Gardening with Tara
- Tara Dilliard

SEPTEMBER

SHRUBS: Do not prune azaleas, camellias or hydrangeas now. Abelia, holly and cleyera can be pruned to shape.
TREES: Keep up with falling leaves around landscaped areas to prevent insect and fungal problems.
ROSES: Continue deadheading to promote blooms until the first frost.
BULBS: Begin purchasing, but not planting, spring flowering bulbs for the best selection.
PRUNING: Use clean, sharp pruners or saws. Felco pruners are worth their extra cost.
SEEDS: Many annuals and perennials are going to seed. The cheapest perennial and annual flowering garden can be started now with seed packs.
VEGETABLES: Cabbage loopers and cabbbageworms are chewing holes through broccoli, collards, cauliflower and cabbage. Use Bacillus thuringiensis to control these pests.
FRUITS & BERRIES: Some strawberry and raspberry varieties will fruit slightly in fall.
IN BLOOM NOW: Joe Pye weed, goldenrod, Mexican sage, blue mist flower, aster ‘Hella Lacy’, hydrangea, rose, abelia, tea olive and more.
INSECTS: Beware the saddleback caterpillar, its stings are intense and memorable for years.
WILDLIFE: Keep a steady supply of food for the birds, and they will remain fall and winter. Look for wrens, woodpeckers, mockingbirds, thrushes, cedar waxwings, goldfinches, chickadees, nuthatches, pine siskins, cardinals, house finches, jays, towhees, and juncos.
GARDEN BOOK: The Little Bulbs: A Tale of Two Gardens, by Elizabeth Lawrence. Yes, the entire book is about bulbs
for the Southern garden. Add another dimension to your landscape, throughout the entire year, with a wide variety of
bulbs. There are a combination of beauty and low maintenance.

week 1
Last chance to fertilize shrubs/perennials before winter’s first expected frost in October. Take cuttings of hydrangeas now.
week 2
Let black-eyed Susan, purple coneflower and hollyhock go to seed for new plants and to attract birds.
week 3
Sow rye or vetch as a cover crop for your vegetable garden. Sow a new fescue lawn now.
week 4
Overseed existing fescue turf. Prepare houseplants on your patio to be moved inside by pruning and spraying with organic insecticidal soap.

OCTOBER

SHRUBS: Planting season. Choose for correct height and sunlight to keep your garden low maintenance. Camellia sasanqua are coming into bloom.
TREES: Best selection at nurseries, in fall, for planting.
ROSES: Don’t deadhead the last roses of the season, their seedpods (hips) will turn orange.
BULBS: Plant rubrum lily bulbs for their beautiful and fragrant display in July. Crocus, Dutch iris, hyacinths, daffodils and amaryllis bulbs can be planted for spring blooms.
PRUNING: Major pruning now will instigate new growth that can be killed by the first frosts.
FLOWER SEEDS: Continue sowing seed from packets.
VEGETABLES: Pumpkins are ready to be picked when their vines are dry.
FRUITS & BERRIES: Many shrubs have showy berries now, including American beautyberry, viburnum and holly.
IN BLOOM NOW: Rose, hydrangea, abelia, C. sasanqua.
INSECTS: Butterflies prefer overwintering in brush piles or under loose tree bark.
WILDLIFE: Acorns are feeding a wide variety of animals, deer, squirrels, rabbits, foxes, raccoons, turkeys, quail, woodpeckers, blue jays, mice and black bear.
GARDEN BOOK: 10,000 Garden Questions Answered by 20 Experts, Marjorie Dietz, editor. This book is 1,507 pages long and covers every aspect of your garden. The questions asked are the questions you really do ask, whether you’re a beginner or have decades of experience.

week 1
Pre-emergent spread now will help prevent weeds next spring. Do not spread where you want desirable seeds (fescue, annuals and perennials) to germinate.
week 2
Sow a new fescue lawn. Fertilize existing fescue lawns; they are heading into their peak season.
week 3
Strawberries and foxgloves planted now will thrive beautifully next spring and summer.
week 4
Continue composting falling leaves. Bearded iris can be divided. Fall is the best time to plant shrubs, perennials and groundcovers.

Tara Dillard hosted her own TV show on CBS and has been designing gardens for 20 years. She’s author of The Garden View, Beautiful By Design and other garden books. Tara is a motivational garden lecturer nationally and locally at corporate and garden venues.
Visit Tara at www.taradillard.com