Fall to-Do list for my cold climate garden

I am ever so busy in the garden this time of year. So many tasks to get accomplished to both put my garden to sleep (metaphorically) for the year and to prepare for a wonderful spring!  I thought I would share the items on my list.

Fall Flower Garden To-Do List:

Add Mums for Fall Color

• Divide day lilies (trade with friends :) )
• Divide peonies
• Plant hardy mums (from friends or rescued from commercial sites)
• Remove annuals as they are spent
• Select any annuals for overwintering. (get tips on this blog entry)
• Collect fall flower seeds
• Prepare for winter sowing (cone flower, shasta daisy, gaillardia, salvia)
• Move perennials which were in containers into the garden
• Scour garden centers for plant sales 
• Clean out dead plants and leaves (to mulch) 
• Dig out hardy decorative grasses as needed to manage spread 
• Pick aster flowers for drying

Fall Garden To-Do List for Bulbs:

Fall - dividing time for iris

• Divide daffodils (note marked with yellow and white golf tees. Note, I mark the placement of bulbs in my garden with golf tees. Yellow for daffodils and red for tulips. When I think a clump is ready to be divided, I place a white golf tee there too. Then in the fall I know where to dig and not dig)
• Plant daffodils, tulips (mark with yellow and red golf tees respectively)
• Plant garlic
• Start drying down canna for storage
• Dig up begonia tubers for winter storage

Fall To-Do list for Shrubs and Trees:

• Prune off diseased, damaged or broken stems.
• Plant new shrubs
• Trim back long branches that may be broken by snow
• Stake down limbs of Japanese Maple for bark-over the winter (move into the spot you want the branch to be in when it is limber. As it barks over in the winter it should stay in that spot next year when you remove the line.)
• Fertilize those trees/shrubs not done in springtime
• Mulch in trees
• Cut down and remove invasives (buckthorn, honeysuckle, privet)

Fall To-Do list for Vines, Ground Cover & Ornamental Grasses:

• Propagate by layering the euonymus vines (make shallow cut in vine and bury it.)
• Cut back vines from house and shrubs
• Pull tender grasses for over-wintering indoors. See this blog for how-to
• Pull out invasives (buckthorn, poison ivy)

I love fall weather! So crisp and just a great time to be outside! Which is great because I know what I'm doing today, tomorrow, and the next day!

Today I'm singing and feeling Forever Autumn by the Moody Blues!

Enjoy

Teresa Marie