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Want a spectacular show of perennials in your garden early next spring? If so, now’s the time to plant flowering favorites like hellebore, phlox, and allium. Get plants in the ground soon, and you gain a big head start on next year’s garden.
In all but areas with severe winters, fall is the ideal time to plant many perennials, because the cold winter months that follow are important for dormancy, says Venelin Dimitrov, product manager of flowers, tubers, perennial plants, shrubs, and fruits for W. Atlee Burpee & Co.
“Many perennial plants from temperate climates must experience a period of low winter temperature to initiate and accelerate flowering, which is known as vernalization,” he says. “This process establishes the plant, so it starts growing earlier the next spring and produces brighter and bolder colors.”
Fall is also a good time to plant many bulbs, like crocus, tulip, and daffodil, and the biennials digitalis, delphinium, lupine, viola, and hollyhock. The latter plants flower after the second year of growth and require a chill period over winter to get started.
Order perennial plants via mail-order in autumn, and they’ll travel during cool weather, which means less chance of drying out and stressing during shipping.
When to plant your perennials depends on the weather in the area of the U.S. in which you live. “For most of the country, early September is ideal for planting perennials,” says Dimitrov. “The cut-off time to plant in fall is normally 18-20 days before the first hard frost. Light frost of 32 F. won’t harm most of these plants.”[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]To have luck incorporating new perennials into your landscape this fall, keep the following planting tips in mind.
Amend the soil prior to planting. This will ensure maximum drainage for plant root systems during the wet weather ahead, says Dimitrov. “Avoid planting in areas where water may gather and stay. Ensure there is maximum drainage for the root system.”
Clean up the garden and compost fallen leaves. Foliage lying in garden beds where your perennials are planted packs down and prevents plant roots from receiving critical air and water. Rake excess leaves out of the beds and compost them.
Create mixed borders. Interplant perennials with low-growing deciduous or evergreen shrubs. Such mixed borders add height, structure, and year-long interest to the garden.
Make a plan. When determining which perennials to use, consider the layout of the garden and its exposure. Create nonstop interest by planting perennials that bloom at different times throughout a season. Plant taller plants at the back of a border or bed, medium height plants in the center, and the lowest growing perennials in the front.
Launch the gallery to see a beautiful array of perennials you can look forward to.
Julie Bawden-Davis is a garden writer and master gardener, who since 1985 has written for publications such as Organic Gardening, Wildflower, Better Homes and Gardens and The Los Angeles Times. She is the author of seven books, including Reader’s Digest Flower Gardening, Fairy Gardening, The Strawberry Story, and Indoor Gardening the Organic Way, and is the founder of HealthyHouseplants.com.

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© Julie Bawden-Davis

DIRECTIONS

mire a model home with its stylish decorating, and you’re likely to see one common denominator—houseplants. Interior decorators know the secret. As living things, plants give life to otherwise sterile rooms, and with their wide variety of leaf shapes, sizes, textures and colors, they make great decorator pieces.

“Rather than simply being an afterthought in your home’s décor, houseplants create a sense of style,” says garden designer Jenny Peterson, co-author with Kylee Baumle of Indoor Plant Décor: The Design Stylebook for Houseplants. “We used to plop plants on a table or stick them in a corner and forget about them, but now they’re integral to the overall design of our homes.”

Whatever the specific type of décor in your home, houseplants can accentuate that style, says Peterson, whose book shows how to define your décor style and make appealing plant selections and container choices.

“If you like tropical or exotic styles, plants with large leaves or intricate colorations are perfect, such as moth orchids, bold palms and split-leaf philodendrons,” says Peterson. “Those who want a more minimalist look can choose plants with strong architectural forms like succulents and sansevieria, and people who gravitate towards a more classic style can use traditional forms of ferns, ivies, peace lily and Rex begonia.”

Browsing your local nursery for houseplants is similar to flipping through wall-covering or upholstery samples. You’ll find a wide variety of colorful foliage and flowering plants that are sure to match or complement your home’s décor. If you want to ensure that your plants blend well, bring paint chips and fabric samples with you when you go plant shopping.

Also consider plant size in your indoor decorating scheme, says Peterson. “For a really dramatic statement, indoor trees or large matching ferns are a good choice, whereas African violets can make an attractive vignette on a tabletop.”

(Scheurich)

Houseplants can even trick the eye to make a room appear larger or smaller. For instance, the ceiling will look higher if you put a tall, narrow plant in the corner of a room, whereas a wide, stout plant with foliage that curves down, such as the ponytail plant (Nolina recurvata), will draw the eye down and make a room look smaller.

Indoor plants can also solve design dilemmas. For instance, empty corners can be filled with plants, and houseplants can be used to define spaces within larger rooms and create transitions.

Besides the decorative plants themselves, container options offer myriad design opportunities. “Think beyond the ‘plant in a pot on the table’ when putting your indoor displays together,” says Peterson, who suggests scouring flea markets, craft stores and even your own home for unique and eye-catching container options.

