So much to do and see and enjoy in the September garden. Extending the gardening season to last beyond Labor Day has been the goal of more and more gardeners. With garden centers fully stocked with colorful annuals, perennials, shrubs, grasses and more, it’s a great time to give your garden a September update.
In some cases, summer blooming annuals and perennials are still putting on a spectacular show into September. Colorful beauties such as zinnias and marigolds, verbena, coleus, lantana and petunias bloom well into the fall season, sometimes until Halloween, if we don’t get a killing frost.
Late-blooming perennials such as black-eyed Susans, purple coneflowers, hardy hibiscus, roses, Joe-Pye weed, cardinal flower and others are also still putting on a show. If you keep deadheading or pinching off spent flower stems, you’ll extend the season even longer.
The truly fun part in September gardening is creating our own containers, patio pots, hanging baskets, as well as seasonal beds and borders for the long fall season.
Classic fall decorative plants are now in stock at most garden centers and big box stores.
Of course, it wouldn’t be fall without classic, fall-blooming mums in a wide range of colors, shapes and sizes, all ready for your enjoyment.
Whether you simply set them in the garden in the pots they are sold in, drop them in pots and containers of your own, or plant them directly in the ground, colorful, vibrant, explosive mums are the highlight of the fall season.
With the hot weather expected, be sure to understand that you will likely need to replace these mums once cooler weather arrives in order to keep the show colorful and vibrant.
Other classic fall decorative plants are fun to mix and match in containers, beds and borders. Plants such as elegant purple fountain grass, celosias, Swiss chard, with its colorful veins and leafy growth, coral bells, zinnias, flowering cabbage or kale, gloriosa daisies and so many more colorful plants can be used to create new container combinations, or to simply make-over existing summer containers.
Accents such as corn stalks, Indian corn, pumpkins, gourds and others can also be incorporated into seasonal containers.
Whether you choose the classic fall colors of red, orange and gold, or dare to be different with pink, purple and blues, enjoy bringing the September garden to life and extending your gardening season.
Rob Zimmer is a nature and garden author, public speaker and radio show host on WHBY. Readers can find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RobZimmerOutdoors.
September the time to give gardens a lift
