Beginners Gardening Guide #11 : Your Garden During the Fall

Spring and summer are the glory days for most gardens, but if you plan right, your garden will continue to reward you right through to the time when hard frosts hit. Many plants use the spring and summer months to gather the strength and nutrients they need to burst into beautiful bloom in the fall. In this guide we will look at plants that do well in autumn, and then will discuss what to do when the blooming is done, and it’s time to put your garden to bed for the winter.

Many flowers flourish in the cooler weather and shorter days of fall. Make a place for the following plants and you’ll enjoy the color and beauty for an additional 4-6 weeks before you have to bid adieu to your garden until spring:

• Sweet Autumn Clematis: Wonderful fragrance pours out of these gorgeous white flowers, which break into bloom as the nights grow chilly. This vine loves a trellis on which to display its offerings.

• Sedum: This drought-resistant plant waits patiently through the heat of summer, saving its strength for an end-of-year celebration of color, in small, exquisite flowers.

• Aster: These lovely little blossoms come in pink, blue, purple, and white, and the hardy plants will keep producing long into the fall.

• Goldenrod: This hallmark plant of autumn delivers rich yellow blooms that begin appearing in late summer and reach their peak in mid-fall.

• Perennial Sunflower: These beauties are smaller than their annual cousins, and wait patiently until early fall to bloom into yellow radiance.

• Helenium: This native daisy variety offers pleasing flowers that range from yellow-orange to crisp read. It is easy to grow and very tough, and will become a looked-for friend each fall.

Check to see which of these fall bloomers prosper in your growing zone, and add other plants to the mix when you discover those that will thrive in your area. If vegetables are what you seek, choose a number of different squash varieties, as well as pumpkins, kale, and mustard greens. You might find autumn to be your favorite season in the garden, when the growing season comes to a crescendo of a conclusion.

Once the growing is done, dead head the perennials, and till the remains of the vegetable plants and annual flowers into the beds. Some believe this is a good time to prune shrubs, but in reality, pruning may induce new growth just as winter hits, which will prove detrimental in the long run. Wait until spring to do your pruning. Give the garden one last weeding for the year, and then water it until it is saturated. Cover your beds with a thick blanket of leaves, or several inches of compost, and the garden will awake in spring full of vital nutrients and rich soil ready to accept whatever you plant, while allowing your existing plants to get a healthy start to the growing season.

A-Z Beginners Gardening Guides

• Beginners Gardening Guide #1 : How To Start Your Garden
• Beginners Gardening Guide #2 : Steps for Designing Your First Garden
• Beginners Gardening Guide #3 : Choosing the Right Tools for your First Garden
• Beginners Gardening Guide #4 : How to Keep Pests Out of Your Garden
• Beginners Gardening Guide #5 : A Beginner’s Guide to Planting Flowers and Trees
• Beginners Gardening Guide #6 :How to Choose What to Plant
• Beginners Gardening Guide #7 : First Steps in Vegetable Gardening
• Beginners Gardening Guide #8 : Maintaining Your Garden
• Beginners Gardening Guide #9 : Lawn Care for Beginners
• Beginners Gardening Guide #10: Blossoms for Every Season
• Beginners Gardening Guide #11 : Your Garden During the Fall
• Beginners Gardening Guide #12: What Steps to take as Winter Approaches
• Beginners Gardening Guide #13: Preparing for a Great Spring Start