Just because the days are getting shorter and temperatures are dropping, it doesn’t mean you can’t still have a colorful, textural garden.

I have been on a quest for winter garden ideas and found some special heucheras that are guaranteed to impress. The new Terra Nova heuchera Fyre Wing series is inspired by dragon lore and features deep, rich foliage and unique serrated foliage like dragon wings.

If you want something different for year-round color and a plant sure to become a talking point in your garden, any of the seven new heuchera varieties in the line tick all the right boxes. Of all of them, I am a fan of the heuchera Fyre Wing ‘Heliodor’ (available at Plant Addicts) with lime-green foliage tinted with orange when young. The foliage appears to glow and will remain evergreen in milder climates.

What Are Heuchera Fyre Wing Plants

Heuchera, also known as coral bells, makes a great winter plant for pots and borders. The gorgeous perennial plants are suited to a wide variety of climates, from USDA hardiness zones 4-9

When planning a winter garden, some of the best plants have vibrant foliage year-round for interest and structure. Plants like heuchera, winter heather, ophiopogon, and bergenia tick all those boxes.

Heuchera are evergreen in milder climates and semi-evergreen in colder areas. The wide palette of foliage makes heuchera so popular. The color spectrum runs from neon green to warm peach to almost black, with varieties like Heuchera 'Caramel' (available at Nature Hills) and Heuchera 'Palace Purple' among the most popular.

The foliage of different heucheras can be smooth, ruffled, lacy, or hand-shaped. However, the Terra Nova heuchera Fyre Wing series has been bred to showcase a new, unique foliage form. This sets it apart from others and will really stand out in any garden.

The series is a range inspired by dragon lore and precious gemstones. Each has foliage that echoes its namesake gem and unfurls like finely laced dragon wings.

Speaking about the heuchera Fyre Wing series, Chuck Pavlich, director of new product development at Terra Nova Nurseries, claims the series has a ‘one in a million quality’. He said upon release: ‘The deeply cut, lace-like foliage creates a level of texture and dimension that hasn't existed until now.’

How to Use Fyre Wing Plants

The seven varieties in the Terra Nova heuchera Fyre Wing series range in shade from the lime green ‘Heliodor’ to the black ‘Jet’.

There is likely a plant to match any garden style or planting scheme. The emerald-green ‘Jadeite’ (get a Fyre Wing Jadeite Heuchera at Plant Addicts) will freshen up mixed plantings, while the purple-bronze ‘Spinel’ can provide real contrast against brighter colors or white blooms in flower beds or containers.

In seasonal plantings, the rich golden ‘Amber’ and the copper of ‘Hematite’ (get a Fyre Wing Hematite Heuchera at Plant Addicts) complement existing fall color around the yard and work well with the blue, burgundy, or cream blooms of winter-flowering violas, pansies, or primroses.

Each in the Fyre Wing series features the eye-catching, deeply cut, dragon wing-like foliage, with many leaf colors developing over the season. The plants suit zones 4-9, can grow in sun or part-shade, and range from 7-11 inches tall and 12-14 inches wide, depending on the variety.

This makes them suitable for beds, borders, or growing coral bells in pots. If you are looking to add a bit of magic to your yard, these dramatic heucheras are guaranteed to do just that. Plant them along the edges of flower beds for drama, or as focal pieces in a large container or planter. You can rely on them to put on a show year-round and attract the attention of guests.

If you're after a bit of magic or lore in your yard, each variety in the Fyre Wing range comes with a birth certificate detailing the dragon’s provenance and claw print illustrations which are indicative of the foliage and the gemstone.

This added depth and mythology, along with the rare textural foliage, can support other enchanting backyard spaces, such as fairy gardens or the moonlighting trend that creates a magical feel when the sun goes down. Imagine some subtle lighting showcasing the dragon wing foliage on a darker evening.

Shop the Terra Nova Heuchera Fyre Wing Series

By carefully curating your garden with unique plants that offer vibrant color and interesting visuals year-round, you can have a beautiful space throughout the colder months.

A key part of maintaining heucheras or coral bells (whatever you prefer to call them) is knowing when to trim them each season.

As evergreen plants, pruning them in the fall robs you of any winter color. Fall trimming also exposes the tender crown to frost. The take-home message is to never cut back coral bells in the fall; instead, always do it in spring. Enjoy the plant’s winter color and texture, and add the task to your spring gardening checklist.

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Alpines are tough plants, popular for being pretty, hardy, versatile, and low-maintenance. You may not think that this rugged group of plants needs winter protection, but neglect them at your own risk. The one thing that harms alpines in winter more than anything else is wetness.

Cold isn’t usually an issue over winter, but waterlogging during the colder months is an alpine plant’s nemesis. Stopping them from sitting wet for extended periods is key to overwintering alpine plants.

Thankfully, overwintering alpine plants isn’t too difficult. Either cover rock garden plants in situ with a cold frame, mini greenhouse (such as this at The Home Depot), or a cloche, and move potted ones indoors for winter. This prevents the roots or crown from rotting. Maintaining airflow is vital too, so fungal issues don’t build up and affect plants over winter.

The Hidden Danger of Winter Wet

Alpine plants naturally grow in tough conditions, often at high altitudes and in climates with intense sun, strong winds, and cold winters. Over the years, they have evolved to cope with these harsh environments.

For home gardens, this means alpines are drought-tolerant plants that can thrive in poorer soils. These low-maintenance plants need little watering or feeding once established, which has helped make them popular choices over the years.

With that in mind, overwintering alpine plants might sound unnecessary. However, one key difference between their natural habitats and most home gardens makes overwintering plants a balancing act – and one you need to get right.

It is not freezing temperatures that usually kill alpine plants in winter; it is waterlogging. Alpine plants usually grow at altitude and sit under an insulating layer of snow over winter. These winters are cold and dry. The snow protects them from icy winds and rain, and when it melts, the lean, rocky soil drains quickly.

This is not often the case in home gardens, where winters are usually wet and mild. Alpines aren’t protected from freezing rain, waterlogged soil, or repeated freezing and thawing, which can lift plants from the soil (known as frost heave). Long periods of sitting in cold, sodden soil can signal the demise of alpines.

The danger stems from the fact that alpines don’t absorb much moisture during winter. Jessica Mercer, Horticulturist at Plant Addicts, explains: ‘During wet winters, water fills the air spaces around the roots and deprives the roots of oxygen. Over time, the roots and crown can rot.’

‘Plants with hairy or woolly foliage (e.g. edelweiss, pussytoes, and partridge feather) trap more water near the crown and thus are more susceptible to crown rot,' she adds.

Such hairy or woolly plants, including spring-flowering alpine varieties of pulsatilla and saxifraga, won’t use all that extra water they store during winter and can quickly decay unless protected from the elements.

How to Protect Plants From Rot

Overwintering alpine plants will differ depending on where you grow them. Plants in a rock or crevice garden need protection in place, while potted plants in container gardens can be transferred to a sheltered spot.

Alpines in the Ground

Sensitive hairy and woolly foliage plants in rock, crevice, or gravel gardens can be covered for winter. This can be done with a cold frame, a garden cloche, glass panes, or plastic sheeting. The latter two need securing in place, and plastic sheets should be staked to keep them from blowing away.

‘When I lived in Seattle, where winters are mild but wet, I grew cold-hardy dryland plants in my rock garden under clear mini cloches all winter,’ claims Jessica Mercer. ‘These included sulfur buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum), beavertail cactus (Opuntia basilaris), and Agave ‘Blue Glow’.’

A portable cold frame like this on The Home Depot protects plants from the worst winter weather. On warmer days, remember to open the vents for essential air circulation.

Garden cloches (like these at Walmart) offer the same protection. Any leftover glass panes from renovations and plastic sheets over garden hoops make budget-friendly DIY cloche alternatives.

Alpines in Pots

Move potted alpines for winter to protect containers from frost and freezing rain. Plants are more susceptible to freezes in containers and should not be left outdoors, as they risk sitting waterlogged when temperatures plunge during winter.

An ideal place to overwinter alpine plants in pots is an unheated greenhouse, alpine house, cold frame, or porch. Keep plants somewhere warm and dry. On warm days, open the doors or lids of the greenhouse or cold frame so air circulates freely, rather than sitting damp and humid to risk fungal problems.

If you don’t have an indoor structure, you can move pots under the eaves. For extra drainage, Morgan Brooks, the Founder and Editor at Plant Style Home, advises: ‘I raise every pot on pot feet or bricks and tilt it slightly so rain runs off, and I plant in a gritty mix of compost, sharp sand and fine gravel.’

You can get a pack of pot feet at Walmart to raise containers over winter. To prevent waterlogging, check each pot’s drainage holes before winter to make sure they are not blocked and are allowing excess water to flow away.

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FAQs

Do You Need to Water Alpines Over Winter?

Watering is a very delicate balance when overwintering alpine plants. The general rule is that they require very little water over winter, as you don’t want them sitting in waterlogged soil. Check the moisture levels every few weeks to avoid the soil drying out, especially when plants are protected from the elements.

‘Water when the mix feels dry about an inch or two down,' advises Jessica Mercer from Plant Addicts. ‘Pots in a cold frame or greenhouse can heat up quickly in afternoon sun and may dry out more quickly as a result.’

You can check the soil beneath the surface with your fingers, or a soil moisture meter available on Amazon is an alternative option that gives instant results.

November is a prime month to look around the garden, think about which plants you need to protect from frost, and how best to do it. Useful kit like cold frames, frost cloth, and mulch helps protect plants in beds and borders.

Plants both large and small need some TLC ahead of winter. It may be that larger tender plants need wrapping in November, such as tree ferns, banana trees, or tropical hibiscus. For this, use frost cloth, burlap, or special winter plant covers.

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I have always enjoyed taking cuttings and find hardwood cuttings the most reliable way to propagate new shrubs. They are easy to take and usually have a high success rate. If you want new plants, November is an ideal time to take hardwood cuttings, when shrubs lose their leaves and enter dormancy.

You can take hardwood cuttings of deciduous shrubs, fruit bushes, roses, and trees from late fall to late winter. It is a satisfying, cost-efficient way to expand your plant collection, and you’ll get exact clones of your favorite shrubs. They do require patience, but on the plus side, these rugged cuttings require little maintenance, especially if you plant them directly into the ground.

Yes, you can buy new shrubs or trees to plant in November. But also examine what you already have that impresses. You can clone them to add more color or texture to the garden. Here are seven hardwood cuttings to take in November, along with expert tips to help yours root successfully. I always use rooting hormone powder (available at Walmart) when I take plant cuttings. As hardwood cuttings can take months to root, anything that speeds up that process is worth using.

Taking Hardwood Cuttings in November

Once you know how to take hardwood cuttings, you can propagate shrubs, climbers, fruit, and trees for years. You can take cuttings from mid-fall to late winter, while plants are dormant. The good news is that they are reliable, forgiving, and often need little attention after being started.

Take 8-12 inch cuttings of healthy one-year-old wood, making a straight cut at the base below a bud and an angled cut at the top above a bud. Remove any remaining leaves and dip the bottom of the cutting in rooting hormone. The hormone powder or gel is optional but recommended, as it helps speed up root development.

Hardwood cuttings can be put in pots or directly into outdoor trenches. Whichever you choose, bury two-thirds of the cutting below the soil line. Keep the cutting moist, but not waterlogged. It needs to be carefully monitored and kept moist to develop roots and be ready to plant next fall.

1. Gooseberries

When you grow gooseberries, hardwood cuttings are the most reliable way to add more bushes to your garden without buying more. As fresh gooseberries aren’t always common in stores, growing your own heavy-cropping bushes is a go-to way to get fruit for desserts, preserves, or savory dishes.

Yes, you can invest in new bushes, but they won’t bring the satisfaction of picking gooseberries from bushes you propagated yourself. That joy can’t be measured. It does need a bit more patience, but trust me, it is worth it.

Gooseberries want pruning during dormancy, so you can take material for cuttings while trimming the bush. Before you cut anything, ensure your pruning tools are clean and sharp. A good pair of pruners is essential for taking cuttings and pruning fruit bushes – I have used a trusty pair of Felco F2 pruning shears (available at Amazon) for years.

2. American Beautyberry

An American beautyberry is an absolute stunner in the fall. Its arching branches are covered with dazzling purple winter berries that stop you in your tracks. If you want more native shrubs with winter berries, this should be near the top of any list.

If you have a shrub, or a friend or neighbor has one, you can collect seeds or take cuttings to grow another beautyberry. Don’t worry about ruining the display by removing stems; you only need to take a few this month. You usually don’t prune beautyberry shrubs until late winter or early spring, but taking the odd stem or two for cuttings is fine.

The best option for American beautyberry cuttings is to place them in a deep pot filled with a well-draining potting mix for cuttings. One such example is this 3-in-1 soil mix for seeds and cuttings at Amazon. Keep the pots in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame over winter.

3. Spirea

Spirea makes a great landscaping shrub as it puts on a show throughout the seasons. The flowers appear in spring and summer – with different spirea varieties coming in shades of white, pink, or light purple – and the blooms are followed by vibrant fall foliage. The flowering shrubs both look fabulous and are a beacon for pollinators.

The low-maintenance shrubs are very popular and versatile. You can use them in flower beds and borders, planted in large containers, or as a colorful hedge. If you want to use spirea as a hedging plant, it can be cost-efficient to grow many plants from cuttings.

When you are planting a large number of cuttings, the easiest way to do this is to put them straight in the ground. Pick a sheltered spot with well-draining soil and use a garden spade (Available at Ace Hardware) to make a slit in the ground, into which you bury your cuttings around six inches apart. Firm the soil down around the cutting, water it well, and keep the soil moist over the coming months.

4. Elderberry

Elderberry, or sambucas, is a stunning flowering shrub with dramatic foliage, white flowers, and dark berries that are popular for pies, jellies, jams, syrup, juices, and more. It is one of the best shrubs for dark foliage, which can be purple to almost block.

An elderberry is a simple woody plant to propagate from hardwood cuttings. If you can get cuttings from an elderberry bush – whether in your yard, a neighbor’s, or a plant in the wild – there is a very high chance it’ll root successfully. To give it the best chance, make sure each cutting is around the thickness of a pencil and contains two to four buds.

It is possible to root elderberry cuttings in water. Prepare the cutting as outlined above and submerge it in a glass of water, with at least half underneath the water line. Change the water every few days, and wait for roots to form. Once the roots are a few inches long, you can pot it up in containers filled with soil.

5. Forsythia

The bright yellow blooms of a spring-flowering shrub are a welcome sight after a long, hard winter. Forsythia is one of the first to burst into bloom in the new year and warm the soul. For that reason, you may choose to take forsythia cuttings to add more of these attractive, vibrant plants to your yard.

The right time to prune forsythia shrubs is after the blooms fade for the season. But you can take cuttings without hugely affecting the upcoming spring display. Take 6-8 inch cuttings of one-year-old stems, trim them, and dip them in rooting hormone. Place these cuttings into pots and keep them in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame.

You can get a strong polycarbonate cold frame at The Home Depot that is ideal for overwintering cuttings. The cuttings will be protected from frost and heavy rain to develop roots and be ready to plant in the garden next fall.

6. Blueberries

Blueberries are highly nutritious and rich in vitamins and antioxidants. There are many health benefits that come from growing this superfood at home and enjoying the rich blueberry harvests you get each summer.

As you prune blueberries while the bushes are dormant, you can tick two jobs off a fall gardening checklist by pruning and propagating blueberries from cuttings at the same time.

Take 12-inch stems of the previous season’s growth that are pencil-thick. These can be processed into 4-6 inch cuttings and put in pots filled with a well-draining potting mix. It helps to cover the pots with a clear plastic bag to maintain humidity, or you can use nursery pots with humidity domes from Amazon for cuttings.

7. Weigela

Lots of people like growing weigela because the shrubs are easy, reliable, and showy. The tubular spring and early summer flowers are bright, come in a range of vivid colors, and attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees.

Weigelas come in different colors and sizes. But often you see a limited range available to buy. The potential uses for weigela include planting the shrub as a wildlife-friendly screening plant. If you have a variety you adore, taking weigela cuttings is a budget-friendly way to get identical plants to expand any shrub collection.

If you opt to put weigela cuttings into an outdoor nursery bed, take care with watering plants over winter and spring. The soil needs to be kept consistently moist, but not waterlogged, as this can cause the cutting to rot in sodden soil. A soil moisture meter, available on Amazon, can be used to check the levels and avoid overwatering the cuttings.

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November is a prime month for tidying the garden and also preparing for next year. This includes pruning deciduous shrubs and trees as they enter dormancy to shape them and deal with any dead, damaged, or diseased growth that may pose winter dangers.

Or trimming perennial plants that show signs of disease to stop bacteria or fungi from overwintering in old growth. Our guide to plants to prune in November highlights seven plants that may need attention this month.

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Winter brassicas are hardy, but that doesn’t mean plunging temperatures and hungry pests don’t trouble them during the colder months. The simplest way to protect winter brassicas and preserve your harvest is to cover the plants.

Kale, winter cabbages, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts can survive winter in the vegetable garden and provide a bounty of crops for hearty seasonal meals. They even taste sweeter after a frost, but tough winter weather can harm them. They're also a target for hungry birds in winter, and pests such as slugs and snails can still be an issue.

To avoid losing any harvests, keep using physical barriers like netting when overwintering vegetables. They let light and moisture through but keep pests out. As a professional kitchen gardener, I routinely used covers like this ultrafine mesh netting at Walmart over my winter brassicas for many years to keep the harvests coming. I have also always staked taller brassicas to stop them from falling in strong winter weather.

Do You Need to Fleece Winter Brassicas?

Winter brassicas are tough crops that can overwinter outdoors without an issue. They have evolved to handle cold weather and freezes, including extended hard frosts.

For example, the hardiest kales can handle temperatures down to -10°F, and savoy winter cabbages and sprouts can tolerate down to around 10°F. The exact hardiness depends on the specific variety, and while the plants can tolerate those temperatures, they may suffer some damage, which affects the harvest.

Growers in USDA hardiness zone 5 are usually able to overwinter these crops without worrying too much about potential damage. However, in zones 3 or 4, you need to pick the hardiest varieties and consider covering them with thick-grade frost cloth, like this 2.0 oz thick frost cloth at Amazon.

In cold, northern climates, a thick layer of snow actually insulates plants. It does make harvesting vegetables trickier, but it can help protect vegetables from frost over winter.

