Early September Did You Know…

September 1, 2025 | C.L. Fornari | Gardening Tips

The fall weather is perfect for planting, and here are a few things that you might not be aware of…and some tips for success.

Fall Pansies Usually Last Until Spring

The pansies that you plant in the fall usually live all winter and come back bigger and better in the spring. Just be sure to keep them watered through Thanksgiving if it doesn’t rain, especially if they are planted in containers. Once the temperatures are cooler during the day as well as at night, watering well once a week should be enough, but while day-time temperatures reach 70 and above, water these plants every 3 days.

Pansies planted in the fall usually last through the winter and will bloom again in the spring.

Ornamental Cabbage and Kale Becomes Colorful With Cold Temperatures

Ornamental cabbage and kale in containers or in the garden are great for many reasons. On the Cape they will be beautiful into and often through December. Although these plants look pretty now, they become even more colorful as the temperatures fall. Their centers turn purple, pink or white as the season goes on. Here’s a tip to keep your ornamental cabbage and kales lovely and uneaten: spray them upon planting with Plantskydd or another liquid rabbit repellant, and the next day spray with Captain Jack’s (spinodad) or Bt to prevent the white cabbage butterfly larvae from eating the plants. Both of these should only need applying once.

The tags on our ornamental cabbages and kales show the colors that will develop as the temperatures drop in the fall.

Pay Attention To The Sizes On Conifer Tags

Sometimes people hope that the evergreen plant that is the perfect height when they buy it will remain that same size. Or they think that as the plant grows they can keep it small by pruning it. But that conifer that looks as it it will always be small might be one of the plants that can grow to 6′ or taller, no to mention just as wide. Read the tags and labels and add another foot in all directions for good measure. If pruned back every year, many of these plants lose the very beauty we plant them for, so it’s best to choose the right plant for the location instead of assuming that it can be pruned.

The Montgomery blue spruce (*Picea pungens* ‘Montgomery’) is great for adding color and texture to a landscape, but since it can grow 6 to 8 feet tall and wide, it’s not a good plant for foundation plantings. Yes, it’s called a dwarf but that’s just because it’s smaller than the normal blue spruce tree. There are many dwarf blue spruce, and some stay quite small. Montgomery is a medium sized plant although fairly slow growing. Use this in a mixed shrub border where it will provide color and structure, but can be allowed to grow larger over time.

Gold Lace Juniper will grow 3 to 4 feet tall but can get twice as wide. This is a nice plant for adding color to a dry slope. Plant these in groups of three along with lower junipers and perhaps some variegated Yucca for evergreen, drought tolerant beauty.

Bayberry is Perfect For Dry Landscapes

One of the best plants for dry areas is our native bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica). While many plants are seen wilting after two months with little rain, bayberry looks fresh and lovely. This plant can be allowed to grow tall and become a small tree, or it can be pruned down to near the ground every other year in the spring. The leaves are fragrant and can be used in cooking as a substitute for bay laurel leaves.

Bayberry is a native plant that is not only well suited for dry soils, but for growing in sand as well. This is one of the plants that is nitrogen fixing; it has the ability to take nitrogen from the air and along with a bacteria housed in its root nodules, convert that atmospheric nitrogen into nutrients for its own use. Since sandy soils are very low in nitrogen, this allows this plant to thrive in sand.

Fall is a Great Time to Add to Your Perennial Garden

At this time of year your garden’s performance is fresh in your mind. You may need more end-of-season color, or more groupings of three or more plants so that the flower garden looks less polka-dotted. On Cape Cod, September is a great time to add perennials because they will have 3 or 4 months to get their roots established. Those plants will be ready to grow bigger and better next spring.

Tip for success: When adding new perennials at this time of year, make sure to water them well at least once a week through October. After hard frost, do not cut the stems or wilted leaves down; you can clean them up in the spring, but allowing the remains of the plants to stay in the garden all winter helps with their survival this first year.

Did you know that in the fall we carry smaller pots of several types of perennials? This allows the gardener to put in a group of plants less expensively. We not only have a large selection in the perennials section, but many up in our front area where the seasonal annuals are also displayed.

There is a Sedum That Stays Shorter And Has Brilliant Color

Yes, we love Sedum ‘Autumn Joy,’ but there are other versions of this plant that stay shorter and are more sturdy. Sedums are perfect for drought-tolerant gardens in full sun. They look stylish from the moment the foliage pokes up in the spring to when there is a coating of frost or snow on them in November. These plants are also very hardy and can be used in containers that stay outside over the winter.

Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ can be found in our perennial section. When you’re there, be sure to also see the native plant selection.

C.L. Fornari’s Most Popular Class: Sept

Did you know that for the past 20 years C.L.’s most popular class at Hyannis Country Garden has been “Pruning, Demystified: Be a Barber, Not a Butcher.” She gives this class virtually so that the visuals are clear and people can join on their home computers or tablets. Registration information here.

Posted in Gardening Tips