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Fothergilla is a low growing hedge plant for part shade boasting brilliant fall color

“The roots below the earth claim no rewards for making the branches fruitful.” Rabindranath Tagore

Fall planting establishes the necessary root growth required to anchor the plant in its new environment and build up nutrient reserves for healthy & sustainable growth next spring.

Interesting Info on Fall Planting

• Over 75% of a plants root growth occur in  fall
• Soil is warmer in fall than in spring
• Roots continue to grow as long as the soil is not frozen
• Plants will grow better in the spring with a well established root system
• Plants are better equipped to handle drought & extreme conditions the following season
• Plants use less water in the fall as they become established

Plants Have to Work Harder in Spring

If you plant in the spring, plants have to do double duty.  They must adjust to its new environment AND put on leaves, flowers and be ready to embrace summer heat & humidity.  Fall planting is beneficial as roots continue to grow and become established.  In spring, plants are happy in their new environment and ready to put on strong top growth & flowers.

Planted in the fall, Fothergilla will be well established to support spring flowering honey-scented blooms

Start NOW

Yes, you can get that head start on spring by planting now!  If you need to limit yourself to a few  fall planting tasks, then consider planting spring-flowering perennials & shrubs such as:

Lily of the Valley

Dicentra

Hellebore

Lilacs – Syringa

Fothergilla

Related Articles:  Benefits of Fall Planting, 12 Fall Maintenance Garden Tips, Hot Tips for Cool Fall Weather

TIP: Make sure to use plants or objects 12" or taller in your garden design to prevent Sweet Woodruff from overpowering

Galium or Sweet Woodruff is a low growing shade groundcover with supersonic coverage. I personally love this groundcover because it does all the work for me (great for the lazy gardener in me).  Galium keeps the weeds down, looks pretty all season and sometimes give me more than what I bargain for.

Fast growing Galium will keep the weeds at bay and reduce the need for costly mulch

This hardy, herbaceous shade loving perennial grows 8-12” tall and produces a thick green mat of handsome foliage from spring-fall.  Hundreds of small, dainty white flower clusters infuse light in dark areas of the shade garden in early summer.

Easy Control

You might want to consider providing a sturdy barrier such as lawn edging to keep this shade loving traveler from getting out of control.

If Sweet Woodruff starts to get to a destination I don’t want, I simply reach for my shovel and start spading out chunks  or I just start to grab handfuls (the roots are very shallow)  and start ripping away .  Sound ruthless?  You bet, since the remaining plants are never the worse for wear and it takes barely no time at all.

Tough shade groundcover for tough areas

Sweet Woodruff will be much more restrained in poorer soil and

Use a sturdy edging barrier to keep Sweet Woodruff from drifting on a pathway

difficult to grow areas such as beneath Oak or black walnut trees.  They are also deer & drought proof.

Pleasing Fragrance

Sweet Woodruff is an herb and makes a very quick, inexpensive vanilla-scented car freshener.  Just put a couple of sprigs in the dashboard and enjoy!

Look for fast coverage in a shade garden?  Maybe Galium is just the right groundcover for you!

Hydrangea, Hosta & Aruncus in a shade garden setting

Here’s a  garden plant combination for the shade garden that is a real eye-catcher!

Hostas are a terrific shade perennial to use as a foreground planting to flowering shrubs such as Hydrangeas.

The large rounded Hydrangea flowers play well against the delicate, lacy creamy white flowers of Goatsbeard or Aruncus.

Aruncus is an imposing upright shade perennial that thrives in a moist setting.    It grows up to 5 feet tall.  I like using Aruncus to give height in my shade garden and often will use this perennial in place of a shrub.

The most highly FRAGRANT Astilbe!

Astilbe Visions is one of the most FRAGRANT groundcovers that thrive in shade and moist soils.  Graceful, colorful raspberry flowers create a bold statement in midsummer growing 15″ tall.

Delightful when planted in groupings near a walkway where you can really enjoy their fragrance.  I love to combine spiky Astilbe with bold leaf Hostas here in my former Michigan garden where they make a wonderful contrast.  When not in bloom Astilbe makes a superb carpet of elegant green foliage which nicely bridges my larger Hosta plants keeping the weeds at bay while filling in the garden.

After flowering you can trim down the flower stalks or leave them for winter interest.  I’ve grown a wide number of Astilbes over my gardening years, and Visions remains one of my favorite for ease of growing, fragrance, colorful flowers and attractive foliage.

Rozanne Geranium is a terrific groundcover that will weave in between and around other plants

What apps are to computers, Geranium Rozanne is to the perennial  garden– functional, fulfilling and a fast growing groundcover I can’t live without.

I’ve grown tons of varieties of hardy geraniums over the years – some really terrific ones, but like an app, Geranium Rozanne just does something more for me in the landscape that no other geranium does equally as well.

Meandering Spirit – Spreading clumps fill in fast and weave here and there but never overly  ambitious or that would require extra work on my part.   I like to plant it where it can meander around spiked  or small shrubs  shrubs (I’m going to try it beneath Barberry Gold Pillar this year )

Carefree Color – Five-petaled saucer-shape blue flowers boast  blue-lavender blooms for over 12 weeks  and it doesn’t need to be deadheaded to continue blooming!  Rozanne geranium defies the early fall frost here in Zone 5 and just keeps blooming –  something you don’t see in most hardy geraniums. The foliage takes on a reddish tinge  in the fall, so there is even something more to enjoy!

Heat Tolerance – This award winning sun perennial groundcover is HIGHLY Heat Tolerant  – not something hardy geraniums are known for.

What it Loves – Rozanne Geranium thrives in a moist, moderately fertile, well drained soil in full sun to light shade.

Garden Staple – Rozanne Geranium works so well in lots of settings. It combines beautifully with another colorful, carefree and heat tolerant groundcover – Coreopsis Creme Brule!  This groundcover is to perennial gardening  like khaki

Rozanne Geranium & Creme Brule Coreopsis pair well as heat tolerant groundcovers

pants & blue denim are to weekend summer wear.

Flower power, ease of growing, fast growing habit and tons of combination possibilities make Geranium Rozanne my all-time favorite sun loving perennial groundcover.  Its’ like having a great app!

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