Netting Winter Brassicas

Over winter, vegetables become targets for hungry wildlife, particularly birds, who like to graze on crops. Canada geese, pigeons, goldfinches, and more can do damage ranging from pecking holes in leaves to stripping whole plants.

Birds are the worst culprits over winter, but winter backyard pests like rodents, deer, and rabbits will also eat winter brassicas if given the opportunity. Slugs and snails are also active in winter and will nibble holes in leaves.

The simplest way to combat birds and protect winter brassicas from damage is to keep them covered with a physical barrier, namely bird-proof netting. The garden netting will allow essential light and water to reach your brassicas, but will, of course, stop the birds from getting at the plants and ruining your winter crop.

Typical bird netting has a mesh size of half to three-quarters of an inch. You can get heavy-duty bird netting with ¾ inch mesh at Amazon that can cover crops and stop birds, squirrels, deer, or rabbits from eating your crops.

If, like me, you use fine netting to stop caterpillars and other pests in a vegetable garden during summer, particularly cabbage worms and cabbage loppers, this netting can be left in place for winter and will provide perfect protection against cold-season pests. A good example of such a product is this insect barrier netting at The Home Depot, which also comes with 10 pegs.

Any netting needs to be put over a set of hoops or posts, rather than just laid directly over the top of the vegetables. You can get a hoop kit at Amazon that is easy to install and perfect for holding netting.

If you put the netting directly on the crops, birds or other pests can nibble the leaves through the material, unless you use the smallest mesh size. On frosty nights, the netting can also freeze directly to the vegetables and damage them.

Drape the netting over hoops or posts and secure the sides down with landscape staples (available at Lowe’s) or bricks. This guarantees birds don’t get underneath the netting, or the material doesn’t blow away in high winds and uncover a brassica buffet for local wildlife to enjoy.

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Staking Winter Brassicas

Tall winter brassicas, including Brussels sprouts, broccolini, and some types of kale, are vulnerable in strong winter winds. They can suffer wind rock if left to sway back and forth in the wind, which loosens and damages the roots. In a worst-case scenario, the plants can be completely toppled.

To support these winter brassicas and avoid losing any harvests, I opt to stake them with bamboo or wooden stakes, like this bundle of 25 garden stakes at The Home Depot. Tie the main stem to the stake with soft, flexible plant ties. I like these VELCRO plant ties at Walmart as they are strong, soft, adjustable, and reusable.

If you still have root vegetables in the ground, such as carrots, parsnips, celeriac, or rutabaga, you can easily overwinter them to keep the harvests coming through the winter.

You can overwinter root vegetables by covering them with frost cloth put over hoops to create a protective tunnel. Alternatively, I often put a thick layer of straw over the top of the crops to insulate the soil and make it easier to lift them when harvesting over winter.

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Citronella (Pelargonium citrosum) is a popular scented-leaf pelargonium with a strong citrus-like smell. This scent is thought to deter mosquitoes, but that has never been proven; still, citronella remains a sought-after plant for summer with its textured foliage, delicate pink flowers, and that intoxicating scent when the leaves are crushed.

The plant is only hardy in US hardiness zones 9-11. When you grow citronella in warmer climates, it can be a perennial. In colder climates, it can either be treated as an annual or brought indoors for winter. Overwintering citronella plants indoors is simple and more sustainable than throwing away perfectly good plants at the end of each season.

Here is a straightforward guide to overwintering citronella plants indoors, including what to do and when, and a few common pitfalls to avoid. If your citronella plants spend summer in the ground, they need to be dug up and put into pots for winter. I always use terracotta pots for pelargoniums, like these eight-inch terracotta pots at Walmart.

How to Overwinter Citronella Plants in 4 Easy Steps

It may be unproven that citronella repels mosquitoes – even though you may see it marked as the ‘mosquito plant’ by retailers – but there are still plenty of good reasons to grow this scented pelargonium.

The sweet lemon fragrance from the serrated foliage is released when the leaves are crushed or brushed past and fills the air with a beautiful blast of citrus.

Citronella plants are ideal low-maintenance plants for pots that can live on a table, deck, or patio over summer, then retreat indoors for winter. Don’t be wasteful and let them succumb to winter; bring the tender plant indoors in November before the frosts.

Overwintering citronella plants saves you from needing to buy new plants annually and is a more sustainable way to garden than throwing everything away at the end of each season.

1. Bring the Plant Indoors

In climates that experience frost, overwintering citronella plants indoors is crucial. Only in US hardiness zones 9-11 is it likely to overwinter outdoors successfully with a layer of mulch to protect the roots.

The time to bring citronella plants indoors is when nighttime temperatures start falling to 45°F. Extended periods below this cause wilting and yellowing leaves. If frost touches a citronella plant, it will be severely damaged or killed. Monitor your local forecasts to act quickly when the nights get cold. This wireless weather station on Amazon provides accurate readings and weather forecasts.

Plants growing in containers can be easily brought indoors to a bright, cool location for winter. They will be happy at temperatures of 45°F to 50°F over winter, such as in a frost-free greenhouse or conservatory. Steady temperatures are best, so keep them away from fluctuating temperatures from radiators, air ducts, or heating vents.

Any citronella plants in flower beds or raised beds need to be dug up and put into containers to overwinter indoors. Fill your pots with well-draining potting soil, like this organic potting mix at Burpee.

It's worth bearing in mind that citronella is toxic to both humans and pets. If you're overwintering your plants indoors, then keep them well away from any nosy household pets.

2. Cut the Plants Back

The plants will continue to slowly grow at 45°F to 50°F through winter. It may feel harsh, but good practice is to cut the plant back by up to half when you bring it indoors for winter.

Use clean, sharp pruning shears (like these pruning snips at Burpee) and cut the stems back to just above a leaf node. You can use some of this material for pelargonium cuttings if you want to expand your citronella collection or act as an insurance policy in case you lose any over winter.

After trimming plants, check thoroughly for any pests or their eggs. When overwintering citronella plants, you don’t want to invite pests indoors to spread to other indoor plants.

You can combat any pest problems with insecticidal soap, available at Walmart.

3. Give Them Good Light

When overwintering citronella plants, they need light, air circulation, and frost protection to stay safe and healthy. Light ensures healthy growth, ventilation stops mold, and frost-free conditions keep them alive.

Pelargoniums need a bright, sunny spot for winter. This can be in a greenhouse, conservatory, porch, or on a west- or south-facing windowsill. Ideally, they will get at least six hours of light per day.

If they cannot get enough natural light during the colder, darker months, LED grow lights can supplement the levels over winter.

Grow lights are often useful for houseplants during winter to support healthy growth and keep them vibrant. Use a full-spectrum grow light like this on Amazon and position it at least six inches above the plant.

4. Reduce Watering Over Winter

Overwintering citronella plants need careful watering. Pelargoniums always require a delicate touch with a watering can. The soil needs to dry out between waterings, even during summer.

Citronella does not like sitting in wet soil for long periods – it can be easy to overwater indoor plants. The risks are especially high during the winter, when you need to water much less often than at other times of year. It can mean watering only every 2-4 weeks while the plant is indoors for winter.

Soak the plant, then keep a close eye on the soil and don’t water again until it dries out. A soil moisture meter, available on Amazon, can help you judge when to water plants over winter.

What you shouldn’t do over winter is feed plants. When early spring arrives, increase the watering and give the citronella its first feed of the year.

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Any tender houseplants that come outdoors for summer also need to be moved back indoors well before the first frost. Along with pelargoniums, the likes of begonias, succulents, bromeliads, pothos, and Boston ferns should be among the plants you protect first before frost arrives. When the temperatures dip to 45-50°F, that is time to bring them indoors.

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Hostas are low-maintenance perennials. They don’t need hours of painstaking attention to produce a rich, decorative display of foliage in all their different shades or patterns. But they are not no-maintenance, and once the plants die down at the end of the season, a trio of tasks can protect your hostas from pests, disease, frost, and rot.

The key hosta care tasks to remember for this month are removing old leaves and debris, mulching, and protecting potted plants. These simple maintenance tasks keep the plants in the best shape over winter and primed to return strongly in spring.

Here is what to do with hostas in November so plants survive winter frosts and freezing rain, and don’t face an immediate risk of slugs, snails, or disease when they start regrowing next year. You will need a good pair of gardening gloves (available at Amazon) to winterize hostas, as the old growth can be slimy, especially after frost.

1. Remove Old Leaves

Slugs and snails are the bane of any hosta grower’s life. The common winter garden pests are notorious for nibbling hosta foliage, turning what should be glorious leaves into a patchwork of holes and skeletal remains.

Getting rid of all slugs and snails in the garden is a pipe dream, but one important job stops them overwintering around the hostas and coming back with a vengeance to eat all the new growth straight away in the spring. That is by removing all the old leaves and debris from around the plant.

This leaf litter is a protected space where pests can shelter and lay their eggs. Removing it stops the fresh generation from running amok come spring and destroying your hostas before they’ve had a chance to get going.

Evicting them from their winter hiding hole is also an efficient slug control method because it puts them out in the open for birds to see and potentially eat.

If you haven’t already, remove any dead or yellow hosta leaves from flower beds or containers along with any other nearby leaf litter. Dead leaves or debris may also harbor disease – removing them stops bacteria or spores from overwintering and infecting your hostas next year.

My go-to gardening tool for clearing beds is a hand rake, such as this stainless steel hand rake at The Home Depot. It takes little time to run the rake around the base of plants to gather debris.

It is usually easy to cut back hostas in the fall, as most old hosta leaves are stringy or mushy come November and come away easily. If any don’t, snip them at ground level with sharp pruners, like these titanium bypass pruning shears at Amazon.

2. Apply Mulch

Hostas are cold-hardy down to US hardiness zone 3; they die back in the fall and come back to life in the spring. To get your hosta in the best possible shape to grow again next year and put on a really good show, mulching can be an enormously beneficial task.

Mulching retains warmth in the soil and protects the hostas' roots from the cold temperatures. It prevents frost heave, when repeated freezing and thawing lift a plant from the soil. In the worst case, frost heave can lift a hosta from the ground, leaving its unprotected roots vulnerable to the elements.

If you recently planted hostas and they haven’t had time to form a strong, deep root system, they are at increased risk of frost heave. Also, if you divided hostas in the fall to get new plants and rejuvenate older clumps, they are more susceptible.

Other mulching benefits include discouraging weeds that compete with your hostas for water and nutrients and retaining moisture in the soil. Hostas are thirsty plants, and well-watered ones traditionally come back stronger in the spring.

After cutting back hostas in the fall, add a thin layer of compost, wood chips, or bark mulch. But don’t make the mulching mistake of piling this material over the crown, as it can trap moisture and encourage rot.

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3. Move Pots

Hostas, as a whole, are very hardy plants that don’t need winter protection. The two exceptions are newly planted hostas and those growing in pots.

If you grow miniature hostas in pots, they need extra attention to get through winter unscathed. Plants are more susceptible in containers, with only a thin layer of compost and the pot providing insulation between the roots and frost.

The easiest way to protect garden pots for winter is moving them together into a sheltered area, like against a south-facing wall or under the eaves. It creates a warmer microclimate, blocks cold winds, and protects them from winter rain.

If you have just a pot or two of miniature hostas growing in containers, though, put them in an unheated greenhouse, cold frame, or porch for winter. Or you can wrap them in winter pot covers (like these on Walmart) to insulate the roots.

However, they are not indoor plants and shouldn’t be brought into the home. Hostas need to remain dormant but sheltered from frost and freezing rain.

To prevent waterlogging and hostas rotting over winter, raise them on pot feet so the container drains efficiently over the colder months. The last thing you want is plants sitting in waterlogged soil, which then freezes solid. You can get a 24-pack of rubber pot feet on Amazon for all your container plants.

Now that you know what to do with hostas in November, it is worth pointing out one important task not to do this month. That is fertilizing hostas. Don’t think about feeding hosta plants until new growth starts to emerge in the spring.

This timing is perfect; a spring feed gives the plant all the essential nutrients it needs to develop its lush foliage for the season.

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Millions of homes will be busy carving Halloween pumpkins to display or making pumpkin pies or cookies for festive celebrations. One underrated part of a pumpkin is the seeds, and here are five resourceful ways to use them.

More often than not, people remove pumpkin seeds from the flesh and throw them away. But you can plant them, cook with them, or use them to feed birds in your garden. The seeds need to be cleaned and prepared after scooping them from the pumpkin, but it’s quick and easy.

If you know how to grow pumpkins, then why not use as much of the resulting fruit as possible? Rather than just throwing them in the trash, think more sustainably and put these versatile seeds to good use. Here are five ways to use leftover pumpkin seeds after Halloween. (And if you want to grow a wider range of pumpkins next year, this pumpkin seed variety pack on Amazon has organic seeds for six diverse types.)

1. Save Seeds to Plant Next Year

The seeds you remove from a pumpkin can be cleaned, stored, and planted next year to grow your own pumpkins again. Harvesting and collecting seeds from vegetables and flowers is a great sustainable way to garden, and saving pumpkin seeds to replant is something I do every year at home.

It is best to save seeds from heirloom pumpkin varieties, as you know what you are getting. Rather than hybrid pumpkins, which are more of a gamble, as you cannot guarantee the exact type that will grow from the seeds.

After you harvest the pumpkin seeds, rinse them in a strainer to remove any bits of pulp and let them dry. Lay them out in a single layer on a dry paper towel and leave them for a few days – they need to be fully dry before storing or risk going moldy.

Once dry, store the seeds in breathable paper envelopes or airtight glass jars. These seed envelopes available on Amazon have space to write the type and the date they were collected.

2. Add the Seeds to Your Compost

Leftover pumpkins can be turned into garden fertilizer by chopping them up and adding them to a home compost pile. It is an eco-friendly way to deal with leftover Halloween pumpkins.

You can add every part of a pumpkin to a compost pile, including the flesh, skin, seeds, stems, and any foliage. However, it is best to boil or crush the seeds before composting pumpkins to prevent unwanted sprouting.

If you just add the seeds to the compost, they are likely to sprout unless the pile gets really warm. The compost needs to reach temperatures over 130°F for extended periods to guarantee that most seeds won’t survive. This can be difficult over winter, unless you do hot composting rather than traditional cold composting. You can get a hot composter bin at Amazon.

Boiling the pumpkin seeds or crushing them into smaller pieces before adding them stops them from germinating. It ensures you won’t face a crop of surprise pumpkin plants growing from the heap next year.

3. Roast the Seeds for Snacks

Pumpkin seeds are highly nutritious and rich in minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. Roasting them makes them even more nutritious, as the body can absorb and digest the minerals more efficiently.

When you roast seeds from a pumpkin you grew at home, you know they are super-fresh and have gone only from your garden to the kitchen.

After scooping the seeds from the flesh, wash and dry them well. Lay them in a single layer on a baking sheet and drizzle them with a little olive oil. Bake them at 300°F for 30-45 minutes, tossing them halfway through, until golden.

Enjoy them after cooling, or store them in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Roasted sunflower seeds make excellent garnish or can be added into soups, salads, or granola.

4. Use Them to Feed Birds

Birds can also enjoy leftover pumpkin seeds as a snack. They make a high-energy food source full of beneficial nutrients and are ideal for feeding birds during the winter.

You can feed birds raw or roasted pumpkin seeds. If you do roast them, don’t salt or season them. It is best to crush the pumpkin seeds into smaller pieces, so they are easier for birds, particularly smaller ones, to eat.

Pumpkin seeds can be served on their own or mixed with other seeds (like this wild bird feed at Walmart). Don’t leave out large amounts, as pumpkin seeds can spoil quickly in wet weather, especially raw ones. Leave them out in small amounts to reduce waste and avoid attracting other wildlife.

5. Make a Sweet Treat

Brittle is a hard sweet confectionery usually containing nuts – picture the classic peanut brittle. Different variations, though, can also be made with seeds, including leftover pumpkin seeds.

Why not use some leftover seeds for nutritious roasted snacks, save some to plant, and use the rest for a candy treat? Call it the best of both worlds.

Clean and dry the seeds to remove any pulp. Mix butter and sugar in a pan until it dissolves and turns a dark golden color. Then add the pumpkin seeds, put the mixture into a roasting tray, and press down with another tray. Let this cool and then break it into pieces.

Pumpkin Growing Kit

Pumpkins aren’t just for Halloween; they can last for many months if stored properly. The key to long storage life is curing pumpkins after picking to harden the skin, keeping them in a dry, dark, cool place, and always storing them off the floor. Get those factors right, and you can store pumpkins for up to six months.

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October is a prime time to plant many spring bulbs. Planting bulbs this month can create a stunning display of snowdrops, hyacinths, daffodils, alliums, and more. One fundamental for spring bulbs is drainage; never plant bulbs in waterlogged soil. Well-draining soil is key to happy, healthy bulbs.

If the soil does not drain well, your spring bulbs may never emerge. They are more likely to rot than burst into bloom next spring. So don’t waste time or effort planting bulbs this October unless the soil is known to drain well. To do this, test the drainage and amend the soil if required.

If your soil simply isn’t suitable for planting bulbs, there are still ways to enjoy them, such as growing in pots instead. Many regions will see lots of fall and winter rain, so check before planting to make sure the soil is right. You don’t want to condemn spring bulbs to a miserable winter in waterlogged soil. When you can plant, a strong bulb planter like this on Amazon makes the job much easier.

Why You Don’t Plant Bulbs in Waterlogged Soil

Bulbs do need moisture to begin developing roots and establish themselves after planting. In the fall, natural rainfall is usually enough to trigger growth, though in drier regions you may need to water. But it is a fine line; bulbs like soil with light moisture, but don't want to sit in waterlogged soil.

The bulb planting mistake of overlooking drainage is a common factor in why many fail to emerge. If you plant bulbs in waterlogged soil in the fall, they sit in cold and wet soil over winter, which leads to one inevitable consequence: rotting.

‘The bulbs store their moisture and all of the nutrients that they need to grow in the fleshy tissue, so when they are waterlogged, that rots first, and fairly quickly,’ warns garden expert Lindsey Chastain. ‘Also, waterlogging blocks off oxygen, so they're sitting in this wet soil without enough oxygen, and that's going to cause them to rot.’

When you have clay soil, it makes growing spring bulbs more difficult, as its dense particles drain slowly and often waterlog in winter. Some plants can thrive in clay soil, but many will struggle, including most bulbs, unless you try to improve the situation.

