It’s not over until it’s over: Fall Planting

Around here, the first real ‘nip’ in the air usually comes in late August. It usually doesn’t last- typically reserved for the hours between dusk and sunrise- but it is always an instant reminder that change is on our doorstep.

I always get excited when the temperature begins to dip. Not only do I love the seasonality of life in Canada, but the cooler air is welcomed with open arms. I am usually pretty ‘done’ with the heat of summer at this point in the year (truthfully I am usually done with it in July) and I am just longing to cozy up in my fleece sweater and sport my favourite hair accessory: the toque.

Shorter days, cooler temperatures, amazing colours… fall is here!

With the change in wardrobe comes a change in garden mindset too- thoughts of removing annuals, cutting back perennials, cleaning up leaves, and erecting snow/wind protection usually comes to mind when we think of fall gardening, but let’s not close out the gardening season so quickly! Fall is also a fantastic time for another fun task… planting! Which, may I point out, generally involves acquiring NEW PLANTS- yippee!

Fall Planting

Fall is a great time for planting for a few reasons:

• The air temperatures are cooler which makes the change in location less stressful on the plant. Cooler temperatures also discourage the plant from sending out top growth (which is ideal since we want new plants to focus on root growth instead).

• The soil is still warm which allows for root growth (and therefore plant establishment).

• There is [usually] more consistent moisture in the form of rainfall. Moisture is essential for the establishment of newly installed plants. When it is generously provided by Mother Nature, it minimizes the need to irrigate newly planted material. Additionally, the cooler temperatures mean the garden won’t dry out as quickly so it will be easier to keep plants properly watered while they get established (proper watering is usually a losing battle in the summer).

• We get a head-start on next year’s growing season. By planting at this point in the year, new plants have a good month or more to ‘put down roots’ giving them a good head-start for next year.

Yippee! New plants! (Rudbeckia hirta ‘Prairie Sun’)

A Word of Caution

While fall is generally a great time for planting, there are a few plants I shy away from installing in the autumn months. They include:

• Broadleaf evergreens such as Rhododendron, Pieris, evergreen Ilex (holly) and Buxus (boxwood). These shrubs retain their leaves throughout the winter months and it is through these large leaves that moisture is lost. With the soil water frozen (and therefore ‘locked-up’), these plants are not able to replenish the water lost from their leaves and the plants then become at risk of desiccating (drying out) over the winter months.

• Other evergreens with needle/scale-like foliage such as Pinus (pine), Picea (spruce), Thuja (cedar), Tsuga (hemlock) etc. While these evergreens are generally adapted to harsher climates and their foliage is designed to minimize water loss, the needles/scales are still areas where water loss can occur. Once again, with roots unable to access the moisture locked-up in the frozen soil, these plants can suffer from winter desiccation. (It should be noted that this is particularly an issue for newly planted nursery stock; once these evergreens are established with a more mature root system, the concern over winter desiccation lessens).

• Plants that are marginally hardy for the location in which I am planting them. The two plants that come to mind are Buddleia (butterfly bush) and Caryopteris (bluebeard). For plants such as these, I want them to have the whole growing season to get themselves established in my garden before they need to face the harsh reality of winter!

Caryopteris- a plant that doesn’t exactly have the best track record for withstanding our winters. For that reason, it is one that I prefer to plant in the spring.

Throwing out the Rules

As with many things in gardening, rules are meant to be broken. In reality there are many amazing sales to be had at the garden centres and realistically, gardeners tend to have a bit more time on their hands in September/October as opposed to the spring (when there is no end to the ‘to do list’). Planting at this time of year makes practical sense.

So what happens if you just happen to purchase some plants that are not-so-ideal for fall planting? Well, there are a few techniques you can use to help ensure the survival of your new additions:

1. Burlap- erect a burlap screen around newly planted trees/shrubs to minimize airflow around the plants (which in turn minimizes the evaporative water loss from the plants and helps to ward-off desiccation). Screens get erected once air temperatures remain consistently cold- usually November.

2. Mulch- Applying a good layer of mulch around the plant protects the establishing root system by providing additional insulation from the cold as well as potentially damaging temperature fluctuations. Mulch also helps to conserve soil moisture.

3. Water- It is important to remember that despite cooler air temperatures, soil can still dry out. For roots to grow and establish, they need moisture so it is important to keep watering newly planted trees, shrubs, and perennials right up until the ground freezes! Proper watering during the autumn months will also ensure your plants are “fully hydrated” entering into the winter. This is an important step in helping your plants survive winter water loss without completely drying out. (A drought-stressed plant is much more likely to succumb to winter desiccation than a property watered plant.). So check your soil often, and when it starts to get dry, be sure to water. With that said, it is important to not keep the soil consistently wet, as this will promote root and crown rot issues in your plants.

Phew! Well that was long-winded! So as you can see, the growing season is certainly not over! On that note, I have a sudden urge to take a walk through my garden and make a shopping list- afterall there are still some ‘must-haves’ that must find a place in my garden this fall!

Happy planting!

A sea of colour… take it in! It won’t last long…

Turn your 'Pruning Eyes' On!

So… it’s spring; a strange spring, but spring nonetheless. At a time like this when our whole world has been shaken up, it is nice to see the ‘rebirth’ that comes from soaking rains, longer days, and a higher sun.

Hello little lovies- it is so nice to see you again!

From a gardening perspective, April is typically a month that starts off slow yet builds to a flurry of activity by the end. While winter and spring play a rousing game of ‘tug-o-war’ for much of the month, I tend to focus on prepping plants for the growing season while the weather is highly changeable (first half of the month) and then conduct my detailed spring cleanups closer to the end of the month when spring is beginning to win it’s battle for seasonal supremacy. By keeping the gardens ‘tucked in’ a little longer, the plants (especially more tender ones) remain protected from any crazy weather events that Mother Nature should decide to throw at us.

