Getting your garden ready for the winter doesn’t mean you have to cut everything down and leave it empty.
In fact up through the end of November you can still plant plenty of flowers and shrubs in your garden.
From rosemary and pansies to a variety of bushes and bulbs, planting perennials like these in the colder months is great preparation for your spring and summer garden.
Joannie Rocchi with the growing place recommends gardeners start with planting bulbs this time of year.
“They have to have that three months in the ground over the fall and winter to grow roots. With no roots there are no flowers.”
Another tip is to not cut back all your summer plants just yet.
“Because the beneficial insects will live in the collapse foliage of these plants, and if you want your lady bugs and praying mantis, and other good bugs, they need to have a place to reside in in the winter to protect them, and if you cut everything down you won’t have not just a place for the beneficial insects but you won’t have the beauty of the winter architecture. We don’t cut down the ornamental grasses until spring either.”
Fall plants you can grow in pots are cabbage and kale, and you can decorate them with fall favorites- pumpkins and gourds.
One last tip is to use cut up autumn leaves as mulch to protect your plants.
Keeping your garden fall fabulous while preparing it for the spring green.
Naperville News 17’s Christine Lena reports.