Ways to Improve Waterlogged Soil

If you have any concerns or doubts about drainage and whether you should plant in October, there is a simple DIY test you can do on any soil type. Dig a hole 12 inches deep and 8-12 inches wide and fill it completely with water.

‘If water still stands in a planting hole an hour after you fill it, choose a better-drained spot, plant in a raised bed, or work in compost to loosen the soil,’ says Damon Tang, founder of US Grow Zones, a free planting-calendar site that lets people look up US hardiness zones and frost dates by ZIP code or city.

Adding organic matter, such as compost, well-rotted manure, or leaf mold, is the best way to improve garden drainage in sites with heavier soils. Organic matter improves soil structure by binding the tiny, dense particles found in clay soils together, creating larger pore spaces to boost drainage.

As organic matter breaks down over time, you’ll need to do this annually to improve garden soil and track the rate of drainage until it reaches a satisfactory level. In the fall, incorporate organic matter into the planting site at least a week before planting bulbs.

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Other Options if All Else Fails

Sometimes the soil will not play ball and never suit bulbs. Since you should never plant bulbs in waterlogged soil, what else can you do? Thankfully, two simple, proven methods allow you to grow spring bulbs without drastically overhauling flower beds.

‘We generally plant all of our bulbs in raised beds or in pots because of the amount of clay that we have,’ admits Lindsey Chastain. ‘It just kills off any bulbs that we plant directly in the ground because the soil just does not drain well.’

Raised beds are a great option for bulbs because you can control the makeup and create well-draining, nutrient-rich soil. Fill a raised bed with a mix of topsoil and compost, and it will drain well and provide essential nutrients for your plants.

Containers are also a perfect route if you cannot plant bulbs in the ground. Favorites including tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and alliums are among the easiest spring bulbs to grow in pots. You can even get a long display by planting a bulb lasagna.

Choose deep pots and fill them with a well-draining potting mix, such as this organic potting mix at Burpee.

David Denyer, an award-winning florist and flower expert at Eflorist, describes containers as a ‘good option’ for spring bulbs, but advises that it is ‘essential’ that any pot has drainage holes at the bottom to prevent waterlogging.

‘I'd also suggest raising pots slightly off the ground with pot feet or bricks, so they don't sit in water all winter,’ he adds. You can get a pack of strong, rubber pot feet at Walmart.

Planting bulbs can be tiring and repetitive, especially if you’ve got lots to put into the ground each fall. As a former professional gardener who planted thousands every year, I can attest to this.

Thankfully, there are many bulb planting tools available that can make the task easier. Long-handled bulb planters (available at Walmart), dibbers, hori-hori knives, or auger drill bits are among the options available to help make mass bulb planting a more enjoyable experience.

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Mulching is a highly recommended fall job that benefits many plants around your garden, but not all. Whether you should mulch or not depends on the soil, conditions, and the plant.

There are many benefits to mulching in the fall. It retains residual summer or early fall heat in the soil, reduces moisture loss, and protects roots from extreme cold when the temperatures drop. Many trees, shrubs, and perennials will find this a blessing, but some plants don’t want extra moisture trapped around them.

Here we look at plants you should mulch in October – those that will thank you for the protection. Plus some plants not to mulch this month, as they struggle under a thick layer of mulch. For those plants you should mulch, use organic mulches, such as compost, chopped leaves, bark mulch, or pine straw. You can get a bag of all-natural pine bark mulch at Lowe’s that makes a perfect fall mulch.

Plants You Should Mulch in October

Perennials

At the end of the growing season, flower beds will look all the better after being thoroughly weeded and mulched. Your best perennials will have worked hard all spring and summer, growing hard and putting on a show of flowers.

A great reward for their hard work is a 2-3 inch layer of mulch in the fall to protect their roots from frost and boost the soil nutrients as it breaks down. The likes of hostas, coneflowers, daylilies, black-eyed Susans, peonies, salvias, coral bells, and more will appreciate a good mulch this month.

Mulching perennials and shrubs also prevents frost heave, where the repeated freezing and thawing lifts the crowns out of the soil. You don’t need to cut back your perennials in fall before mulching, as many are best left over winter as their seed heads and old stems provide food and habitat for wildlife.

Compost is a perfect mulch for flower beds, such as this bag of organic compost at Walmart.

Shrubs

Shallow-rooted shrubs will overwinter better with a protective layer of mulch over the soil around them. This includes azalea, hydrangea, spirea, and euonymus. Also, any shrubs planted this season need mulching, as they are not fully established and will need protection from the winter cold.

The best type of mulch for shrubs is wood chips or shredded bark, like this shredded all-natural bark at The Home Depot.

Put down a layer 2-3 inches deep, but don’t pile it too close to the plant. Wendy Hanson Mazet, a plant diagnostician for the University of Nevada, Reno Extension, warns about not leaving a gap a few inches deep around the trunk or stem.

‘When mulch is piled directly against trunks or stems, it provides both protection and easy access for rodents, which can ultimately lead to the decline or death of the plant,’ she says. The rodents affect the shrub by feeding on its bark and cambium tissue.

Strawberries

In colder climates, such as US hardiness zones 6 and below, strawberry plants require some protection from low winter temperatures. Mulching offers a simple and proven way to winterize strawberry plants successfully, as it insulates the roots from deep frosts and prevents frost heave.

When you grow strawberries, wait until the plants have gone dormant to add mulch; they lose their vibrant green color, take on a reddish tint, and start to wilt. At this stage, remove any dead or diseased foliage to prevent strawberry pests and diseases from attacking your plants.

Then add a couple of inches of straw mulch (like this garden straw sustainable mulch at Amazon) around the plants, without covering the crown, which traps excess moisture and can lead to rot.

Blueberries and currant bushes also appreciate mulching in the fall. For these fruit bushes, use wood chips.

Garlic

Fall is a time for planting garlic in vegetable gardens and raised beds. The bulbs put down roots before winter, and then start growing again in spring to give you a top garlic harvest next summer.

Garlic is a cold-hardy crop, but there are still good reasons to mulch it. Primarily, it protects the bulbs from extreme cold and stops the repeated freezing-and-thawing cycle that can cause bulbs to be pushed out of the soil and leave them vulnerable to the elements.

A good material for mulching garlic is a lightweight one, such as straw or chopped leaves, though you can use compost or homemade leaf mold. Leaves are a great free fall mulching material. Simply collect leaves from around the garden, chop them with a mower or strimmer, and spread them over the soil surface.

Plants You Should Not Mulch in October

Mediterranean Herbs

When you grow Mediterranean plants like sage, lavender, oregano, and rosemary, these classic herb garden favorites should not be mulched in the fall. These plants prefer dry, well-draining soils and dislike wet conditions.

If you mulch them this month, you’ll put the plants at risk. As Anna Fialkoff, horticulturist at the Connecticut College Arboretum, warns: ‘They can be especially prone to rot if mulched heavily since that can trap moisture and humidity.’

Mulching Mediterranean herbs encourages moisture retention around the crown and stems, which can lead to rot and fungal diseases. To avoid creating an unwanted wet environment around the herbs, put a thin layer of horticultural gravel (available at Amazon) around them rather than mulching with organic matter.

Succulents and Cacti

When you landscape with succulents and cacti, these dry-loving plants don’t want to sit in lots of moisture, especially over the colder months. Excess moisture caused by a layer of organic mulch puts them at a high risk of root rot and attracts the unwanted attention of pests.

To care for succulents in winter, hardy types like sedum, euphorbias, and sempervivum can remain outdoors in many climates, while tender ones need to be brought indoors for overwintering. Plants in borders or containers will appreciate a layer of pea stone or gravel around them to help with drainage and stop the leaves flopping into wet soil, where they can rot.

It is the same advice when growing a cactus. Mulching cacti with organic matter in the fall will trap moisture in the soil, promoting rot of both the stem and roots. Give them some pebbles or gravel around the base of the plant.

Bearded Iris

When you grow bearded irises, you must be very careful about mulching. You need to always avoid burying the rhizomes under a layer of mulch.

The rhizomes of bearded iris varieties need sun and air circulation to burst into flower next summer. They are likely to rot if mulch is put on top of them.

If you have bearded irises in your flower beds, be cautious if you usually mulch the bed and avoid piling it on top of the iris rhizomes.

Wildflowers

If you have a wildflower garden or plant a wildflower meadow, you need to cut down growth in the fall to let the plants thrive. What you don’t do is mulch the garden or meadow.

Crucial to the success of a wildflower patch is self-seeding flowers. However, a thick layer of mulch buries seeds and prevents them from getting the light they need for germination.

Also, wildflowers don’t need highly fertile soil. Adding organic mulch will increase the nutrients in the soil, and unwanted plants and weeds will take advantage of that and start to take hold.

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Now that you understand which plants you should mulch in October and which you shouldn’t, it might also be a good idea to learn the same about pruning. Thankfully, we’ve got you covered.

We have guides to plants to prune in October and trees and shrubs to never cut back in October to help you prune with confidence and avoid making any mistakes this fall.

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You aren’t always blessed with a lot of notice to be able to prepare a garden for severe weather. Thankfully, many important tasks can be done quickly to secure a garden before a storm.

The best way to prepare your yard for a storm is securing anything loose that can blow around, keeping buildings safe, and protecting any vulnerable plants. Taking a few simple steps can ensure a garden remains safe when strong winds and heavy rain are due.

Here are some quick, simple ways to secure a garden before a storm. A few precautions before extreme weather can reduce the risk of damage, and it starts with looking around the garden and assessing where the potential dangers lie. A large outdoor storage box like one on Amazon can secure small, loose items from around the garden and keep them from being blown around.

1. Move Pots

Containers can easily be knocked over and damaged when a storm hits. This is especially the case for lightweight plastic containers, which get blown around, and taller planters that are at high risk of toppling in strong winds.

Smaller pots should be moved indoors, into a greenhouse, garage, shed, or porch, for protection. Larger pots can be grouped together against a wall to shelter them from strong winds and reduce the risk of them tipping. Hanging baskets should be taken down and put on the ground to prevent them becoming a flying hazard.

A plant caddy with wheels, like this one on Amazon, can be a sound investment to help you move larger pots around the garden.

2. Secure Loose Items

A key part of securing a garden before a storm is putting away any loose items that cannot be fixed down and risk flying around the yard. Scour the garden to spot anything that could become a hazard during a storm and store it away somewhere safe.

This includes ornaments, garden rugs, cushions, garden tools, parasols, children’s toys, and lightweight garden furniture. Storing these away stops them from being blown around during a storm and posing a danger to people or buildings.

These items can be stored in a shed, garage, inside the home, or in a garden storage box (like this deck box on Wayfair).

Where possible, also put heavier garden furniture away or firmly attach it to a secure point with strong ropes. Outdoor lighting should also be taken down to prevent it from becoming airborne in strong winds and potentially shattering against walls, fences, or the ground.

3. Shut Greenhouses and Sheds

Ahead of an incoming storm, check your greenhouse to make sure that all doors and windows are secured ahead of high winds. Any open doors or latches allow the gales into the greenhouse and put extra pressure on the structural frame.

It is also worth checking if any panes are loose and securing them with replacement clips or heavy-duty tape to stop them lifting during the storm. Any loose panes could be lifted by the winds and become a major hazard.

Also, lock any garden shed doors to stop them swinging open during storms. If your shed door doesn’t have a lock, instead prop it shut with bricks or timber. Any windows also need to be shut and any loose roofing felt secured back down to prevent it from being ripped off by winds.

4. Stake Tall Plants

There are different ways to protect plants from a storm, depending on where they are growing.

While you can easily move container plants, there are going to be taller plants around the garden that you cannot quickly shift to a new home before a storm hits. When it comes to tall plants in flower beds, focus on staking them to prevent them from snapping in strong winds.

Plants that need staking can be supported with basic bamboo canes (you can get a pack of five-foot bamboo stakes at The Home Depot), wooden stakes, or metal poles. Either individual stems can be attached, or you can wrap multiple stems with string or hessian for multi-stemmed perennials.

Use soft, flexible plant ties so they allow some movement and place ties every 8-12 inches up the stem for total support. Such as these VELCRO plant ties at Walmart.

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It always pays to be proactive when protecting your property. This includes inspecting trees before winter to identify any broken branches or other issues that could cause limbs to drop during storms. Identifying and dealing with any potential hazards is vital for trees hanging over homes, gardens, driveways, and pedestrian walkways.

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The season for harvesting fruit from your trees may be over for another year, but there is one more vital task to do in fall that keeps your trees healthy and preserves next year's fruit. It won’t take long to do, but it helps to prepare them for next spring.

That key job is to remove any rotten fruit, whether it is on the floor or in the canopy. Clearing away debris, fruits, and mummies ensures that no pathogens or fungi can overwinter on or around the tree and infect your fruit trees next year. It is an important task to add to your fall gardening checklist.

I have looked after fruit trees for many years and also spoken with two experts about the dangers of leaving fruit rotting on trees. When preparing fruit trees for winter, clear away fallen fruit and then mulch. Use an organic mulch, like compost (like this organic compost at Amazon), leaf mold, or bark, to protect fruit trees from frost.

Always Clean Around the Fruit Tree

Fruit falls from the trees for many reasons over the season – it can be natural summer fruit thinning, the result of strong winds or a lack of water, or due to pests and diseases. Some people prefer to leave some of this fallen fruit in situ to feed local wildlife.

However, there are problems that stem from leaving fallen fruit, and it is better to remove it rather than leave rotting fruit around the base of trees.

Cleaning up around the base of your fruit trees includes both removing fallen fruit and leaves. This important fall gardening job helps keep the tree healthy and preserve your future harvests.

Fruit trees often succumb to diseases during the season, and this can show on the leaves or fruits. Leaving disease-ridden leaves or fruit makes the tree and next year’s crop susceptible to the same disease.

‘If you leave the leaves and fruits on the ground, some diseases can overwinter and come back the following year. And sometimes they'll come back with a vengeance,’ says Susan Poizner, fruit tree expert and founder of Orchard People.

‘For instance, let's say there is brown rot on your peach trees,’ adds the fruit tree expert. ‘This causes the fruit to rot and shrivel up, and sometimes it falls to the ground. If you leave it on the ground, in the spring the fungus can produce spores that will infect the blossoms and eventually the fruit.’

Never Leave Fruit Rotting on Trees

Clear all the fruit from the orchard floor, then focus on removing old fruit from the tree itself. These old fruits, known as mummies, pose the same risk as fallen fruit.

‘Mummies are fruits that have dried on the plant, many of which succumbed to fungus, disease, or insects earlier in the year,’ explains Matt Bunch, a horticulturist at The Giving Grove.

‘These pests can still be in the mummied fruits, and if the fruits are not removed, this can lead to re-infection the next growing season. This is most often seen with brown rot and stone fruits, but is also true of scab and black rot in apples, and other pests.’

Scour the tree’s canopy for mummies during fall, when they should stand out against the bare branches once the foliage drops. You can use a fruit picker (available at Walmart) or pole pruner to knock the old fruit from the branch and collect it, whether it lands in the picker’s basket or needs to be picked up off the orchard floor.

What to Do With Old Fruit

It is best to throw away the old fruit or send it to a municipal compost facility, rather than using it to make homemade compost. Many people do add fallen or rotten fruit to a compost pile, but it comes with risks.

‘The hope is that the pathogens or pests will somehow decompose in the compost, but that's not necessarily the case,’ warns Susan Poizner. ‘Often these pathogens or pests can survive in a home compost pile, especially if it doesn't get hot enough to kill them. They may just overwinter and find your fruit trees the following year.’

Matt Bunch claims an active compost pile needs to reach 140°F to kill most pathogens and diseases. A pile needs regular turning, the right ratio of brown and green ingredients, and moisture to heat up to that level – which you can check with a compost thermometer (available at Amazon).

When your compost is not heating up, it is more often than not due to one of those factors not being right. If you wish to be able to compost fallen fruit without the worries, you can try hot composting to generate more heat, kill pathogens and weed seeds, and speed up the process. You can get a 26-gallon hot composter bin at Wayfair.

What to Shop

When you grow fruit trees in pots, another crucial fall task is to move tender fruit trees to a protected spot well ahead of winter. After removing any fruit rotting on trees, keep an eye on the weather forecast so you can overwinter fruit trees in pots when the nighttime temperatures start dropping to 50°F.

This guidance applies to any tender fruit trees, like citrus, olives, peaches, and avocados. While the likes of apples and pears are traditionally hardy, any trees are less hardy in containers than when in the ground. Consider moving pots together for winter against a wall to create a warmer microclimate.

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There are more than 2,000 different species of begonia, with the most popular garden types being fibrous wax begonias and tuberous begonias with showy blooms that last from spring to fall. Come October, any begonias growing outdoors need a bit of attention to prepare for the coldest months ahead.

Whether you grow begonias that are tuberous or fibrous, there are a few action points this month. The former will need to be lifted and stored in frost-free location, while the latter can be relocated indoors. Of course, your hardiness zone does need to be taken into consideration, but generally speaking begonias are hardy across USDA zones 9-11.

That's why it's safer to winterize your begonias to ensure they can be enjoyed once again next year – and the best winterizing tools (like this pop-up frost plant tent from Walmart) will come in handy for this. Here, alongside insights from a gardening expert, we talk through what to do with begonias in October.

1. Lift Tubers for Storage

Tuberous begonias can be identified by gently lifting them and checking for firm tubers that look similar to potatoes. The foliage also tends to be softer than a wax begonia.

'Let them die back on their own. Once the leaves start to yellow, cut the watering down and stop feeding,' describes Mirela Bajic, Senior Garden Designer at House Designer. This will trigger dormancy.

'Then, cut the stems back to a few inches above the tuber, lift them, and let them dry off,' she continues.

You can use sharp pruning tools, like these Fiskars bypass pruning shears from Amazon to cut the stems down. Then, use a hori hori knife (like this from Amazon) or a garden fork to lift the tubers. Take care to dig a few inches away from the base of the begonia to avoid damaging the tubers.

You should give the tubers a gentle squeeze and remove any that are soft and mushy.

As Mirela notes, you then want to dry the tubers before storing. You can do this by laying the tubers in a single layer on a tray in a frost-free, well-ventilated environment for a couple of weeks.

After this, use wooden crates (like this pack from Amazon) or a cardboard box filled with shredded paper or sawdust to store the tubers until spring.

