Plants to Fall For

You may not know it but fall is the ideal time for planting. Why? A few good reasons. Soil temperatures cool much more slowly than air temperatures in the fall allowing for a long season of root establishment. In contrast, spring’s cool soil takes longer to warm so root development is slower. Fall’s cooler temps also mean much less stress on the plants and more energy for plants to take root. Natural moisture, typically more available in fall, means less need to water. All these reasons mean you should be making a beeline to your local nursery for a last planting “hurrah”. But what should you pick up once you get there?

If you could only plant three things this fall I would pick:

Seven Son Flower (Heptacodium miconiodes): This deciduous shrub gets between 15-20ft tall and about 10 feet wide. It is a multi-stemmed, fountain-shaped shrub although it can be trained to a single trunk tree. Heptacodium has fragrant clusters of white flowers in late summer although it is the more colorful small purplish-red drupes that develop in fall that steal the show. I am always a fan of shrubs with more than one season of interest and even in winter heptacodium’s tan, exfoliating bark shines. Heptacodium prefers full sun although mine is doing fine in part shade. I especially like this shrub because it provides late forage and nectar for my bees.
Heptacodium (left) with Aralia (right) in my garden
Golden Japanese Spikenard (Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’): Aralia ‘Sun King’ was recently named Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association and it’s no wonder. This easy-care deciduous shrub has so many things going for it, including a jazzy chartreuse color that will lighten up any shade garden. Aralia will get about 3ft by 3ft although I have some in my garden that must be especially happy because they are almost 4ft. The sputnik like flowers, born in September, are always a favorite of my bees. I am a big fan of chartreuse and have it sprinkled throughout the garden. Aralia plays off very nicely with my lamium ‘Aureum’. hakonechloa and spirea ‘Ogon’. The nice thing about Aralia is that it completely dies to the ground in the winter which makes it the perfect plant for areas that might get hit by snow load.
Geranium ‘Rozanne:’ If you are in the market for a long-blooming, low-maintenance, colorful perennial than ‘Rozanne’ is your gal. I confess that I use it in just about every garden I design. ‘Rozanne’ is a true performer that is always guaranteed to make me look good. This perennial geranium, not to be confused with the annual pelargonium, is one of the longest blooming perennials in the garden and will provide beautiful bright blue color from mid-spring to mid-fall. Geranium ‘Rozanne’ will do best in full sun to part-shade. I have not noticed that it is bothered by pests. ‘Rozanne’ does tend to sprawl; if this bothers you you can whack it back mid-summer and it will push out new blooms on more compact stems.