves emerging in early spring turning shades of vibrant shades of reds & yellows in the fall
-- Blooms unusual yellow flowers in the fall remaining well into winter
| |
|
Blue Muffin Arrowwood Viburnum
-- Blooms white flowers in spring before green foliage emerges
-- Foliage turns shades of red, orange and purple in the fall leaving blueberries for winter interest and food for the birds
| |
|
Paniculata Hydrangeas (4 seasons, if you leave blooms). And... it's the most low maintenance of all the hydrangeas
| |
Your September Garden: What To Do Now | |
|
Cooler daytime temperatures make it a lot more relaxing to be in the garden in September. And there is a lot to be done there this month. Here's a checklist to keep you on track!
- Water garden, trees, shrubs and containers depending on plant needs and weather.
- Weed the garden so plants you want have all the soil nutrients and water available with less competition.
- Trim off (deadhead) spent flowers to promote new blooms.
- Inspect plants for insect or disease damage. Remove dead foliage out of the garden. Never compost diseased plants.
- Harvest warm and cool season vegetables. Be prepared to lightly cover with cloth as night temperatures drop. Remove non-producing warm season vegetable plants.
- Remove spent annuals in containers and refresh with fall annuals – mums, cabbage, kale, pansies.
- Plant perennials to get a jump on the next garden season.
- Plant trees and shrubs during the cooler months.
- Divide and plant peonies.
- Begin trimming back browned perennials in preparation for winter.
- Take your monthly photos and/or use a garden journal to keep track of what is planted in the garden, the weather changes and what worked during the season.
- Combine into soil or spread across the top, compost or leaf mulch to enrich the garden soil.
- Buy spring blooming bulbs as soon as you see what you want. Plant in late September, early October as directed on the package. Lightly spread bulb fertilizer over planted area and water well. If needed, pin screening or chicken wire over planted area to protect gardens from curious and hungry critters. Remember to remove the protection as foliage emerges in late winter, February/March.
-
Keep a bag or two of compost or topsoil handy to use during the winter for plant heaving due to freezing and thawing -- to cover exposed roots or to cover spring bulb foliage that pops up too early.
| |
|
Continuing sunny skies mean gardeners need to be diligent about watering in-ground and in-container plants.
Remember to continue to water new plantings daily and established trees, shrubs and perennials a few times a week.
For new plantings:
• Water each plant for about 10 seconds ...
• Move to the next plant to water for 10 seconds...
• Then go back and forth until water pools.
• Those plants are now done, and you can move on to the next group.
• New trees and shrubs need even longer watering, and when the
water pools, those are "well-watered."
| |
|
Order and Arrival Dates ...
- Order by Sunday, September 8 at 7 p.m. -- deliver by September 12
(perennials, shrubs, fall annuals)
- Order September 12 - 15 -- deliver by September 19
(perennials and late fall annuals)
- Order September 19 - 22 -- deliver by September 26
(fall annuals, perennials, grasses and more)
- Order October 3 - 6 -- deliver by October 10
(last order of 2024 -- fall annuals, perennials, grasses and more
***********************
Pick up annuals and perennials September 12, 19 and 26
Small Trees and some Native Shrubs arrive by 9/26
(depends on your selected arrival date)
Order by 7 p.m. on Sunday, September 8
(Easy pickup in Barrington, Buffalo Grove, Deerfield, Glenview, Highland Park, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Naperville, Skokie/Evanston, and Winnetka. And we deliver, too!)
| | | | |