'Store them somewhere cool, dark, and frost-free. A shed or garage works fine, around 40-50°F is ideal. Check the tubers regularly and dispose of any that have gone soft,' Mirela advises.

2. Bring Wax Begonias Indoors

If you have a fibrous wax begonia (Begonia semperflorens), rather than a tuberous begonia, October calls for bringing it indoors.

You can identify this by gently lifting it from its pot and checking its root system – look for a mass of thin stringy roots. The foliage will also give this away, with wax begonias having round, waxy leaves.

Mirela says these plants should be grown as indoor plants for fall and winter.

'I’d bring wax begonias indoors as a houseplant, choosing in a bright, cool windowsill,' she says.

It's best to overwinter your tender begonias indoors because they cannot survive freezing temperatures. Come spring (after late frosts) you can reintroduce it to your garden.

If needed, you can use a plant caddy (like these wooden ones from Wayfair) to move potted begonias in heavy containers with ease.

3. Remove Damaged Foliage

When overwintering begonias indoors, it's worth giving them a bit of a spruce before settling in for fall and winter. Any damaged foliage should be removed, so it doesn't drain the plant's energy or make your begonia susceptible to pest and disease damage.

With tender wax begonias in particular, you should look for any mushy, rotting foliage and remove it. As evergreens, their foliage should remain firm and glossy year-round.

Avoid hard pruning your begonia now, as it's slowing down and won't be actively growing through winter. This could encourage weak new growth. Instead use sharp pruning snips (like these Fiskars micro-tip pruning snips from Lowe's) to make clean cuts and remove any damaged and diseased plant material.

You should also follow the one third pruning rule to prevent sending your begonia into shock.

4. Monitor for Pests

Just like checking for pests when bringing houseplants back indoors, take care to check for pests on your begonias.

Many indoor plant pests retreat into our homes in the colder months, seeking warmth and thriving in oversaturated indoor plant soil, dusty foliage, and more. For overwintering begonias, mealybugs and spider mites are among the most common.

By checking underneath your begonia's leaves and cleaning houseplant leaves regularly, you can discourage pest activity. This will also keep any houseplants safe by reducing the risk of pests spreading.

You can use fall houseplant care rules for your begonia to prevent pests. This includes providing good airflow and avoiding splashing the foliage which may encourage fungal issues as well as pests.

These houseplant dusting gloves from Amazon make it easy to clean houseplant foliage, and you can use diluted neem oil for plants (available from Walmart) to gently wipe the leaves as a precaution against pests – though you should do this sparingly as begonias have sensitive leaves.

5. Reduce Watering

Your overwintering begonias shouldn't be ignored through winter, but you should pull back on watering.

While they aren't actively growing, they don't need lots of water – too much could risk root rot and kill off your begonias before you get the chance to bring them back outdoors next spring.

'Overwatering does more harm than too little, they store water in their waxy stems and leaves,' Mirela says.

You can use a soil moisture meter (which you can find on Amazon) to identify when the top couple of inches dry out, but bear in mind this will be a lot less frequently than in summer.

What to Shop

There are lots of things to tick off on the fall gardening checklist alongside overwintering begonias, but if you're short on time there are a handful of gardening tasks you can delay until spring. This includes cutting back perennials and clearing up fallen leaves – in fact leaving both can support wildlife through winter.

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When other parts of the garden start to wane as the temperatures drop, planting trees that burst into bloom at this time of year brings color and interest to any fall landscape. Adding fall-flowering trees also provides nectar for local wildlife during the leaner months.

October provides an opportunity to plant trees that you can enjoy for years to come. You can revel in vivid blooms from early fall onwards, even long into winter in some cases. Many of the fall-flowering trees to plant in October also offer beautiful fragrance and unique bark for extra seasonal interest.

Fall is a good time to plant trees, as the soil is still warm and abundant natural rainfall helps roots to establish before winter. One thing to remember is not to add lots of compost or fertilizer directly into the planting hole. This practice is now discouraged as it doesn’t encourage the roots to extend outwards, which is needed to securely anchor the tree. It is better to top-dress with compost or mulch after planting – you can do this with a bag of organic compost, like this one on Amazon.

Fall-Flowering Cherry

Prunus × subhirtella 'Autumnalis', or the winter-flowering cherry tree, is different to other cherries – it flowers in the fall rather than the spring.

The double, pale pink flowers appear from October to March, depending on the variety and the climate, to brighten up the colder months. As the flowers open during that period, you can enjoy pops of color in an otherwise bare garden. The flowers are followed by small fruits, and the foliage turns fiery shades of red and orange in the fall for extra seasonal interest.

A fall-flowering cherry is cold-hardy and can grow outdoors in US hardiness zones 4-8 without issues. Plant it in full sun or partial shade (anywhere with at least 4-6 hours of daily sunlight is sufficient) and in well-draining soil.

This fall cherry tree at Trees.com grows to 20 feet and provides year-round interest, with pink blooms in fall and attractive foliage and bark.

Crepe Myrtle

Crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) trees are native to Asia but have become a mainstay in gardens across the southern United States. What has made them so popular in landscaping is their low maintenance, versatility, and beauty.

Crepe myrtles are a triple whammy, with vibrant blooms in a range of colors from white to purple, bright fall foliage, and unique peeling bark. The flowers show from summer into fall, often performing right up to the first frost. This means you can have many months of dazzling flowers when you grow a crepe myrtle.

Crepe myrtle can grow in many different soil types, provided it drains well. They can suffer root rot from sitting in waterlogged soil for long periods. Their adaptability extends to growing in full sun or partial shade in US hardiness zones 6-10. There are many different sizes to choose from, plus compact varieties to grow trees in pots in smaller spaces.

You can get a Colorama Scarlet crepe myrtle at Trees.com that grows to 15-20 feet and produces scarlet blooms set against deep green foliage.

Fragrant Olive

Osmanthus fragrans, known as fragrant olive or tea olive, is a shrub or small tree with very fragrant flowers that appear en masse in the fall. It is a fabulous fragrant evergreen native to East Asia that comes in white- and orange-flowered varieties.

A fragrant olive makes a perfect shrub for around a deck, patio, walkway, seating, or dining area, where its glossy foliage and aromatic perfume can be enjoyed up close. It looks stunning as a specimen tree, but can even be trained as a fragrant espalier tree or grown in large containers to frame an entryway or provide evergreen structure in the yard.

The plant can grow in full sun or partial shade, though it prefers some afternoon shade in the hottest, southern climates.

You can get a live orange-flowering tea olive at Plant Addicts to add to your garden in the fall. Orange-flowering tea olive (Osmanthus fragrans f. aurantiacus) can be grown as a small tree that will reach 8-12 feet and be covered in small tangerine blooms in fall, emitting a glorious apricot fragrance.

Seven Son Flower Tree

The Temple of Bloom Seven-Son Flower (Heptacodium miconioides) becomes the star of the show when other shrubs and trees are starting to decline towards the back end of the season.

Come late summer, it puts on a scintillating performance with large, fragrant white flowers that are rich in nectar and attract hummingbirds and other pollinators. These flowers remain well into fall, before dropping and revealing an encore of bright red bracts, giving the impression of a second bloom.

Then, once the leaves drop, a Temple of Bloom Seven-Son Flower has one more trick up its sleeve – peeling bark for extra winter interest. If you want a unique tree that puts on a fantastic show in the fall, definitely consider growing a Temple of Bloom Seven-Son Flower.

A Temple of Bloom Seven-Son Flower can grow in US zones 5-9 and will reach 6-10 ft tall. It prefers full sun but tolerates part shade and works well as a specimen tree or as part of a border. The tree attracts hummingbirds, so plant it somewhere they can easily find it and you can enjoy watching them visit.

You can get a live Temple of Bloom Seven-Son Flower tree at Nature Hills.

Camellia Sasanqua

Camellia sasanqua originates from southern Japan, and modern cultivars come from crossing the original wild species with other types of camellias, including Camellia japonica. They can be grown as shrubs or small flowering trees and bring color and fragrance to a garden when little else is blooming.

Camellia sasanqua flowers from early fall to midwinter, and the blooms can remain for 4-6 weeks, bringing a dash of color during the colder months. The single or semi-double flowers have a sweet fragrance and are supported by a stellar cast of evergreen, glossy, dark green foliage.

Sasanqua cultivars work as a focal point in a winter garden, as a screening plant, or dwarf cultivars can be grown in containers filled with an acidic potting mix. The plants are hardy in zones 7-9 and need full sun or partial shade, but too much shade makes them leggy. Camellias prefer slightly acidic soil. Mulching around plants with pine bark can help to lower the soil pH.

You can get a live Camellia sasanqua 'Shishi Gashira' at Trees.com that will dazzle with large double pink blooms in fall and early winter.

What to Shop

You know all about fall-flowering trees to plant in October, but there may indeed be more that you want to add to your garden this month. If this is the case, we’re here to help you get inspired. Our guide to what to plant in October contains shrubs, flowers, bulbs, and vegetables to plant throughout the month. There are sure to be lots of plants to add to your fall gardening checklist for the coming weeks.

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Knowing what to prune and when is crucial for enjoying the best displays across a garden. A common mistake is treating all plants the same, and you pay the price by missing out on stunning flowers.

While you can prune plants in October, the onset of fall is not a sweeping invitation to take the pruners to everything (though you should always use the best pruning tools when you do, like these Felco F2 pruners from Lowe's). One key group not to prune this month is spring-flowering shrubs and trees that flower on old wood.

You can remove dead or broken branches to keep them safe and healthy, but refrain from any major work – you’ll simply remove all the buds and may even leave the tree susceptible to winter damage. So don’t cut these plants back in October, because come spring, when there are fewer or no flowers, you’ll feel remorseful about being too eager with pruning.

Forsythia

The sight of the vivid yellow blooms of forsythia in late winter is always warmly welcomed – it is a sign that spring is on the way. Forsythia is one of the earliest shrubs to burst into bloom, from mid-February onwards, so don’t rob yourself of these adored early flowers by pruning in the fall.

Always prune forsythia as soon as the blossoms fade. Once it gets into late summer and beyond, it is too late to prune forsythia. You’ll remove lots of the buds that have developed all summer, those that are preparing to carry next spring’s bright flowers.

If there are any dead or diseased stems that need urgent attention, carefully remove them with a pair of pruners or loppers. These Fiskars power-level loppers at The Home Depot can cut stems up to 1.75 inches in diameter.

Azaleas

Most azaleas and rhododendrons flower in spring, though there are some that bloom in late winter and others whose season lasts well into summer. Each shrub will put on a display for only a few weeks, when it is covered in a mass of orange, yellow, red, pink, purple, or white flowers.

You want to prune azaleas and rhododendrons two or three weeks after the shrub finishes blooming for the season. This gives it the longest time possible to develop buds for next year’s display. If you wait too long and prune rhododendrons or azaleas too late into summer or fall, there will be fewer blooms next year.

Good fall care for rhododendrons and azaleas does include mulching the shrubs with pine bark or ericaceous compost that helps to make the soil more acidic. You can get a bag of all-natural pine bark mulch at Lowe’s.

If your shrub needs major pruning, such as to reduce its size, this can be done during dormancy. But do so with the realization you will be sacrificing next year’s flowers.

Lilac

The sweet, floral scent of lilacs evokes the senses in spring and brings a romantic air to the garden. When you grow lilacs, they flower from mid-spring to early summer, depending on the variety and your climate.

It can be a short but satisfying display – unfortunately, deadheading lilac flowers doesn’t encourage another flush of fragrant blooms. As the season is relatively brief, you won’t want to risk missing out on next year’s flowers.

Always prune lilacs quickly after they finish flowering. They set their buds on old wood in the summer. If you prune once fall arrives, you’ll chop off those buds.

If your lilac needs some rejuvenation, you can prune in winter. Either cut all stems down to around 12 inches from the ground – which is the brutal choice and you’ll get no flowers next year – or remove one in three of the older stems each year over a three-year period to reinvigorate it. You’ll lose some blooms, but have some to enjoy.

Any old stems over two inches wide will need to be cut with a pruning saw, such as this strong RazorTOOTH pruning saw at The Home Depot that can cut wood up to eight inches wide.

Deutzia

Deutzia puts on a short-lived but profuse display of white or pink star-shaped blooms in late spring and early summer. Whether you plant compact varieties in containers or larger types in flower beds for structural and seasonal interest, pruning the shrubs at the right time is crucially important.

They flower on old wood and need pruning within a few weeks of the blooms ending. This often makes June or July the prime window for heading out and giving deutzia a trim. The shrub then has several months to produce new stems and buds that will carry the weight of next spring’s flowering.

You can take hardwood plant cuttings of deutzia in the fall if you want to propagate new shrubs. Take a few selected stems that have grown this year, but don’t take too many, as this will affect the flowering.

Weigela

Weigela shrubs have colorful, nectar-rich, trumpet-shaped blooms from late spring to early summer. If you grow weigela, these flowers, which can be red, purple, or pink, make the shrub a great plant for pollinators, with bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds attracted to them.

If you have a weigela as part of a buzzing wildlife garden, you don’t want to risk there being a lack of these pollinator-friendly flowers next year. You do this by pruning weigela quickly after the shrub finishes blooming. Leave it until fall and you will be trimming off the buds that will burst into bloom come spring.

Red is known to be the best flower color to attract hummingbirds. If you want to add more red blooms to a pollinator garden, this live ‘Red Prince’ weigela shrub at Nature Hills will do just that thanks to its bright red blooms that are rich in nectar.

Eastern Redbud

The Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) is a native North American tree that produces spectacular blooms early in late winter and early spring. The stems, branches and trunks are covered in pink or white flowers.

Due to the earliness of this vivid display, redbuds are one of the best trees for attracting hummingbirds and other pollinators at this time of year.

There is usually no need to prune a redbud tree regularly. However, if any shaping or structural work is required on the fast-growing flowering tree, it should be done quickly after flowering.

Any large-scale pruning work is best left for winter, but the blooming will be reduced. An extendable pole pruner, like this one from Walmart, helps to trim high branches in the tree’s canopy from the ground.

Flowering Cherry

A flowering cherry is one of the best trees for spring blossom, with abundant white or pink flowers that can be single or double.

The tree bursts into flower for no more than a week or two, and the beauty of these specimens can be enjoyed in gardens of all sizes, with compact varieties (like this Snow Fountains weeping cherry tree at Trees.com) perfectly suited for small gardens and containers.

Part of growing and caring for a flowering cherry tree is understanding the right time to prune it. That time is after flowering, so it is often a job for June or July. Getting it done early in summer gives the tree lots of time to form buds for next spring.

Trimming in fall removes blossoms and also encourages new growth, but these stems won’t have time to harden and will be damaged by frost. This puts the entire tree at an increased risk of pests and diseases.

What to Shop

While you don’t cut these plants back in October, some trees are fine to prune this month. It can be a good time to do light work on deciduous trees to keep them safe ahead of winter. Our guide to trees to prune in October highlights seven trees worth checking this month for dead, damaged, or diseased branches, which you can remove to prevent issues during winter storms.

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Cutting back flower beds and clearing away the debris takes a toll at the end of each season. What if there were a way to reduce the time and effort while also aiding soil health? Well, there is, and it is known as chop and drop.

The technique is increasingly popular as it is quick and easy. The simple act of leaving debris on the ground after cutting back plants rather than taking it away sounds too good to be true, but it benefits you, your soil, and local wildlife. If you’ve never tried before, now is a great time to discover this sustainable technique before cutting back perennials in fall.

Here we take a closer look at chop and drop gardening, including the benefits, when and how to use the technique, and the best plants to try it on. What is crucial to this fall gardening job is a good pair of pruners (these Fiskars bypass pruning shears at Walmart are a budget-friendly pair to last many years) and a drive to try something new that is both eco-friendly and time-saving. And what is not to like about that combo? Let’s find out more.

What Is Chop and Drop Gardening?

The name chop and drop gardening gives it away, essentially. The technique involves cutting back plants (chop) and putting the cuttings straight onto the ground (drop).

This is a simple alternative to the traditional method of clearing the cuttings away, using them to make compost, and then adding the decomposed material to the soil later.

It is a straightforward way to save effort, help the soil, and benefit wildlife in your garden, and a versatile technique for when cutting herbaceous perennials, annuals, and grasses.

Chop and Drop Gardening Pros and Cons

Benefits of Chop and Drop Gardening

There are many benefits to using this technique. The first is time and effort. It can be much quicker to clear flower beds and borders if you don't have to clean up and remove all the debris.

And there is less toil. It removes the need to double-handle the plant material; no more hauling it to the compost pile and then loading a wheelbarrow to bring it back to use as a mulching layer once it’s decomposed.

By dropping the plant material directly onto the soil, you are essentially composting in situ. The old stems, foliage, and flowers will slowly break down and help with overall soil health.

The decaying material is incorporated into the soil by earthworms, and fungi and microbes also feed on it. The resulting addition of organic matter boosts soil nutrients, structure, and drainage. Better soil means healthy, happy plants.

During winter, this beneficial layer of material across the surface prevents soil erosion. Bare soil can be battered by strong winds and rain. This causes nutrients to run off and the top, most fertile inches of soil to be washed away.

A layer of cuttings, organic mulches, or green manures forms a protective layer over winter and keeps all that goodness in the ground for the benefit of your plants. The layer also regulates soil temperature and provides insulation to protect plants from frost.

At warmer times of year, chop and drop reduces the amount of moisture that evaporates from the soil. Reducing water loss means spending less time watering the garden – another time- and money-saving advantage of chop and drop.

If you enjoy having a thriving wildlife garden, opting to chop and drop helps provide habitat. The decaying stems and plant debris provide essential shelter for insects, invertebrates, and other garden wildlife. It is a simple way to make your yard wildlife-friendly before frost.

Cons of Chop and Drop Gardening

The main issue some may have with the technique is that leaving piles of decaying plant stems and other debris can look messy. The idea of leaving material across the bed may not appeal to those who prefer neatly manicured beds.

Another drawback is that a layer of plant clippings may create a perfect hiding place for garden pests such as slugs and snails.

How to Chop and Drop

You can utilize a chop and drop mulch throughout the year and use the technique in spaces of all sizes, ranging from expansive herbaceous borders to raised beds.

You can do it when you cut back perennials in fall, if you trim your perennials in the spring, when you do a ‘Chelsea Chop’ in late spring, and when you deadhead throughout the summer.