(Now I will come clean and admit that I threw this timeline completely out the window in my own garden this year, because let’s face it- we are dealing with a LOT of ‘at home’ time and I am not getting my full garden fix from working in other people’s gardens!)

A Helleborus sp. laughing in the face of a late season snowfall.

PRUNING, PRUNING and MORE PRUNING

With all that said, in theory, my first gardening visits of the season involve A LOT of pruning (which ends up being a little hard on hands that haven’t seen the secateurs all winter…). In this post, I am going to focus on the easy stuff: herbaceous perennials and a few basic maintenance pruning techniques for woody plants.

Pruning of Herbaceous Perennials

Remember all those perennials we left up over the winter for winter-interest or for wildlife value? (See my fall post “Perennials: to chop or not?” if you need to jog your memory!) These herbaceous perennials all died to the ground or to a clump of ‘live’ leaves at the base of the plant (the basal foliage) in the fall. Well the time has come to cut all that dead stuff down while making sure to not cut off any of the basal foliage or new growth emerging from the ground. It’s an easy and gratifying task- not only does it tidy-up the garden substantially, but it often reveals new growth that is starting to push it’s way into the world. (Be sure to whisper ‘hello’!)

Perennials that are ready to be pruned down to make way for new growth- all the dead stuff goes!

Pruning Woody Plants- Basic Maintenance Pruning

I also do a lot of pruning on trees and shrubs, afterall it is the perfect time for pruning for a couple different reasons. First of all, and generally speaking, disease pressure is low during the dormant season and into early spring (and this is a good thing since every pruning cut we make is an opportunity for disease organisms to enter and infect our plants). Secondly we are able to actually see all the branches sans leaves- this certainly helps in identifying what branches to leave in tact and what to prune out.

As we wander through our gardens, secateurs in hand, it is important to keep in mind the types of branches that can and should be pruned out: dead, diseased and damaged branches (the three d’s), crossing branches, and finally water sprouts and suckers. Let’s looks at each of these undesirables:

DEAD branches are not only unsightly but they can attract insect and disease issues; they can also build up over time and overcrowd a shrub and therefore need to be removed.

Dead branches and branches experiencing dieback on a weeping Cercis canadensis (redbud) are quite obvious due to their different colour. They need to be removed by cutting them back to a healthy branch. A few pruning points are shown in the photo on the right.

DISEASED branches should always be removed to prevent the disease from further progressing within the plant and to prevent the plant from being a source of infection to neighbouring susceptible plants (afterall, it’s hard for plants to practice social distancing).

It is important to look for evidence of disease on your trees and shrubs such as the black knot galls on the chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) in the photo on the left, or the stromata/fruiting structures depicted on the corkscrew hazel (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’) on the right. While these are two diseases that are next to impossible to control, the infected branches should still be pruned out.

DAMAGED branches (such as ones that snapped over the winter, or were nibbled-on by animals) should be pruned back to undamaged tissue. A plant can heal a clean cut much better than a jagged one!

CROSSED branches that rub against one another cause damage to both branches through abrasion. One branch (usually the smaller, weaker one) should be pruned out by following it back to where it connects with another branch and cutting it at that location.

Crossed branches (left) cause damage to the branches through rubbing/abrasion. One of the branches should be removed by cutting it back to a point where it connects to another branch (right); red circle shows the location of the crossed branches.

WATER SPROUTS are really fast growing shoots that grow out of dormant buds on branches and trunks of trees and shrubs. They typically grow straight up, so they tend to stick out like a sore thumb against the normal branching habit of the plant. Their fast growth is not ‘quality’ growth- these shoots are more prone to insect and disease attack plus their attachment points to trees/shrubs are also weaker than the attachment points of ‘proper’ branches. For these reasons, water sprouts should be removed.

Water sprouts emerging from the trunk of a tree (top left) and from a branch (top right) and the corresponding locations of the pruning cuts to be made to eliminate the water sprouts (red lines in bottom pictures).

SUCKERS are vigorous sprouts (similar to water sprouts) that arise from the root system of a woody plant. Unless you are growing a plant for the purpose of naturalization or soil stabilization (where suckering is an acceptable, even welcomed plant characteristic), suckers should be removed with a sharp pull sideways or a snip as close to their point of origin as possible.

Diagram of a shrub with a sucker originating from it’s root system (as indicated by red arrow).

While our trees and shrubs are bare, it is the perfect opportunity to look for all these issues in our plants. It is important to note that we are not pruning for size reduction of our trees and shrubs (we will start this discussion in the next post) we are only removing ‘undesirable branches’ at this point.

A Few Important Pruning Tips

Before I close off this long-winded post, I want to leave you with a few things to keep in mind when pruning:

• Always use sharp tools (again, clean cuts heal better than jagged ones)

• Prune on a dry day: water is a great transporter of disease-causing organisms, there is no need to expose pruning wounds to potential sources of disease

• Sanitize your pruners often! Especially after every cut into dead or diseased wood to prevent the spread of disease to other parts of the plant or to other plants in the garden. I use rubbing alcohol (applied with a bingo dabber) or disinfectant wipes

• Always cut back into healthy wood (at least 15 centimetres/ 6 inches away from the dead/diseased tissue that you are removing) and cut back to either a bud or where the ‘offending branch’ connects to another branch.

So get your ‘pruning eyes’ on, your ‘pruning hands’ ready and get to work! Happy snipping!