As fall swirls toward winter, spend a little time out in the garden taking stock of what went well and what you’d like to improve in the next growing season.
“It will be easier to bring the growing season to mind before the trees are completely bare,” said Sharon Yiesla, plant knowledge specialist in the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. Think back and take some written notes of your memories and thoughts now so you’ll have them to refer to in January, when it’s time for serious garden planning.
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Those notes will help you be a smarter shopper in spring. “It’s easy to spend all our garden money on whatever we see blooming in May,” Yiesla said. With reminders, you can budget for plants that will make the garden more beautiful in July and September.
Scrolling through photos on your phone can help, even if you haven’t been faithfully documenting the garden in pictures. “Look in the backgrounds of family snapshots and think about the plants,” Yiesla said. “Let the photos help you remember what it was like to be out in the yard this year, and what you might want to change.”
Here are some things to think about for your end-of-season wrap-up.
Recall gaps in the garden: Maybe you had boffo spring blooms, but fewer flowers in summer. Maybe there was lots of color in the front yard, but nothing much to see when you were sitting out on the rear patio. Maybe your garden felt all played out by August, with no late-blooming perennials or colorful autumn leaves. “Every gap is an opportunity to do something different next year,” Yiesla said.
Remember tiresome jobs: Did you spend too much time pruning a large, overgrown shrub? Consider replacing it next spring with something more compact that fits the space better. Are there plants that seem to get disfiguring diseases such as powdery mildew or apple scab every year? Maybe next year you should replace a troublesome plant with a different species or a disease-resistant variety.
Reconsider the vegetable garden: Were there crops you had too much of, or others that didn’t produce at all? Is there something about the sun or drainage situation that affected your plants? How can you rotate crops next year to get ahead of potential pest and disease issues? Are there vegetables you didn’t really enjoy growing (or eating) this year? What did the family really love? Make those notes now so you’ll be ready when it’s time to order seeds in January.
Think about rearranging and dividing: Make a list of perennials that could be helped by dividing or transplanting them in spring. “Some clumps might just have gotten too big for the space, and other plants may have gotten too crowded so they’re not blooming much,” Yiesla said. Consider whether your perennials are grouped according to their needs, with drought-tolerant plants together farther from the hose and needier plants together where it’s easier to water them.
Find ways to invite more wildlife: Adding a water source and more native shrubs next year, along with perennials that bloom to provide nectar and pollen all through the summer and early fall, will encourage more buzzy bees, beautiful butterflies and birds.
Plan to have your trees inspected: Large shade trees should be checked by a certified arborist every few years, to head off problems before they become serious. Make a note to have that done in early spring when the leaves are still small and the branches are easy to see.
Promise yourself a new beauty: What did you see this summer that you really loved? Maybe it was a spectacular iris in a friend’s garden or a beautiful shrub in a botanical garden. “Plan to learn about that plant this winter and figure out whether it would work in the conditions of your garden,” Yiesla said. “And if it wouldn’t, discover something new that would.”
For tree and plant advice, contact the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum (630-719-2424, mortonarb.org/plant-clinic, or [email protected]). Beth Botts is a staff writer at the Arboretum.