When cutting back perennials at the end of the season, for example, take a pair of sharp pruning tools and cut the plants to the base. You can use a pair of pruning shears or hedge shears for the task (these sharp forged steel hedge shears at The Home Depot are perfect for trimming perennials).

It is best to chop the stems into smaller pieces. It looks neater if the stems are cut into 2-4 inch sections rather than left long, and they break down more quickly.

When deadheading in the summer, the dead flower heads can be simply dropped straight onto the border. They will break down extremely quickly and return goodness to the soil. A set of pruning snips (available on Amazon) is an essential gardening tool for quick, precise trimming, like deadheading.

Throughout the season, any time you are trimming soft growth, from edging a lawn to cutting lavender, the cuttings can just be left on the soil, too.

Plants to Chop and Drop

Best Chop and Drop Plants

You can chop and drop lots of herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses.

Popular perennials like hardy geraniums, persicaria, catmint, astilbe, aster, phlox, and more are all perfect for the technique. It is best to avoid hostas and agapanthus, which tend to turn into a slimy mess that is unappealing in a bed.

Grasses such as miscanthus, feather reed grass, fountain grass, and Japanese forest grass all break down relatively quickly and can be left on the border after being cut.

You can also chop and drop annual plants. Popular fast-growing annuals like calendula, amaranth, and basil all have soft, leafy tissue that breaks down very quickly once it is chopped.

Plants Not to Chop and Drop

Never chop and drop any diseased plant material or plants infested with pests. This material needs to be disposed of, rather than left on the soil or used to make compost. Check your plants for any signs of powdery mildew, leaf spot, rose black spot, blight, or other diseases before cutting.

It is also inadvisable to chop and drop prolific self-seeders or potentially invasive plants. If plants already have seed heads, chopping and dropping can encourage a huge wave of new seedlings to emerge next year.

Shop Tools for Chop and Drop Gardening

Chop and drop gardening is a great way to mulch sustainably for free. If you have a small garden shredder, you can also use trimmings from your shrub or tree pruning as a type of mulch. Bark or wood chippings are great fall mulching material you can get for free around the garden. As you look around the garden for plants to prune in October, consider how the material produced can be sustainably reused.

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As the temperatures drop and the nights draw in, many thoughts understandably turn to preparing the garden for winter. As the prospect of frost looms, those halcyon summer days in the garden feel far behind us. Before calling it a day, though, make sure these jobs have all been done before winter arrives.

A fully rounded fall gardening checklist should cover flower beds, vegetable gardens, lawns, containers, and equipment. It may sound like a lot, but clearing, preparing, moving, and protecting your plants keeps them healthy and avoids you suffering unnecessary winter losses or damage.

During my years as a professional horticulturist, I found fall to be one of the busiest seasons; there was so much to do ahead of winter. To help you build a list of fall gardening jobs, I’ve also chatted with experts to reveal six key pre-winter jobs they recommend. So, don’t put your garden to bed until you’ve done these tasks. A gardening journal (like this one on Amazon) is a perfect way to plan your seasonal jobs and assess your plants throughout the season.

1. Mulch Beds

For great soil health, a key fall gardening job is always mulching. After clearing flower beds or vegetable gardens, don’t just leave the soil bare. Exposed soil can lose nutrients and be eroded by heavy rains and strong winds.

Instead, give the soil a thick layer of organic mulch. You can use homemade or store-bought compost (such as this bag of organic compost on Amazon), leaf mold made in previous years, or fallen leaves you collect and spread to protect plants. There are lots of fall mulching materials you can get for free this way.

‘One thing gardeners should always do in the fall to prepare their soil for winter is mulching,’ says David McCary, owner at Seattle Sustainable Landscapes. ‘Mulch helps regulate soil temperatures and insulate the plant roots for winter.’

The mulch will enrich the soil nutrients as it breaks down. Simply lay it on the surface before the soil freezes and let nature do its work.

‘Add 1-3 inches on top,’ advises Donna Letier, co-founder and CEO of the gardening and well-being company Gardenuity. ‘This will help to winterize the soil and encourage worms and soil life to do the work for you.’

An alternative way to cover bare soil ahead of winter is to sow green manures. These fast-growing plants will cover bare soil, prevent erosion, block weeds, and return nutrients to the ground. You can find a range of cover crop seeds at True Leaf Market.

2. Move and Protect Pots

Freezing winter temperatures pose a real risk to plants in container gardens. There is not much insulation between the roots and the frost for container plants. This means that usually hardy plants can even be at risk of dying or rotting over winter.

So put some precautions in place beforehand to protect container plants from winter weather. That includes moving pots for winter.

‘Any pots that have perennial plants in them get placed up against my house during the winter (south-facing is best) since it is warmer close to the house,’ says Stacy Risenmay from Digz Gardening.

Moving pots together for winter creates a protected microclimate that traps heat and shelters them from cold winds. South-facing walls will absorb sun and warmth, even through winter, and release it slowly to help protect pots and planters from frost.

It is also advisable to clear drainage holes and raise the container onto pot feet to ensure that it drains properly over the winter and prevent the plant from rotting in waterlogged soil. You can get strong pot feet for containers on Amazon.

Tender plants in containers will need to be overwintered indoors; these are the first plants to protect ahead of the frosts.

‘Bring frost-sensitive plants into suitable shelter before temperatures fall below their tolerance, checking for pests first,’ adds Donna Letier. ‘A garage may suit some dormant hardy plants, while actively growing tropical plants need appropriate warmth and light.’

Tender or tropical plants can spend winter in a greenhouse, conservatory, sunroom, or in front of a bright window to grow indoors over the colder months. Any plants brought indoors can be treated with insecticidal soap, available at Walmart, to deal with pest issues.

3. Get Rid of All Diseased Material

For many people, fall is the time they choose to cut back perennials and tidy up flower beds and borders. However, others choose not to cut back many perennials in the fall, as plants can provide food and shelter for birds and insects in a successful wildlife garden.

Whether you clear or not, what is important is that any diseased plant material is removed before winter. Leaving it on the ground allows bacteria and fungi to overwinter, then return in spring to infect the new growth. Any leaves or stems showing signs of powdery mildew, rose black spot, blight, or other diseases should be removed.

You should bag this up and throw it away. Lindsey Chastain, homesteader and founder at The Waddle and Cluck, warns: ‘Anything that is diseased needs to be bagged and trashed instead of put in your compost because that diseased plant material will infiltrate your compost, and it won't be healthy.’

Any piles of old stems, debris, or rotting crops on borders or vegetable garden beds also need to be removed. These can harbor bacteria and fungi and also provide a place for slugs, snails, and other pests to overwinter. It will take just a few minutes to clear any dead material with a gardening hand rake, such as this hand rake on Amazon.

4. Dig up and Store Tender Bulbs

A crucial job to do before the first frosts is to lift your tender summer plants. By lifting and overwintering tender bulbs, you ensure they don’t succumb to cold or rot over the winter months, and they’ll be ready to put on another stunning summer performance next year.

Plants such as dahlias, canna lilies, caladiums, pineapple lily, calla lilies, and gladiolus are among the tender plants to overwinter in October, usually after the first light frost has hit the foliage. Cut back the old foliage and gently lift the bulbs or tubers from the soil with a gardening fork (available at Walmart).

The bulbs should be stored in a cool, dry place over winter, such as a frost-free garage or shed. Dry the bulbs after lifting them, brush off the excess soil, and then store them in crates, trays, or paper bags.

‘I recommend using milk crates with newspaper or paper bags between the layers, and don't let the bulbs touch,’ says Lindsey Chastain. ‘You want them to have really good airflow over the winter so they don't mold and are ready to plant next spring.’

Check the stored bulbs regularly over winter and remove any that show signs of rotting. This stops them from affecting the others.

5. Give the Lawn a Last Mow

Lawns tend to get most attention during the summer and are often left to their own devices for winter. Before putting your garden to bed for winter, it is often good practice to complete some fall lawn care tasks and give your lawn a final mow of the year.

Cool-season lawns continue growing until the temperatures consistently fall below 50°F. Monitor your local forecasts and don’t stop mowing the lawn for winter until the mercury reaches that level.

‘Grass doesn't stop growing just because it’s not hot out,’ says Allison Koenig from Tractor Supply. ‘Cooler fall temperatures are actually prime time for root growth, and a lawn with strong roots heading into winter is one that bounces back fast come spring.

‘Skip the fall work, and you're asking a weaker lawn to survive winter stress and then somehow green up on schedule.’

Fall lawn maintenance includes removing fallen leaves to stop them from smothering the grass, which can cause bare patches and fungal problems over winter.

If the weather is suitable, such as not frozen or waterlogged, you can also aerate the lawn (you can use a lawn aerator tool from Amazon) and overseed before the temperatures drop – you can plant cool-season grass seed up to four weeks before the first frost.

When it comes to mowing, don’t cut the grass short before winter. Aim for a height of 2.5 to 3 inches for the last few cuts, so longer grass blades can insulate the roots over the winter months.

6. Remember Tools and Equipment

It can be easy to just focus on your plants when putting your garden to bed for winter. Before stepping away and relaxing, thinking everything is done, take a moment to check your gardening tools and equipment.

Always store all garden tools over winter, including lawn mowers, grass trimmers, and any digging or pruning tools, rather than leaving them out to withstand the elements. A tool storage rack (like this multi-tool hanger at Lowe’s) is an efficient shed storage solution.

You should also drain and store any garden hoses, soaker hoses, or drip irrigation systems before freezing weather arrives.

‘If you have an irrigation system, you should also do a winterization before the first freeze,’ says David McCary. ‘If there's any water left in your irrigation system, it can freeze, expand, and damage pipes, valves, and sprinkler heads. Doing a winterization before that happens helps prevent this damage.’

You want to winterize a sprinkler system a few weeks or more before the first frost is predicted for your area. This involves turning off, draining, and blowing out a sprinkler system to ensure no water remains over winter.

Lindsey Chastain adds that homeowners should also remember to protect faucets from freezing. ‘You want to check all of the exterior faucets that you use for gardening and make sure that they are either frost protection type or that they are covered,’ she says. ‘We actually do both. We still cover our frost protection faucets just in case.’

You can get a hard outdoor faucet cover at The Home Depot

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You don’t put your garden to bed until you’ve done these tasks, but there are other important monthly jobs to consider. For example, there are opportunities to add to your garden in fall, and our guide to what to plant in October reveals some great perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs, and crops you can plant this month.

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October isn’t the right time for doing any major tree work. However, it is good for some light maintenance pruning to keep deciduous trees safe over winter.

Removing dead, damaged, or diseased branches, as well as any branches hanging over buildings or structures, helps prevent potential issues during winter storms. A few well-planned cuts in fall can keep your property safe for the months ahead. But save any larger shaping or removal for late winter.

It is important to plan your pruning this month. Only cut for important reasons, not just aesthetics. If you have trees to prune in October, think about your pruning tools, too, and make sure they are clean and sharp before you do anything else. If your tools have seen better days, this pruning kit on Walmart has all you need for trimming trees.

Oak

Oak trees can reach over 100 feet tall, and their canopies can stretch up to 80 feet. They need pruning for safety reasons, such as to prevent branches from falling onto people or buildings. If you have an oak tree that stretches over buildings, driveways, or walkways, it is good practice to assess the canopy before winter for any branches that need attention.

Knowing when to prune oak trees keeps them safe. They should only ever be pruned from late fall to late winter to prevent oak wilt, a devastating fungal disease spread by beetles in spring and summer. It would be a tree pruning mistake to prune live oak branches during the peak months for the disease.

It is OK to do light pruning in the fall once the leaves start to fall. A pole pruner can be used to trim higher branches without needing to climb a ladder. For example, this pole pruner at The Home Depot extends up to 14 feet and has both a pruner and a pruning saw head. However, professionals will be needed for very old, statuesque oak trees.

Birch

Birch trees can end up with dead branches in the canopy as a result of the bronze birch borer. The borer is a wood-boring beetle that targets all types of birch, and the first signs of issues tend to show in the form of dieback in the upper crown.

When the leaves begin to fall, it is easier to spot and remove any of these dying or damaged branches. Removing infected branches helps prevent the pest population from spreading and reduces the risk of dead branches falling during winter storms.

Fall is an acceptable time to lightly prune a birch tree to keep it safe. If you prune in spring or summer, birch trees bleed a lot of sap, which stresses and weakens them and they’ll be more susceptible to the borer.

Assess the canopy this month to carefully remove any dead or diseased branches. A pair of extendable loppers (like these Corona extendable loppers at Lowe’s) helps you safely reach higher branches and can be used to trim wood up to 1.5-2 inches wide. Anvil loppers are good for dead wood, while bypass types are the best loppers for live stems.

Honey Locust

The deciduous honey locust tree starts dropping its fine fern-like leaves in the fall. This creates a window to prune the open canopy to remove any dead, diseased, or damaged branches.

The tree bleeds sap heavily if it is pruned when actively growing, which attracts pests and stresses it. A honey locust doesn’t usually need major pruning, just a little attention to clear out any potentially hazardous branches. It won’t usually need trimming every year, but it is worth checking the tree to see any risks.

Do any trimming with a light touch. Follow the one-third pruning rule and never remove more than a third of the canopy in a single year. Cutting too much will stress the tree.

Tulip Tree

A Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) is a fast-growing flowering tree that reaches 30-50 feet high and 20-25 feet wide, depending on the variety. As the native tree grows so quickly, they require pruning every few years to keep it shaped and safe.

Tulip tree branches grow swiftly and, as a result, the long limbs are not as strong as other trees of that size. This leaves them at risk of snapping during strong winds and winter storms. If a tulip tree on your property has large branches above buildings, structures, driveways, or paths, it will need inspecting every 3-5 years to ensure the limbs remain sturdy and safe.

When the leaves have dropped and the tree is dormant, there is an opportunity to lightly trim a tulip tree. Use a pruning saw for any branches over two inches. You can get a strong folding pruning saw at The Home Depot.

Laburnum

A laburnum, also called a golden chain, can be grown as a shrub or tree and is adored for the yellow wisteria-like racemes of flowers that hang from the branches in spring.

When cultivated as a tree, it can reach 20-25 feet tall and 15-20 feet wide. This expansive growth makes pruning necessary when growing over driveways, paths, or garden structures, both to lift the canopy and keep it safe.

Laburnum is another tree that bleeds if pruned in spring or summer. However, the trees can be trimmed anytime between fall and midwinter to remove dead, diseased, damaged, or crossing branches.

A grafted tree is also likely to sprout from below the union, so trim off any suckers too to prevent these unwanted stems from taking energy away from the rest of the tree.

When pruning laburnum, always wear long sleeves and gloves as the sap from the branches can irritate your skin. A set of gardening sleeves like these on Amazon is ideal for protecting your arms from scratches, sunburn, or irritation while working in the garden.

Rowan

A sorbus, also known as a rowan or mountain ash, is a valuable deciduous tree for any wildlife garden. When you grow a rowan tree, it offers a glorious mixture of white spring flowers, which attract pollinators, and bright berries, which can be red, orange, pink, or yellow, that are food for birds in fall.

The trees can reach over 50 feet when fully grown. They are low-maintenance trees, but do need regular shaping and pruning to keep them healthy, safe, and performing at their finest.

As they bleed sap if pruned in spring or summer, the window to prune rowan trees runs from late October/early November to February.

The tree wants a bit of light attention to remove dead, damaged, or diseased branches, then any crossing branches or ones growing inward towards the center. This opens the canopy, helping increase the amount of air and light in the tree to help against fungal diseases.

As with all the picks of trees to prune in October, you always need sharp pruning tools. A handheld tool sharper like this on Amazon can fit in any pocket or tool bag and be used to sharpen tools before you get to work.

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There are also likely to be other plants to prune in October around your garden. Fall is a time to trim back and tidy perennials, cut back and lift tender plants like dahlias, prune roses to protect against wind rock, and give your deciduous hedges a tidy. There are a lot of jobs to add to any fall gardening checklist.

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When we reach October, the assumption is often that the time for sowing grass has passed and you have to put up with bare patches until spring, when something can be done about it. However, that is not the case, as October can be an excellent time to overseed a lawn.

It comes down to your location and the type of grass. In many climates, the soil is still warm enough to germinate cool-season grass seeds, plus there is lots of helpful natural rainfall to make life easier. Provided the soil is at least 50°F and there are four weeks until a ground frost, you can sow grass seed.

I wouldn’t dwell, however, as it is best to start your lawn care earlier in October. It is better to have warmer temperatures and a longer timeframe for the grass to establish roots before dormancy. If you do want to plant grass seed in October, get yourself a fresh bag of seed (like this bag of perennial ryegrass at The Home Depot) and overseed sooner rather than later.

Is October Too Late to Plant Grass Seed?

October is not too late to overseed a lawn in fall, but time might be against you and the coming weeks may be your last opportunity. Whether you can plant grass seed in October, and how far into the month it is possible, depends on your climate and the type of grass. But don’t fall into the trap of thinking the window is closed for the season just because it's October.

‘October certainly isn’t automatically too late to overseed a lawn,’ reassures Guy Jenkins, Consumer Manager at Johnsons Lawn Seed. ‘In fact, it can offer some of the best conditions, with naturally higher moisture levels and soil that has retained warmth from summer.’

It predominantly comes down to temperature. Grass seeds need temperatures of at least 50-60°F to germinate. That means early October can still be warm enough in many regions, except perhaps in the coldest northern US hardiness zones.

Jonathan Davis, lawn expert at Lawnsmith, says that overseeding should be considered one of the ‘key priorities’ in October lawn care, along with aerating and fertilizing.

‘This is your last chance to overseed the lawn,’ he adds. ‘The soil temperatures are still high enough for germination; you must get the seed down a couple of weeks before the temperature turns too cool.’

When planning any fall lawn care, a good rule of thumb is to allow four to six weeks between planting grass seed and your first expected hard frost. This gives the seeds the opportunity to establish roots before going dormant for winter.

When to Plant Grass Seed in October

The most important factor to consider when overseeding later in the season is the temperature. Check your local weather predictions for the forthcoming weeks to see if any freezing weather is on the horizon.

Ideally, there will be a good stretch of mild weather ahead, which will be perfect for germination. But it is not just all about the calendar date and the air temperature; check your soil too before sowing any seeds.

Sourav Das from Yardener, a problem-solving website that has answered over 6,000 questions from gardeners, claims: ‘Soil temperature decides it, not the air. Seed needs soil at 50°F, so buy a soil thermometer and check.