“Get creative and use repurposed items like silver baby cups, shoes and boots, books and seashells,” says Peterson, whose book depicts myriad options. “Also consider using your walls. Many display options make use of vertical wall space for your houseplants, lending an instantly modern and fresh look to your indoor garden.”

A festive touch to your home by livening up your holiday décor with a wreath from the garden. Composed of items like evergreen cuttings and berries, such eye-catching wreaths are easy and inexpensive to make, and they allow you to express your creativity, says James Farmer, author of five books, including Wreaths for All Seasons.

“Wreaths are your chance to make an artistic expression of the season,” says Farmer, who is also editor-at-large for Southern Living. He offers his top tips for creating your own holiday wreaths from the landscape.

Materials. A wide variety of items from the garden make good additions to your wreath. Foliage from evergreen trees and shrubs works well, such as pine, cypress, juniper, fir, cedar, boxwood, holly, pittosporum, and rosemary. For embellishment, choose from a wide variety of garden items, including pine cones, berries, flowers and fruits. Farmer suggests incorporating as wide a variety of garden items as possible in order to “wow the senses.”

Base. Use a wire wreath base or fashion one out of trimmings from plants such as magnolia, pine, boxwood, holly, cedar, cypress, fir, grape vine, or eucalyptus. The latter choice emits a pleasant scent and lends an attractive blue-green color to the wreath.

Create the circular base when the plant cuttings are fresh and malleable. Once you have the desired size and shape, secure it with craft or florist wire. The plant material will dry into the form you’ve created.

Construction. Within the metal or stem base, start by weaving in foliage from the garden and securing it to the base with wire. As you work, Farmer suggests thinking of the wreath “as a compass. Make sure that each ‘direction’ is well placed and arranged,” he says. “Think about what you’re putting on the ‘north, south, east, and west’ coordinates or the top, bottom, right and left, and then fill in with more materials and accents, such as the pine cones, berries, flowers, and fruits.”

Placement. Be inspired when it comes to decorating your home with your garden wreaths, says Farmer. “Don’t just limit them to doors or windows. They’re wonderful as accents over your mantle, affixed onto a mirror, hanging on an armoire or on the back of a chair.”

Maintenance. Since they are made from living items, garden wreaths require some extra care to keep them looking fresh. Avoid placing them near drying heat sources. If hanging wreaths outside, mist on a daily basis to keep them fresher longer. Farmer also advises ensuring that your materials are freshly cut and not drying out before crafting your wreath. And he suggests soaking the entire wreath in water for five minutes before dripping dry and hanging.

ature and garden writer Teri Dunn Chace thought she knew flowers. As a child, she dissected blooms while exploring the outdoors and spent her career writing gardening books and for publications such as Horticulture. It wasn’t until she saw photographer Robert Llewellyn’s flower photos that she discovered the little known side of flowers.

“When I first viewed the photos, they cast a spell,” says Chace of the flower photographs in her book, Seeing Flowers: Discover the Hidden Life of Flowers. Llewellyn’s unique and unconventional photographs—created from many small images shot at different points of focus and stitched together with software used to work with microscopes—offer an intriguing view of the odd world of flowers and their astounding variations.

Unusual flowers found in the book include the arum family member Arisaema thunbergii subsp. urashima. “This spooky yet beautiful flower goes by the racy common name dominatrix Jack-in-the-pulpit,” says Chace. “The dusky-hued, whip-like tail is actually an elongated spadix that can extend up to 18 inches.”

(Robert Llewellyn)

The flower that forms at the end of the above ground stem of garlic is generally removed by farmers and gardeners so that the plant puts energy into developing the below-ground bulb. If it’s allowed to form, though, Chace finds the resulting flower stalk to be “hauntingly gorgeous.”

(Robert Llewellyn)

(Robert Llewellyn)

Take a close look at flowers in the daisy family, such as sunflowers. The petals are actually ray flowers, and the centers are called disk flowers, says Chace. “When you peek into the heart of the disk—such as the center of a sunflower—you see that it is made up of many tightly packed individual flowers, each one a miniature masterpiece of symmetry and rich color and beauty.”

(Robert Llewellyn)

On the book’s cover and repeated in the interior, the stunning daffodil takes on an ethereal quality when you look at it up close and in detail. “When seen intimately, with its pistil and stamens in sharp focus and the ruffle of its ‘cup’ in your face, it’s almost voyeuristic,” says Chace. “Who knew daffodils were so ornate?”

(Robert Llewellyn)

When allowed a natural progression, flowers can also undergo a spellbinding, often bizarre transformation, such as a peony flower going to seed. “After the flower has been pollinated and the petals fall off, we usually stop paying attention and miss what happens next: a three-segmented pod forms and ripens hard, dark-colored seeds the size of peas,” she says. “The photo captures the odd pod looking like a tiny three-headed dragon fiercely clutching its magic prized seeds.”

Breathtaking flowers are all around you. “Kneel down and take a closer look when something catches your eye on a nature hike or at a park or in someone’s garden,” says Chace. “City-dwellers can spot interesting flowers at the florist or in a lobby or waiting room. The key is to stop and look. Amazing sights await you.”