Fall Planting

I wandered into Dan West Garden Center the other day looking for inspiration for this blog post where upon Kenneth Mabry reminded me that "fall is our best planting season". That comment stirred my thinking about how to make the most of our tree, shrub and even perennial purchases.

As all our local garden experts
seem to agree, this clay soil we garden
is a force with which to be reckoned!

Digging a hole and putting the plant right into it, is much like stuffing it into a clay pot without drainage. The roots will suffer, being submerged in water. Kenneth says, dig the hole deep enough and twice as wide. Essential to his formula is amending the soil and setting the plant a little above the level of the dirt to allow for settling and drainage.

A handout I have from Diane Meucci at Gardens Oy Vey is quite clear about pine bark mulch being a soil conditioner and not really a mulch at all. so she recommends mixing three inches into three inches of the soil in which you are planting.
 Her website is quite helpful and includes
 these planting instructions.
and making it friendly
for the new plants roots.
After all, a plant is only as good 
as its roots.


I was instructed
when purchasing
a trio of Farfugium
to think of my "hole"
more as a saucer than a cup,
and to build the soil
up to the level needed. 
The plants have certainly thrived!


This brings me to a little recent story in my gardening life...As I set out on a walk, I observed a spot under an oak tree that would nicely accommodate several azaleas. So, as I walked, I began planning. The thought of how to DIG under this tree, with its formidable roots, however was a hurdle. I had not gotten far into my daydream/walk when there on the curb for trash pick up were five lovely old azaleas, dug up for me and free for the taking! Heading home in high gear, I rounded up some help, rescued the azaleas and in about thirty minutes had set those plants about 3 or 4 feet away from the trunk of the oak tree and shored them up with bagged top soil left over from another project. I had nothing to lose and so far four of the bushes are thriving. Maybe next spring they will be blooming.