‘Once the soil drops below 50°F, the seed just sits. Seed that sprouts right before a hard freeze is the bigger risk, because the seedlings have no roots to carry them through.’

Guy Jenkins adds: ‘As long as the ground isn’t frozen or waterlogged and conditions remain suitable, there is still an opportunity to repair bare patches, improve lawn density and establish stronger grass ahead of winter.’

If there is a cold snap incoming, an alternative is to think about dormant seeding. This is where the seeds sit dormant over winter to then sprout in spring. The ideal time is when the soil is too cold for germination, but not frozen. This technique provides an opportunity to plant grass seed in winter.

You can get a soil thermometer on Amazon

The Best Grass Seed for Planting in October

Not all types of grass seed are best for overseeding in the fall. October is a time for seeding with cool-season grasses, not warm-season grasses. It is too late for warm-season lawns typically found in southern zones.

Cool-season grass types like Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and fescues are common across northern and transitional zones. These fast-growing grass seeds are readily available in the fall and can be sown in October as they germinate at lower soil temperatures.

You do not want to sow warm-season grasses, such as St. Augustine, Bermuda, or zoysia grass this month. These are not actively growing in fall and are better suited to sowing in warm soils in late spring or early summer, as they need temperatures of 65°F and higher to germinate.

Shop for Grass Seed

When you plant grass seed in October, do you need to water it? Typically, in most climates, you should get enough rainfall that you don’t need to.

However, if the weather is unseasonably dry and warm, Sourav Das from Yardener recommends watering the grass ‘twice a day’ to begin with. He adds: ‘Short and light is enough. You only need the top quarter inch of soil to stay moist.’ A sprinkler isn’t usually an essential gardening tool in the fall, but keep one on standby in case of a dry October.

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October has a lot of potential for propagating new plants. What makes it somewhat unique is that it is a transitional time of the season, when you can take both soft and hardwood cuttings. It means there are lots of opportunities for plants to propagate in October.

You can take softwood cuttings of tender plants that will overwinter indoors. These can be taken as an insurance policy in case you lose any plants or as a way to expand your collection. As well, taking hardwood cuttings of hardy shrubs gives you a chance to root new plants you can add to the garden next year to add structure, color, and texture to your borders.

It can be a busy month. There are trees, shrubs, perennials and spring bulbs that you can plant in October, but also save some time to take plant cuttings. What will be crucial are clean, sharp pruners (such as these Japanese pruning shears at Amazon), rooting hormone, good potting mix, and a little care and patience. Trust me, all these new plants are well worth the effort. Let’s take a look at a great selection of plants to propagate in October.

Pelargoniums

Pelargoniums, also known as tender geraniums, are hugely popular tender plants adored for vivid blooms in a range of colors and shades as well as varied and fragrant foliage. They look lovely in terracotta pots or in hanging baskets during summer, but pelargoniums are not hardy, so they need to be overwintered indoors.

Taking pelargonium cuttings is a simple task and a great way to get new plants identical to the parent one. If you’ve got your favorites, cuttings are an ideal way to start new plants to cover any losses over winter, or to start off replacements, as pelargoniums get woody as they age.

Take 3-4 inch cuttings from firm new growth and cut them below a leaf node. Remove the leaves from the lower half and leave the cutting somewhere bright for a few hours to dry out. Then dip the cut end in rooting hormone (such as this rooting powder on Walmart) and put it into pots filled with well-draining potting soil.

Place the container somewhere bright and warm, but out of direct sunlight, and keep the soil moist. Once the cuttings have developed good roots, you can put them into individual pots. This should take 4-6 weeks. You can test this by tugging gently on the plant; if you feel some resistance, it is time to pot it up.

Coleus

These bold, flamboyant plants certainly make an impact. The sheer range of bright foliage colors and different shapes ensures they stand out in beds or containers.

Coleus are tender plants, though, and only hardy in US zones 10-11. This means most gardeners grow coleus as annual plants, but you can overwinter coleus and keep them going as indoor plants through winter to provide a pop of color over the colder months.

Whether you are propagating coleus to replace this year’s plants or want more of a variety you get particular joy from, it is quick and easy to take softwood cuttings this month.

Take 4-6 inch cuttings, remove the lower leaves, and dip the bottom in rooting hormone. Now you have a choice: either put the cutting in soil or water. Both are reliable ways of getting coleus cuttings to root. Whether you opt for small pots filled with compost or a jar of water, place the container in a bright, indirect spot – such as a windowsill.

Once there are signs of healthy root development (which is more obvious in water, but you can test in soil by gently tugging), the cuttings can be put into individual pots filled with a well-draining potting mix, such as this organic potting mix on Burpee.

Fuchsia

Tender fuchsias bring a bounty of bright blooms to hanging baskets, containers, or flower beds throughout summer and early fall.

The sheer range of fuchsias available means there should be one for any garden, but don’t confuse tender and hardy fuchsias. The former won’t survive winter anywhere, but in US zones 10 and 11, you need to overwinter these fuchsias indoors to ensure they make it through to next year.

If you don’t have the space to care for fuchsias indoors all winter long, you can take cuttings to get a new generation of identical plants. Of course, cuttings are also an option if you just want more of a particular fuchsia you adore.

The right material for fuchsia cuttings this month will be healthy, soft growing tips 4-6 inches long. Remove all but the top two leaves, cut the base below a node, and dip it in rooting hormone. Three or four cuttings can be put around the edge of a small pot.

Cover the cuttings with a clear plastic bag to retain moisture and humidity, which helps with rooting. A heat mat can be beneficial in fall to provide a little extra warmth that will speed up rooting, and you can get a heat mat on Amazon.

Pothos

In the introduction, I said there was a wealth of choice for plants to propagate in October. One type of plant I missed was indoor plants. You can propagate many houseplants in October, and pothos is potentially the easiest and most reliable.

There are so many different pothos varieties to choose from with different foliage colors and textures. Any of them are suitable for cuttings in the fall to expand a houseplant collection, or to get new plants as gifts to friends, family, or neighbors.

To propagate pothos, cut 4-6 inch stems that ideally have 2 or 3 leaves. Use a pair of sharp pruning tools, such as these pruning snips on Walmart. Make a cut just below a node, which is evident as a small bump where the foliage meets the stem, and remove the bottom leaf from the cutting.

The pothos cutting can be dipped in rooting hormone and placed into a glass container filled with water. The bottom node and stem should be submerged in water, but the leaves should sit above the surface.

Keep the container somewhere with lots of bright, indirect light and remember to change the water every few days. Once the cutting develops roots 1-2 inches long, pot the young pothos into a container filled with soil.

Other easy houseplants to grow from cuttings in fall include spider plant, monstera, philodendron, and mother of millions.

Dogwood

Dogwoods offer gardeners a fantastic double win, with both beautiful spring flowers and bright winter stems. The attractive winter bark comes in fiery shades of red, yellow, or orange and is guaranteed to be a striking addition to any space.

The glorious architectural plants look great when planted in groups, so that sounds like a great excuse to take cuttings so you get more for free. Many of the best native dogwoods, including the red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea), can be propagated by hardwood cuttings in fall or spring.

Pick healthy pencil-thick stems that have developed this growing season. Cut the stems to 6-10 inches long, making a flat cut below a node at the bottom and an angled cut above a node at the top to allow water to run off the cutting.

Remove any leaves and dip the bottom into rooting hormone. Put the cutting into a deep pot filled with cuttings compost, then place this pot into an unheated greenhouse or cold frame for winter. You can get a portable wooden cold frame at Wayfair to protect plants and cuttings over the colder months.

Keep the soil moist, but not waterlogged, and the cuttings will root over the coming months.

Viburnum

These diverse, fast-growing shrubs are popular for their clusters of flowers in spring or summer, the bright fall foliage, and ornamental fall berries. It is such a wide genus that there are evergreen and deciduous types of viburnum with different shades of flowers, leaves, and fruits.

When you grow viburnum, they are a low-maintenance flowering shrub for sun or light shade. The plants can be happy in many soil types, unless the soil sits very wet for long periods. If you fancy more shrubs for year-round interest, you can propagate new viburnums from hardwood cuttings this month.

Take 8-10 inch cuttings, remove the leaves, and apply rooting hormone to the base. Place the cutting in a pot filled with a well-draining mix and put it in a greenhouse or cold frame.

Be patient, as hardwood cuttings take longer than their softwood counterparts, and it may take a couple of months for them to develop roots.

Keep the soil moist, but not waterlogged, as overwatering risks the cutting rotting before it establishes a strong set of roots and is ready to pot on or plant out. A soil moisture meter (available at Amazon) can help you avoid overwatering your new cuttings.

Forsythia

Any gardener wanting to add more color to their garden for the leaner time of year needs more of this cheery spring-flowering shrub. The bright yellow blooms in March are a sign that spring has arrived.

Forsythia is one of the best hardwood cuttings to take in fall to increase your collection of colorful spring shrubs at no cost. Even if you don’t have one in your yard, ask a friend or neighbor for a cutting from theirs and you can enjoy its impactful spring display.

Take forsythia cuttings once the fall foliage has started dropping. These stems need to be around 6-8 inches long and cut below a node at the base. After being dipped in rooting hormone, the hardwood cutting can be placed in a pot and kept in a greenhouse or cold frame, or placed directly into a trench in a sheltered, well-drained corner of the garden.

Whichever option you go with, two-thirds of the cutting should be below the soil line, and the soil should be kept consistently moist over winter to encourage rooting.

Alternatively, you can root grow forsythia cuttings in water. Simply prepare the stems as outlined above and place them into a container filled with water. Place them somewhere with bright but indirect light, change the water regularly, and watch for white roots to appear from the cuttings.

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Another way to get free plants for your borders this month is by dividing plants. There are lots of perennials to divide in October, including bee balm, coneflower, hostas, daylilies, peonies, black-eyed Susan, yarrow, and more. As long as you can give new clumps four weeks from planting until the first ground frost, the time is right for dividing older perennials to reinvigorate them and get new clumps for no cost.

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Winter can pose many challenges for climbers, especially strong winds. Many gardeners may assume frost or snow pose the biggest headache, but winds can snap stems and even rip climbing plants away from their supports. To avoid this, October is a good window to take measures to keep your climbers protected.

You don’t want any harm to come to your best climbing plants. Whether it is clematis, wisteria, honeysuckle, trumpet vine, or climbing roses, take some time this month to check the trellis or support and secure stems. Whether your climber is attached to a wall, fence, or trellis, if the supports break, the plant can crash to the ground. If the plant itself is left flailing in the wind, the stems rip easily

It needn’t take long to secure your winter climbers, but you do need to tie them in properly. What is crucial is using soft plant ties, like these on Amazon, and a particular knot to overwinter climbing plants safely and securely.

You Must Tie in Loose Stems

Your climbing plants are vulnerable in windy fall and winter weather. The quickest way to protect them from snapping is to check and secure them sooner rather than later.

When strong winds pick up, any loose stems quickly flail about. The loose ends can break or snap, and flapping about can slacken the stems further down the climber, exacerbating the overall damage. Unsecured climbing plants can be ripped fully away from their support in a worst-case scenario.

Spend some time checking existing ties, replacing any wobbly ones, and tying in long or loose stems. Flailing stems need to be secured to the support or trellis, and care should be taken to ensure structural stems are evenly spaced across the structure.

To overwinter climbing plants safely, the best plant ties for climbers are always made of soft, flexible material. The most common materials for this are jute, PVC flexi-ties (such as this roll of extra thick flexible plant ties on Amazon), plastic loops, or Velcro (you can get Velcro plant ties on Walmart)

Or you can make a DIY alternative by making soft fabric strips from old T-shirts, tights, or stockings.

What you shouldn’t ever use are wire or metal ties. These materials can scrape and cut into stems when the plant is blown around in the winter. In the worst possible outcome, they can cut the stems in two.

For the best protection against strong winds, use a figure-of-eight knot. Loop your tie around the stem, cross the two ends, and then loop them around the support. Tie them with a double knot.

Using this tie creates room for the stems to expand and allows for a slight bit of natural movement. This method of tying doesn’t throttle the stems, and the crossed-over material between the stem and the support prevents them from rubbing against each other.

You Need to Check Plant Supports

Most of the attention when overwintering a garden goes to frost and cold temperatures. This is completely understandable, but don’t overestimate the risk of strong winter winds.

Evergreen climbers suffer more than most when gales strike, as the gusts bombard the leafy canopy and put pressure on the plant supports. These need to be checked before winter to ensure they are anchored to the ground or the wall. This avoids the plant and support structure crashing to the ground.

Checking trellises, wires (you can get a wire tensioner kit at Amazon), and fences also helps to protect plants from a storm – another time when loose supports are liable to come down.

Shop Climbing Plants and Supports

For an added layer of protection for your climbing plants in winter, add a 2-3 inch layer of mulch around the base of the plant to insulate the roots against frost. Use organic types of mulch, such as compost (you can get a bag of organic compost at The Home Depot), leaf mold, or bark, but keep the material away from the main stem when placing it around the plant.

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As the temperatures drop and days shorten, it can only mean one thing – fall is here. It is only a matter of time until you need to start clearing leaves around your property. I have always found that the most lightweight, convenient way to do this is with a cordless leaf blower.

Collecting leaves can often feel like a chore, especially if you stick to the old-fashioned way with a garden rake. A cordless leaf blower changes the game, as you can clear leaves, debris, and even light snow from lawns, patios, decks, driveways, and more in record time and without the physical exertion.

As a professional gardener, I regularly used cordless leaf blowers to clear leaves around public gardens and found them much easier than gas-powered ones. I found this Greenworks cordless leaf blower on Amazon that is powerful, lightweight, and 50% off in the Prime Day sale. It comes with a charger and a battery and has all the ingredients to become an essential gardening tool for years to come.

An Ideal Tool for Fall Clear-Up

A cordless leaf blower is one of the best leaf-clearing tools for all types of yards. This one is perfect for smaller gardens. It can clear leaves from all types of surfaces, from porches to lawns, and is small enough to fit into tight spaces, such as decks or patios, when needed.

Come fall, when you want to start clearing leaves to prevent them from becoming a slip hazard or smothering lawns, you want a quick, efficient way. And a cordless leaf blower is certainly an effective way to get rid of leaves.

The Greenworks cordless leaf blower is a powerful machine, with 150 MPH wind speed and 135 CFM (cubic feet per minute) airflow. This power, applied through a concentrator nozzle, is perfect for clearing both dry and wet leaves in the fall. It is also powerful enough to clear needles, twigs, and small branches after a storm and light snow in winter.

That power may sound intimidating, especially if you’ve never used a blower. It is typical for general home-use blowers to offer speeds of 150-180 MPH compared to 200+ for professional ones, but you don’t always need to operate at those levels.

For easier clearing, the Greenworks cordless leaf blower has a variable speed dial on the handle, so gardeners can adjust the power to suit the task. You can switch up and down for heavier or lighter leaf loads, and working at lower speeds increases battery runtime. At maximum speed, you get 15 minutes of runtime on a full battery, which increases at reduced speeds, such as when clearing smaller, drier leaves.

You will tend to use a leaf blower repeatedly over fall to clear areas. Thankfully, the Greenworks cordless leaf blower is easy to use. It has a simple on-off button, the aforementioned dial, and a comfortable grip for holding the lightweight tool.

One benefit of the Greenworks cordless leaf blower is that, like with other battery-operated tools, you can rely on it to start up each time. When it comes to gas tools, I have often found there are many reasons why they don’t start. With a battery tool, you don’t need to worry about the leaf blower not working.

Put a charged battery in, switch it on, and you are good to go – there is a lot less to go wrong. Plus, you get less noise, fewer emissions, and don’t need to buy gas or oil. Even better is that the 40V battery used by the Greenworks cordless leaf blower is compatible with over 75 other products in the company’s range of gardening and power tools, such as this Greenworks 40V 16-inch lawn mower on Amazon.

The machine comes with a battery and a charger included in the price, which isn’t always the case with cordless leaf blowers. Sometimes the products look like a great deal, but they don’t come with a battery and charger – and those extras can cost as much, if not more, than the tool. There are no such worries here; you get the leaf blower, battery, and charger all in one budget-friendly deal.

You can buy a second Greenworks 40V battery on Amazon so you always have a charged one ready and can work longer without stopping to recharge.

One potential downside is that it is just a blower, and not a leaf vacuum that collects the leaves for you. However, just because it doesn’t collect doesn’t take away from the value of a leaf blower.

It will make clearing leaves in the fall a much quicker experience. You can use the blower to direct the material onto flower beds and use fallen leaves to protect plants. Or blow them into easy-access piles and use leaf scoops (available at Amazon) to bag them up and make leaf mulch.

Why Shoppers Love It

The Greenworks cordless leaf blower has, at the time of writing, received a rating of 4.2 out of five stars from almost 13,000 ratings. Indeed, four out of five of those are four stars or more.

It gets regular praise for being lightweight and effective, especially in smaller spaces. ‘I live in a condo, so I don’t need anything more powerful than this,’ says one reviewer. ‘I used it to blow out beds, sidewalks, and my garage. I love how lightweight it is.’

‘Perfect for keeping my porch clean,’ another adds. ‘Good for light work in a home garden. Leaves, sand, and dirt blow away easily. Battery lasts for 30-45 minutes of continuous use.’

The ability to vary the blower’s wind speed was also highlighted as a positive among the reviews. ‘Even on setting one, it's more than enough for my garage, driveway, and the one side of my house where all the leaves end up piling up... But not anymore,’ says one review.

Another reads: ‘I have carpal tunnel and cannot use heavy equipment; this is lightweight and came charged & ready. The operation is simple, and the various speeds allow for you to adjust the power so I'm not blowing mulch or light gravel out of place.’

There are some reviews that question the machine’s power and whether it is enough for clearing larger debris. It is a lightweight blower for clearing leaves and debris from smaller yards, perfect for small driveways, decks, and patios rather than large estates and expansive lawns.

If you have a larger space and need more power and runtime to clear areas, you may prefer to look for something a little bit more professional. An example is this 200 MPH, 700 CFM cordless leaf blower on Amazon that has a runtime of 160 minutes and three speed modes.

Shop Other 40V Battery Compatible Garden Tools

Some gardeners may not realize that leaf blowers are more than a one-trick pony. You can use them for more than just clearing leaves in the fall. Our guide to surprising uses for a leaf blower reveals five other tasks around the property that you can use this versatile tool for.

