Fall good time to plant trees, shrubs

By Rodd Moesel

Published: September 27, 2007

Fall officially began Sunday, and it even feels a little like fall now as we enjoy slightly cooler 80-degree days and 60-degree nights. The days are getting shorter, and now is the time to engage in full-scale fall gardening.

This is one of the most pleasant times of year to be outside to enjoy the annuals you planted this spring and the perennials you have planted over the years. Besides enjoying your existing gardens, now is an excellent time to plant new trees and shrubs in your landscape.

Container-grown trees and shrubs can be planted most anytime of the year, but fall plantings often have the highest success rate since they can get well-established and rooted into their new soil before enduring our hot and dry summer next year.

New plantings always need to be watered, but fall plantings don't need watering as often. Cooler temperatures mean less evaporation and dehydration.

If you want to add more trees or shrubs to your yard, now is a good time to get some healthy garden exercise by digging holes and planting more trees.

Remember to dig a hole about twice as large as needed and amend the soil by mixing about one-third sphagnum peat moss or other good organic matter with the natural soil. Then place some of the amended soil back in the hole to the proper depth.

Do not plant the trees too deeply. Plant them so the top of the soil matches the top of the existing ball of soil. Put your new tree or shrub in the hole and backfill with the amended soil.

Water the new plantings thoroughly to soak the root ball and surrounding backfill. Water periodically when the soil is dry and get ready for years of enjoyment from your new trees and shrubs.

I am getting ready to plant several new bald cypress and caddo maple trees in my yard next week. Trees are one of the greatest things we can do for our home and the environment, and they are great to leave as a legacy. Each tree helps clean up the environment by absorbing carbon dioxide and air pollutants and producing large quantities of clean, filtered oxygen.

Well-placed trees and shrubs can also reduce our energy use by providing natural windbreaks. They naturally protect our homes, reducing air conditioning and heating costs. As an extra bonus, they can transform the appearance and beauty of your house, improve the resale value and make outdoor living much more pleasant and inviting.

The use of fall color plants has really grown over the years. There are so many great choices to add an exciting splash of seasonal color to your yard.

Hardy mums have been the star attraction of the fall garden for years. There are hundreds of varieties and colors from which to choose, with many new varieties introduced each year. Some varieties are in full flower, while other varieties are just showing their first color.

Mums will be quite showy up through our first hard freeze, although the flowers may be bronzed or slightly burned with the first light frosts in late October.

If you plan to entertain during the next few weeks or just want a burst of fall color, nothing can compare with the mounds of colorful flowers from fall chrysanthemums or hardy mums.

Hardy mums bloom naturally with short days, and as perennials, they usually come back year after year. They will bloom naturally in future fall seasons as long as they are not planted under streetlights or security lights that extend the daylight.

The early pansy crops are ready and on display at most nurseries and garden centers. Unlike the hardy mums, which freeze back and die for the season with the first hard freeze, the pansies will keep growing and flowering all winter.

Pansies are available in lots of bright colors, so you can plant the color pattern of your choice. I especially enjoy the varieties that have two distinct colors on their flower face: yellow with black, purple with yellow, or other fun combinations.

Fall-planted pansies do best planted in full sun or mostly sunny locations. With regular watering and an occasional feeding, they will grow and produce flowers through winter and into midspring, when the extended days and warmer temperatures start to wear them out.

Next spring, it is best to replace them with new spring annuals to yield spring and summer color. I especially enjoy pansies in full bloom peeking through light winter snows or looking cheerful during depressing winter cold spells.

When you are at the garden center, don't forget to select some spring flowering bulbs to plant this fall so you can enjoy tulips, hyacinths and my favorites, crocuses and daffodils, next spring.

•I want to extend a special Oklahoma welcome to nearly 500 garden writers from across the United States who are in Oklahoma City the next five days for their national symposium.

A special thank you to all the Oklahomans who are sharing their yards and gardens and hospitality to welcome these good folks to our state for this national event as we celebrate the Oklahoma Centennial and Oklahoma gardening.

Rodd Moesel serves on the Oklahoma Horticulture Industrial Council and the Oklahoma State University agriculture dean's advisory committee. He is a former president of the Oklahoma Greenhouse Growers Association. E-mail garden and landscape questions to rmoesel@americanplant.com.

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