Tag Archive for: reasons why

Getting Ready for Fall Planting in the Southwest Garden

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Planting in fall

Planting in fall

Are you anxious for fall to arrive?  

I certainly am!    

Fall is my favorite season because of the holidays, cooler weather, and best of all – it is the best time of year to add new plants to the landscape.

Planting in fall

Now you may have thought that spring was the best time of year to start planting and while you certainly can plant then, I’ll tell you why fall is better…

Planting in fall allows enough time for plants to grow a good root system before the heat of the next summer arrives.  

Think about it – plants must have a good root system so that they can soak up enough water to handle the stress from intense heat and the dry conditions of summer.    

If a plant is planted just before or during the summer months, they are focused on just hanging on until temperatures cool off.  In many cases, they don’t make it.

fall planting

The only exception to fall planting is with frost-tender plants such as bougainvillea, lantana, and yellow bells.    

Because young plants are particularly susceptible to frost damage, or even death, it is best to wait until the danger of frost has passed to add these plants to your landscape.

Getting Ready for Fall Planting in the Southwest Garden

Over the next couple of posts, I’ll share with you some other helpful tips to help you with selecting plants, how to tell if they are healthy, the best way to dig a hole, and finally – I’ll reveal my favorite plant nursery!  

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On a personal note, I am going to be a grandma again 🙂  

My second-oldest daughter, Rachele, is having her first baby, and my husband and I are flying to California to be there when she gets her ultrasound and finds out if she is having a boy or girl!  

I can hardly wait…

New Perennial Discovery and a Baby

Do You Prefer Pretty Flowers or Dead Stems?

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For those of you who have read my blog for a while, you have probably heard me talk about the epidemic of over-pruning. But, that doesn’t mean that you should never prune. The other day, I was driving down a street in our neighborhood when I saw one of my favorite perennials, Angelita Daisies.

The problem was, that they didn’t look very attractive…

Angelita Daisies

They looked like tufts of green grass with dead sticks.

This is what Angelita Daisies should look like…

Angelita Daisies

So, what went wrong with my neighbor’s Angelitas?

They didn’t remove the dead flowers.

Dead-heading doesn’t have to be done to them all the time, but once every 4 – 8 weeks will make a huge difference in their appearance.

In general, dead-heading spent flowers stimulates the plant to produce more flowers.  The reason for this is that the goal of flowers is to produce seed.  So, if dead flowers are allowed to remain on your plants, they figure that they have done their job and will stop flowering.

Of course, if you want to collect seeds from some of your favorite plants, then allow the flowers to dry and then collect the seeds (this doesn’t work that well with hybrids).

But, if you want colorful flowers – then take a couple of minutes a month and clip off the dead flowers.

Would you like to know why Angelita Daisies are one of my favorite perennials?  Check out my post about this wonderful plant…

“A Bright, Sunny, Lesser-Known Plant”