For more deals in the Amazon sale, check out the Homes & Gardens Amazon storefront to discover some of our best finds.

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October is a transitional month as the temperatures and the colors change across our gardens. Gone are the long, hot summer days, replaced by richer tones, falling leaves, and the need for an extra layer when out gardening. This change in the air heralds a shift in pruning, from encouraging new growth to preserving energy and neatening beds.

You can get pleasantly warm days earlier in October, but things change. Temperatures can drop substantially through the month, and frosts arrive across northern regions, the Great Plains, and the mid-Atlantic. As the thermometer drops, some plants need pruning for protection, and perennials that look far from their summer prime can benefit from a trim to tidy them up.

There are perennials, spring bulbs, and bare-root shrubs you can plant in October to boost your beds. For example, this lovely Tulip Spring Romance collection at Dutch Grown creates a delicate display of white and pink. But give your existing plants time too, as many ornamentals and edibles can benefit from some attention. This guide to plants to prune in October highlights seven, including traditional favorites like roses, dahlias, and hostas. Get your pruning tools at the ready.

Asparagus

When you grow asparagus, cutting it back is an important part of the crop’s annual maintenance. Getting the routine right year after year produces the best asparagus harvests and helps the plants live a long time – up to 20 years in the right circumstances.

Gardeners pick asparagus for a few short weeks (usually 4-6) in late spring and early summer. Then you want to let the spears do their thing; they’ll grow on and produce fern-like tops. Letting them do this keeps the plant photosynthesizing and storing energy in the roots for next year.

Once the foliage naturally dies back and turns brown or yellow, it is time to cut back the asparagus. It often comes after the first frost, which varies by climate, but for some gardeners it starts in late October. Take your pruning shears (I have used a pair of Felco F2 pruners, available on Amazon, to do this task for many years) and cut the stems back to the ground.

If you don’t cut the foliage back in the fall, asparagus beetles overwinter in the stems and come back stronger next year. To battle this pest, cut the asparagus fern back and remove the debris to give them nowhere to hide and overwinter.

Dahlias

Gardeners who routinely grow dahlias know the time to cut back the plants and prepare them for winter is coming. The flowers have been a delight over recent months, but as the temperature drops, the end is near.

Dahlias are tender plants that need to be lifted from the ground in colder hardiness zones – though some gardeners may be able to leave theirs in the ground with protection if they have milder winters.

The window to prune dahlias back starts in late October. The right time to cut them back is after the first frost and when the stems have turned black.

Prune the stem back to six inches from the ground with a pair of loppers, then carefully lift the tubers from the soil. These Fiskars PowerGear2 loppers from The Home Depot are perfect for cutting through the thick stems this month.

Keep the lifted tubers somewhere dry and frost-free for a period to dry out before storing them away for winter in cardboard boxes or paper bags.

This routine is important for all types of dahlias to prevent tubers from being lost to cold or rot during the winter months. When you overwinter dahlias, it’s crucial to check them regularly. If you spot any signs of rot, cut the affected part away to preserve the rest of the tuber.

Raspberries

Raspberries are a popular fruit in vegetable gardens around the world. There are different types, and when to prune raspberries depends on which you are growing.

Fall-fruiting raspberries produce their fruit on new growth and crop later in the year. They may still be cropping in your garden in October. These don’t want to be pruned until late winter – so leave them well alone this month.

On the other hand, summer-fruiting raspberries will be past their cropping period. These types fruit on the previous year’s wood and need pruning after harvesting. If you haven’t done it yet, now is the time to prune these raspberries.

It is a quick and simple task. Cut all the stems that fruited this year to the ground – these will be browner in color than the green new canes.

Then thin the new canes to leave the good selection spaced 6-8 inches apart. Tie these new canes to your supports with soft plant ties (like these Velcro plant ties at Walmart) to prevent them from getting damaged by wind.

Catmint

Catmint, or Nepeta, always impresses in summer with its spikes of blue flowers and aromatic grey-green foliage. However, come fall it can look messy, as the stems have an unfortunate habit of drooping. This is not only a bit of an eyesore, but it can be troublesome if the flopping material covers garden paths, steps, or the edges of lawns.

When you grow catmint, there is no harm in giving the plant a bit of a tidy-up in October to stop it from being a slip hazard or smothering the grass.

Simply take a pair of hedge shears and remove a few inches of the growth to neaten it up. But don’t be too heavy-handed if you prune catmint in October; remove the problematic sections and leave the rest to prune in spring. Leaving most of the old stems insulates the plant from winter frosts.

This set of ARS KR-1000 hedge shears on Amazon is super-sharp and lightweight, and perfect for quickly trimming back perennials.

Hosta

In summer, the glorious foliage of hostas, which comes in a wide range of colors, shapes, and sizes, brings luxurious texture, interest, and structure to flower beds. There is a richness to their leaves as they form large mounds and cover the ground.

Anyone who grows and cares for hostas knows this appeal quickly drops in the fall, especially once the frost has obliterated the leaves. The foliage turns into a brown, slimy mess that provides an ideal hiding spot for slug and snail eggs over winter.

If you cut back hostas in the fall, you remove these unwanted pests that can otherwise come eat the fresh growth next spring, and stop bacteria and fungi from building up in the decaying foliage.

Once the leaves start going yellow and dying back, cut them back to the ground with your pruning shears. Remove the plant material so slugs and snails can’t hide in piles of debris during winter.

Roses

The traditional time to prune roses is in late winter. That is still the best window for your main rose pruning. However, if you plant roses in windy or exposed sites, it is advisable to give them a quick trim in mid-to-late October to prevent ‘wind rock’.

Wind rock occurs when strong winter gales buffet plants. The back-and-forth movement caused by strong winds can loosen a rose at the base, damaging the roots and, in the worst case, uprooting the shrub. Roses are shallow-rooted shrubs, which makes them especially susceptible to wind rock – particularly when they are newly planted.

Prune your shrub roses by a third after the last flowers have faded. Return in late winter to finish the traditional pruning and stimulate fresh growth that will carry flowers next summer.

It is also beneficial to remove any foliage from the ground that shows any signs of rose black spot. Infected leaves harbour spores that can remain in the soil and infect your roses next year. Collect them all and dispose of them.

Beech

October is the last opportunity to give beech and hornbeam hedges a quick trim to keep them looking neat and tidy for winter. Deciduous hedging plants like these are great for privacy hedges, as they form a dense barrier and retain lots of their leaves for winter.

They grow quickly in spring and summer, so they often need two trims a year to look in shape. Once in spring after their first spurt of growth, and the other in fall when they slow down again. October is a good time for the second trim, as the weather is mild enough to recover from a prune rather than face a nasty freeze right away.

You don’t need to prune the hedges hard. Instead, opt for a light trim with hedge shears or a hedge trimmer (get a cordless hedge trimmer with a battery and charger at Amazon) to remove the fresh growth and leave a straight hedge that will provide formal structure over winter.

An established deciduous hedge should have a solid framework to cut back to. However, a newer hedge may require string tied between two canes to give you a line to cut to. Any hedge trimmings can be used to make compost.

What to Shop

This list of plants to prune in October can give gardeners plenty of ideas for any fall gardening checklist. However, while you may be tempted to tidy up as many plants as possible in fall, there are some to avoid this month. To help you avoid mistakes, our guide to plants to never prune in October highlights some spring-flowering shrubs and perennials you shouldn’t touch over the next few weeks.

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Feeding in the fall helps any lawn recover from its summer stresses and toughen up for winter. Your newly nourished and reinforced turf will be in the best shape for dormancy and is guaranteed to come back strong in spring, delivering a glorious lawn to enjoy next year.

When fertilizing a lawn in the fall, one crucial aspect to success is watering. The soil must be moist, and any product needs water to soak into the ground and activate. There are two ways to deliver the necessary water; otherwise, it can lead to fertilizer burn as the product sits on the blades rather than reaching the soil.

Knowing how to fertilize a lawn helps prevent burning or scorching, especially when using granular products. Most of the best fertilizers used this time of year are granular, like this Scotts Turf Builder WinterGuard fall lawn fertilizer on Walmart, and when applied correctly, your lawn benefits from stronger roots. Here is why you must water in fall lawn fertilizer and the best ways to do it.

Why You Must Water in Fall Lawn Fertilizer

A hot, dry, busy summer puts a lot of demands on any household lawn. It may not be looking its best come September and October. If you are planning your fall lawn care, fertilizing is a quick task to support the grass’s recovery and development.

After summer, the focus shifts as the plant produces less top growth and directs its energy toward developing roots. It puts the lawn in the best condition to cope with the challenging winter conditions ahead, including frost, ice, snow, and winter diseases.

Looking further ahead, a supported lawn will do better next year, too, thanks to this winter food supply. Theresa Smith from NaturaLawn of America claims: ‘When spring rolls around, yards that were fertilized in the fall will also green up quicker thanks to leftover carbohydrates.’

As you can see, fertilizing a lawn in the fall brings many benefits. But it does need to be done carefully, as it comes with potential risks if you forget one important thing: not watering in fall lawn fertilizer.

‘To prevent grass blade burn or scorching after applying any lawn feed, it is really important to water off granular fertilizer from the grass blades to avoid damaging the existing grass,’ advises Chris McIlroy, lawn expert from The Grass People.

Dry granular fertilizer left on grass blades for too long dehydrates plant tissues and causes the burning symptoms, including yellow, brown, or dead patches. It can take 24-48 hours for synthetic granular feeds to start causing damage if not watered in after application.

Watering the lawn after feeding also activates the nutrients in the product and helps carry nutrients down the root zone, where they are needed most. It also ensures no fertilizer is wasted, like getting blown away by strong winds.

If you don’t activate the product and let it get to the roots, spreading it essentially becomes a waste of time and money. This error is made even worse if you actively cause damage to the lawn. Mild symptoms can be remedied, but extreme cases can leave bare patches in the lawn that need repairing.

How to Water in Fall Lawn Fertilizer

Before feeding, it is advisable to scarify (get an electric lawn dethatcher and scarifier at Lowe's), aerate (get a strong manual lawn aerator tool at The Home Depot), and water the lawn. This helps remove thatch, which can block the soil surface and reduce how much moisture reaches the ground, and it creates small holes where the fertilizer can drop.

Apply your fertilizer at the recommended rate, then think about how you will water it in to avoid damaging the grass.

With good planning, you can use natural rainfall to water in fall lawn fertilizer if you prefer to save on water. ‘Fertilize on a day when you are expecting a good amount of rain so it does the job for you,’ recommends Chris.

Keep an eye on the local forecasts for a day when around an inch of rain is forecast and apply fertilizer just before that – ideally 24 hours beforehand. In the worst-case scenario, if you only get showers, you can also top up the levels with a sprinkler.

If there are no wet days forecast, but you need to feed, you can run sprinklers for 30-60 minutes to deliver the required amount of moisture. You can use a programmable timer, available at Amazon, to set your sprinklers for the desired amount of time.

Put a tuna can on the lawn to test how much water you collect, as the timings will differ depending on the type of lawn sprinkler you use. This helps you to apply the right amount and reduce water waste from over-saturating the lawn.

What to Shop:

You can fertilize a lawn without aerating first, but it might not be as effective. Applying lawn feed to compacted soil reduces how efficiently water and nutrients soak into the ground and reach the turf’s roots. You don’t have to aerate the lawn right before fertilizing, but it’s best to apply the feed within 48 hours of aerating to loosen compacted soil.

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Gardeners can get lots of free plants by taking cuttings in September. Early fall is a great time to take semi-ripe cuttings and get exact clones of your favorite plants. Whether to expand a collection or as a contingency in case you lose any to winter frosts, take cuttings this month and plant them out next spring.

If you are new to taking plant cuttings, it may sound confusing. In a nutshell, semi-ripe material is current-season wood that has started to harden but not fully firmed. The base is hard, but the tip is soft, and shrubs should have a lot of this material in September. As they are still actively growing in early fall, these cuttings should take relatively quickly.

There are still ornamentals and edibles you can plant in September, but there is always a real satisfaction to growing plants from cuttings. Here is a lovely selection of semi-ripe cuttings to take in September, along with expert tips for success. Get started with a pair of sharp, clean pruning snips (available on Amazon) to take your cuttings.

1. Rosemary

Rosemary is a staple herb for any keen cook to have in their herb or kitchen garden. The aromatic foliage also makes it very popular outside a herb garden, such as lining pathways or making a statement in a container.

Despite being a cold-hardy plant, rosemary will struggle sitting in cold, wet soil over winter. You can grow rosemary indoors in colder climates (US hardiness zone 6 and lower) to protect it from frosts. Or you can propagate rosemary from cuttings and overwinter these indoors, just in case anything happens to your parent plants over winter.

Select healthy, straight, non-flowering shoots 4-6 inches long and remove the lower leaves so only an inch of foliage remains on the soft tip. Dip the end in rooting hormone (such as this rooting powder at Walmart) and insert up to four cuttings around the edge of a small pot filled with well-draining cutting compost.

Keep the cutting somewhere protected over winter, such as in a greenhouse or on a bright windowsill. Ensure the soil remains moist, but not waterlogged, so the cutting can be planted outside come spring.

2. Lavender

Gardeners can easily propagate lavender from semi-ripe cuttings in September. It is a great option if you have a particular type of lavender you love, or have a woody lavender that may need replacing in the future.

As some lavenders are also more susceptible to frosts or damage during cold, wet winters, it is a sensible way to plan for potential losses. If your existing plants survive winter unharmed, you can gift young lavenders to friends and family.

Pick shoots that are brown and woody at the base, yet green and flexible at the tip. Trim them to 3-4 inches long and remove the lower sets of leaves. Dip them in rooting hormone and place them around the edge of small pots; this propagation potting mix on Amazon makes a suitable free-draining soil for cuttings.

Cover the pot with a clear plastic bag to create a humid atmosphere that helps keep the cuttings moist. The cuttings should overwinter in a greenhouse or on a windowsill where they can get bright, but indirect, light. The plastic bag should be removed after the first few weeks, and the cuttings should be potted on once roots have formed.

3. Hydrangea

Hydrangeas are easy to propagate from cuttings in the fall. If you have a hydrangea variety you really enjoy, or want to encourage a friend or family member to grow hydrangeas by gifting them a plant, taking semi-ripe cuttings in September is a great way to do so.

To multiply hydrangeas from cuttings in fall, select a non-flowering shoot and cut it into a 6-8 inch piece. Snip off all the lower leaves, leaving just one set at the top, and cut the remaining leaves in half to help reduce moisture loss. Dip the cuttings into rooting hormone and place them into a pot filled with well-draining compost.

Alternatively, you can propagate hydrangeas in water. To do so, follow the steps above but, instead of a pot of soil, place the cuttings in a container of water and put that in a warm, bright spot on a windowsill. Keep changing the water at least weekly and wait until the cutting has developed two-inch roots before potting it up.

4. Salvia

Gardeners in the know appreciate that not all salvias are winter-hardy. There is a wide range of borderline or half-hardy salvias to grow, including the popular Salvia ‘Amistad’, which flowers for a long time to delight onlookers and attract pollinators throughout the season.

Taking salvia cuttings in fall insures against any potential winter losses and expands a collection. If your salvias are getting older and woody, propagating salvias in this way gives you exact clones to add to borders or pots as replacements.

Pick healthy, non-flowering stems and take 4-6 inch cuttings. Remove the lower leaves, dip the cut end in rooting hormone, and pop a number of cuttings around the edges of small pots. Each cutting should have two-thirds of its length submerged under the soil.

Water gently and cover the container with a clear plastic bag or propagator lid to boost the humidity (you can get nursery pots with humidity domes at Amazon that are ideal for cuttings). Place it somewhere warm and bright, such as a greenhouse or windowsill, and then overwinter the rooted cuttings in a frost-free place.

5. Hebe

Hebes are among some of the prettiest evergreen plants for a garden. The genus contains around 90 different species of low-maintenance evergreen shrubs that flower in summer. It includes varieties with different sizes, leaf colors, and flowers.

Not all hebes are fully winter-hardy, and many are short-lived perennial plants. If you have a unique variegated hebe or a particularly colorful variety that you adore, it pays to take cuttings so you always have plants in your collection, just in case. As hebes will impress in borders or as evergreen container plants for structure and interest, why not propagate new ones?

Take 4-6 inch cuttings of stems where the base is firm, but the tip is soft. Remove the lowest leaves, dip the base into rooting hormone, and put the cuttings into pots of compost – again, you can put more than one per pot.

Once the cuttings have rooted and been potted up into individual pots, keep them in a greenhouse, cold frame, or on a windowsill over winter. But be careful not to overwater the plants, as young hebes are known to rot sitting in sodden soil. A soil moisture tester like this at Walmart can be used to quickly test individual pots to judge when to water plants.

6. Forsythia

The sight of bright yellow forsythia flowers heralds the end of winter. Their blooms are a welcome sight at an otherwise relatively barren time of year.

Such spring-flowering shrubs bursting into life make a big impact and lift the spirits – it is understandable why any gardeners might want to add more to their yard, whether as eye-catching stand-alone shrubs or a vivid hedge. It is not only us who revel in seeing forsythia blooms, as the flowers are also vital early-season nectar for pollinators.

If you grow forsythia, there are lots of options for cultivating new plants. You can take softwood cuttings in late spring, hardwood cuttings in winter, or semi-ripe cuttings in early fall.

When you go down the latter route of taking forsythia cuttings – September is an ideal month for doing this – the plants will develop roots quickly and can be potted on in spring. These plants should then be large enough to plant out later in the year.

7. Fuchsia

There is a diverse range of fuchsias, including hardy and half-hardy varieties. Fuchsias bring vivid color and interest to yards from midsummer through to the frosts, whether in flower beds, container gardens, or hanging baskets.

Gardeners can take fuchsia cuttings of hardy and tender plants in early fall. It is a reliable way to get new clones of your favorite plants, and an easy fallback if any half-hardy fuchsias are unfortunately lost during the winter months.

Select healthy, non-flowering shoots and take 4-6 inch cuttings with pruning snips or a sharp knife, such as this horticultural knife at Lowe’s. As with others on this list, remove the lower leaves, dip the cutting in rooting hormone, and place it in a pot filled with cutting compost – you can get 3-4 around the edge of one pot.

Cover the container with a clear plastic bag or propagator lid and put it somewhere warm and bright, but out of direct sunlight.

What to Shop

September makes a great month for planning the future garden. It is a month for planting shrubs and perennials in early fall to get them established before winter, along with thinking about seeds.

The best seeds to order in September include hardy annuals to sow directly straight away – they’ll put down roots, go dormant, then burst into life and flower early come spring – and perennials that need a period of cold stratification to germinate. Also, there are cold-hardy vegetables to plant in fall that can be sown straight into the soil.

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When it comes to winterizing the garden, young trees are among the plants most in need of protection from frost and wildlife damage. Failing to put precautions in place could result in severe damage that results in the death of your tree.

Luckily, there are lots of winterizing tools you can use to protect young trees before winter, such as this Amazon tree guard which stops hungry wildlife attacking tree trunks.

Tree expert Carrie McClain also notes you can mulch your trees to offer insulation and should do one last water in fall to ensure they stay hydrated through winter. Here, with Carrie's insights, we explain three things to do to protect young trees before winter.

1. Keep Watering in Fall

It can be easy to assume you don't need to water plants as we progress into the colder conditions of fall and winter, but dry spells during these seasons call for watering and keeping plants hydrated.

'One of the most important and often overlooked steps is making sure young trees go into winter adequately hydrated,' says Carrie.

'Evergreens in particular continue to lose moisture through their needles during winter, so going into winter with adequate soil moisture can help reduce winter drying and browning,' she explains.

If you're concerned about overwatering during fall, you can use an Amazon soil moisture meter to check the soil and water accordingly. You should also give your trees a final deep watering before hard frosts arrive.

Our guide to watering trees in winter has more information on how to water them correctly during the coldest months.

2. Mulch Around the Base

'If you only do one thing to protect a young tree before winter, add a good layer of mulch around its base,' says Carrie.

Mulching is an essential part of overwintering a garden, where you use a layer of organic material to lock-in moisture and insulate plant roots as frost protection.

'Young trees are still developing their root systems, and mulch helps insulate those roots from extreme temperature fluctuations while also helping the soil retain moisture,' Carrie explains.

'Apply about 2-4 inches of organic mulch, such as shredded bark, wood chips or pine bark, over the root zone. Spread it outward around the tree rather than piling it against the trunk,' she advises.

It's problematic to pile mulch up against tree bark because it can trap excess moisture and encourage rot and disease. Providing a gap around the base allows for airflow and will help keep the tree healthy.

You can gather fall mulching materials from your yard, purchase brown mulch from Lowe's, or even use mulching mats (like these from Amazon) which are suited to smaller trunks of young trees.

3. Install a Tree Guard

Winter wildlife, notably deer, rabbits, and rodents, can also pose a threat to garden trees. When other food sources are scarce in fall, they may start to chew on bark and damage tree trunks. It can leave trees girdled and exposed to frost damage.

'Young trees are especially vulnerable to browsing and rubbing during the winter months. A simple wire cage or tree guard can create a physical barrier around the tree,' says Carrie.

'Make sure the protection is tall and wide enough that deer can't easily reach over or through it to browse the branches. And don't be too quick to remove that protection in spring. Tender new buds and fresh growth can be particularly attractive to browsing deer, so continue to keep an eye on young trees as they break dormancy and put on new growth,' she advises.

These Amazon tree guards are a good choice because they're expandable and can ensure trees are fully protected. They also have a mesh design that provides plenty of airflow.

Alternatively, use a simple mesh wire tree guard (like this from Walmart) to put a barrier in place and stop wildlife getting to the tree trunks.

You can help keep deer away from your yard by growing deer-resistant plants, too.

What to Shop

As well as following these steps to protect young trees before winter, it's worth reading up on how to protect trees from winter weather. This includes removing any damaged branches, wrapping tree trunks with a breathable material, and protecting potted trees.

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Fall means just one thing to us garden enthusiasts: it's time to get spring bulbs in the ground. But, before you head out to the garden center, garden experts urge you to think twice about your selection.

While the classic spring bulbs will always be cheerful with colorful blooms that have become synonymous with the start of the season, the experts say it can make planting feel a little predictable. Likewise, hybrid varieties that don't reliably return each year can be a costly habit that some find not worth it. They also advise to avoid planting any bulbs that spread so aggressively they become unmanageable.

It's for these reasons the experts avoid certain bulbs and rather opt for choices that elevate the garden, are easier to maintain, and only need planting once for multiple years of blooms. Here, they talk through five bulbs they never plant, plus what to grow instead (Burpee's range of spring bulbs is a good place to start browsing, and don't forget to stock up on essential bulb planting tools to get the job done).

1. Grape Hyacinth

Grape hyacinth, or Muscari, is a charming miniature bulb with bunches of florets that look like grapes, hence its name. However, Ian Mendoza, horticulture expert from the Botan app, says to plant them with caution.

‘Grape hyacinth spreads readily by seed and offsets and can also invade lawns if left unchecked,’ says Ian.

Muscari botryoides is even listed in the Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States and has been reported as invasive in natural areas in several states.

One of the ways to avoid this naturalizing bulb spreading is by growing it in pots, or even forcing these bulbs indoors for Christmas displays. Keeping it contained can help avoid unwanted spreading, so you can enjoy these blooms without the hassle later on.

You can pick up grape hyacinth bulbs to grow in pots on Burpee.

2. Crocus

For Lindsey Chastain, homesteader and founder at The Waddle and Cluck, crocus is a spring bulb she doesn't bother with anymore.

'That's not to say everyone should avoid planting them. I have a lot of wildlife where I live, and the squirrels and mice get to the crocus bulbs before they have a chance to bloom,' she explains.

'Of course, you can plant them and stop squirrels digging up bulbs and eating them by using protective measures like wire mesh cloches (like these from Amazon),' Lindsey adds.

However, if you want something more reliable that doesn't require these extra precautions, opt for bulbs squirrels don't eat instead. This includes winter aconite, camassia, and daffodils (see the range at Plant Addicts).

3. Hybrid Tulips

There are so many different types of tulip to choose from for spring, but many are not reliable perennials. For Lindsey, it's not worth the money to keep purchasing these hybrid varieties.

'While hybrid tulips are absolutely gorgeous, most of them really decline after a year or two. It means you have to keep replanting them each year, which gets pretty expensive considering they aren't the most affordable bulbs in the first place,' Lindsey says.

'I prefer just regular tulips. I find the wildlife tends to leave those alone a little bit more, and they're much more affordable. My tulips come back year after year, yet the hybrids I've previously planted never came back more than one year after,' she continues.

Explore the tulip bulbs available at True Leaf Market.

4. Giant Allium

Peggy Anne Montgomery, horticulturist from Flowerbulb.eu, notes that while tulips and daffodils are always beautiful to grow, her spring garden wouldn't be complete with alliums. However, instead of opting for the popular and common Allium giganteum (Giant Allium), she'd rather plant something more unexpected.

'While Giant Allium might seem common, it’s a stunner in my pollinator garden and brings that garden to life long before the perennials bloom. But, there is an allium I believe is relatively unknown and sorely underused: Allium schubertii (Tumbleweed Onion),' she says.

'Few flowers are as memorable as Tumbleweed Onion. Its spectacular blooms resemble exploding fireworks, 9-12” in diameter, with rosy-purple florets radiating from the center on long stalks to create an eye-catching starburst effect. I value the dried flower heads as much as the blooms,' Peggy Anne describes.

You can find tumbleweed onion allium bulbs on Amazon.

5. Star of Bethlehem

Another bulb the experts say to avoid is Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum), which is native to Europe, north-west Africa, and south-west Asia.

‘I will avoid planting this anywhere and everywhere because they spread aggressively and they're hard to get under control. Every bulb you plant and leave in the ground will produce another plant,’ says Lindsey. ‘There are so many other bulbs that are much better behaved,’ she adds.

In many parts of the US, Star of Bethlehem is considered an invasive bulb, where it can quickly naturalize and form dense colonies. It can dominate woodlands, meadows, and prairies, and is difficult to remove once established. For this reason, it's best to avoid and opt for native alternatives with a similar appearance.

A top choice is wood anemone (Anemonoides quinquefolia). This North American native has delicate, star-shaped white flowers and spreads naturally by underground rhizomes, making it a good choice for a woodland-style planting.

Plant Addicts has a wide range of spring flowering bulbs to explore.

What to Shop

There are quite a few bulb planting mistakes to be aware of before you get started with planting this season. It's important to space the bulbs correctly to ensure they can grow to their full potential. Likewise, ensure your soil is well-draining and nutrient-rich to give your bulbs the best chance.

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After such a long and hot summer, leaves scattered across the lawn are a welcome sign that fall is finally making its arrival. But with so much contradictory advice about fallen leaves, it can be confusing to know whether you should clear them away or leave them for wildlife.

The truth is, it's a bit of a balance to strike. Removing fallen leaves is important if they're making paths slippery, smothering grass, or blocking gutters, but piles of leaves also provide invaluable shelter for overwintering insects and mammals, overall supporting your garden's biodiversity. In the case of removing them, it is beneficial to do so in September – waiting until the weather is much wetter and frosty can become hazardous and tricky.

It's also a good time to start collecting leaves (add these hand leaf scoops from Walmart to your fall gardening tools) to create leaf mulch for frost protection. Here, we talk through exactly when to start cleaning up falling leaves and where in the yard you should leave them alone.

The Risk of Not Removing Fallen Leaves

There are lots of reasons why September is a good time to start clearing up falling leaves.

While there are still dry spells and temperatures are milder, it's much easier to collect leaves and remove them than when the frost and ice arrive. Allowing leaves to accumulate into bigger piles this month will only become harder to deal with later on.

One particular area to focus on clearing in September are garden paths that may become hazardous when wet or icy. You can use a cordless leaf blower (like this from Lowe's) to quickly move leaves out of the way daily.

You should also watch out for leaves piling up on your lawn. In my own yard, a neighbor's large tree overhangs and drops leaves into a big pile. Once when I forgot to remove them, it ended up killing the grass beneath and caused an unsightly brown patch.

You may find a leaf rake (like this from Walmart) is the best for this, though a larger area of lawn will be easier to clear by using something like this Gardena push leaf collector on Amazon.

You also want to remove any dense piles of leaves in the garden that may trap moisture in the rain, leading to fungal problems like powdery mildew. Take care not to put these in your compost bin and rather dispose of them to prevent diseases spreading.

Elsewhere, look to clear leaves from your gutters. You don't want debris to cause a blockage, water overflow, and costly damage to your home. You can use this gutter rake from Amazon.

Of course, the other benefit of starting to clear up falling leaves in September is that you can collect them into a garden waste bag (a collapsible gardening tool essential, like this collapsible garden bag from Lowe's) to turn into leaf mulch. By the time it comes to protecting plants from frost, you'll have free mulch to work with.

When to Leave Them Alone

There is also a reason not to over-tidy your yard in fall, including leaving some fallen leaves for wildlife.

In particular, it can provide shelter for a wide range of overwintering beneficial insects and small mammals where other plans fade and coverage becomes more sparse during late summer and early fall.

Not only this, but as leaves break down they put nutrients back into the soil and can help keep weeds at bay in your flower beds.

Of course, this doesn't mean you have to keep leaves strewn all over the yard. Consider moving some leaf piles into a designated area of the yard and be selective about what you clear.

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Fallen leaves are just one of the things to clear from your yard in September before frost makes it more difficult to. You should also consider removing older mulch, spent blooms, and weeds. Doing a light tidy now will help save you work later on in fall and spring.

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Homegrown vegetables are undoubtedly tastier than any store-bought ones, which is why gardeners around the world enjoy ‘growing their own’. On top of this, there are also beautiful ornamental specimens which can bring color and texture to fall decor. You can grow and show this month, before you enjoy those homegrown flavors.

Growing your own crops opens up a world of veg in different colors and shapes than you normally see on shelves. Rainbow carrots, purple cabbages and cauliflowers, bright green romanesco, vivid Swiss chard, dazzling peppers, and ornate squash and gourds can be arranged together for rustic displays.

Think of your vegetable garden as an artistic palette as well as a place for ingredients for seasonal dishes. You can make stunning displays in this vintage willow wicker basket on Wayfair to place on a porch, side table, or make a centerpiece for fall gatherings. Here are our picks of seven ornamental vegetables to harvest in September for breathtaking seasonal displays.

1. Pumpkin

Pumpkins are potentially the vegetable most associated with fall decorations. There are many ways to decorate with pumpkins, from placing them on your porch to making a table centerpiece out of them. And you don’t need to go mad with pumpkin carving to make an eye-catching display.

How you display your crops will depend on the pumpkins you are growing. Larger pumpkins can adorn porch steps to create a spectacular entrance, or miniature pumpkins can line baskets or wooden trays on a table.

In September, pick pumpkins off the vine once they have a bright orange color, the skin is hard and can’t be pierced with a fingernail, and it sounds hollow if you tap them. The stem should also be dried.

You can get a variety pack of pumpkin seeds on Amazon for fruits in different colors, sizes, and textures. If you want to grow mini pumpkins, these Wee B Little pumpkin seeds from True Leaf Market are ideal and can even be grown in raised beds or containers.

2. Squash

I have always enjoyed growing squash, and one of the reasons is due to the wide range of shapes and colors there are to pick from. There is such a diversity of both summer and winter squash you can add to any vegetable garden.

From teardrop-shaped butternut squashes to ridged acorn squashes, through to scalloped pattypan squashes. There are smooth, ribbed, or warty skin textures that can add character if you add them to fall displays. Once you’ve enjoyed their unique decorative characteristics, you can bake or roast the squash and add them to a variety of comforting seasonal dishes.

In September, the window for harvesting winter squash is well and truly open. As with pumpkins, the rind should be hard, the stem woody and dry, and color deep and solid when the squash is ready to pick.

I always adore butternut squash (seeds available at Burpee) and Blue Hubbard (seeds available at True Leaf Market), both of which offer ornamental value on top of sweet flavor.

3. Gourds

Gourds are a quirky addition to any vegetable garden. They are ancient vegetables that have had many uses over the years – from water carriers to musical instruments – but nowadays they are grown for unique decorations. Gourds are easy to grow and feature an array of different shapes, colors, stripes, warts, and ridges.

You can create a kaleidoscope display of gourds in a basket or tray, or simply dot individual ones around a table or on a mantelpiece for a novel show that is sure to spark questions from guests.

Harvest your gourds and place them somewhere warm and dry to cure for a few weeks. You can wash them with soapy water to remove any soil, and, once dried, spray them with a mix of 10 parts water to one part vinegar to toughen the skin and preserve them for longer.

This packet of decorative mix small gourd seeds at Amazon is perfect for growing a fun mix of different gourds to display on porches, mantels, or tablescapes.

4. Rainbow Carrots

Mention carrots and the overwhelming majority of people will undoubtedly picture the iconic orange roots. It is understandable, as that is all you see in stores.

There are, however, many different varieties that offer a rainbow of colors. Historically, carrots were purple, yellow, or white before breeding in the 16th and 17th centuries created the bright orange carrots we all know today.

If you want to grow carrots at home, it offers an ideal opportunity to look outside of the norm. You can still get scarlet red, vivid yellow, bright white, or deep purple carrots (seeds available at True Leaf Market) to sow and grow in your vegetable garden.

When you harvest these carrots in early fall, they make a vibrant display in baskets alongside other seasonal produce. Keep the leafy tops on and don’t think of peeling them.

Carrots won’t make a long-lasting display, but they can be a talking point at a dinner before being stored as normal in a refrigerator to be used in dishes.

This Kaleidoscope Blend of carrot seeds at Burpee has mixed seeds of five different types. Gardeners can sow them and crop red, purple, white, yellow, and orange carrots.

5. Purple Cabbage

The deep purple heads of these fall and winter cabbages provide dramatic, deep shades for displays.

These cabbages, commonly known as red cabbages despite their darker color, look good either on their own or mixed with other crops in lighter colors. As an alternative, the ruffled leaves of savoy cabbages can add textural interest to any vegetable display.

September marks the end of the window for summer cabbages and the start of the season to harvest winter cabbages. Different varieties of red cabbages can be planted to pick from August into winter.

If you squeeze the cabbage head and it feels firm, that means it is ready to harvest. Waiting too long to harvest cabbages can cause the heads to crack, which isn’t ideal if you want to utilize their vibrant colors in any displays.

‘Red Acre’ is a popular purple cabbage variety to grow. This heirloom vegetable has deep purple heads and goes from sowing to harvesting in under 100 days. You can get ‘Red Acre’ cabbage seeds at True Leaf Market.

6. Romanesco

Romanesco is a very unique vegetable. A cultivar of cauliflower, though often referred to as romanesco broccoli, it has a lime-green head that displays buds in a distinctive spiral Fibonacci sequence.

Whether in a basket of its own or surrounded by other seasonal veg, it is likely that not everyone will be aware of romanesco, so the surreal heads can make a real talking point. If you have included it in dishes at a dinner party (romanesco has a texture like cauliflower and a nutty flavor), save a head or two for the table so guests can be enamoured by the beauty of this lesser-known veg.

Romanesco is really structural and capable of bringing something to displays that no other vegetable can. Even in a fall garden, it stands out and remains one of the prettiest vegetables to grow in a flower border or kitchen garden.

Romanesco is grown from seed in late spring and harvested from September onwards. Once its buds are compact and firm, the entire head can be cut with a sharp knife. Just like when you harvest cauliflower, make sure to pick before the heads begin to separate.

You can get romanesco seeds at True Leaf Market. Or, for a breathtaking display of cauliflowers, this cauliflower seed variety pack on Amazon contains seeds to grow purple, dark green, and lime green heads, along with the classic white cauliflower.

7. Leeks

You can grow leeks from late summer through to early spring if you plant different early, mid, and late varieties. As leeks are one of the best vegetables to overwinter, cold-hardy varieties will happily sit in the vegetable garden throughout the colder months to be harvested as needed.

Different types of leeks can have deep green or blue-green tops above the bright white base. If you harvest leeks this month, lay them out in baskets or lean them against larger vegetables, such as pumpkins or squashes, in an artistic manner. Their blue or green stems and white portions will contrast nicely with a deep orange pumpkin.

I would wipe down the stem and snip the roots back to the base with pruning snips or garden scissors before putting them on display. This quick job will neaten the leek. If the outer foliage is very dirty, consider removing the top layer.

These Giant Leek seeds on Amazon can be sown to grow large leeks with tall white stems.

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