Planting for the Fall!

Late summer and autumn are the time when box stores and local retailers often sell plants at a discount. These businesses do not want to over winter containerized nursery stock. There are often many good deals to be had. However, caution is needed. During the late season sales, the best deals are on plants that businesses are long on. Some of these may not be adapted to our climate. Some may have been stored for more than one season and be root-bound. However, many are among the best for our climate. Prepare before going shopping. Know whether potential landscape plants need shade or sun; how much water they require and the size they will grow to. Consider the following:

-Information often listed on a nursery plant tag includes information about cold hardiness, the eventual size of the plant and other ornamental benefits. However, information about whether it requires sun or shade may not be correct due to our unique, dry climate. Additionally, the tag is not going to list if it is not adapted to our soil or other drawbacks. Just because it looks cute in a pot, does not mean it will stay that way in the yard.

-Many trees and shrubs popular outside of the Intermountain West are also commonly planted here but are often less adapted to our climate and soil. Among the most common are sugar maple, red maple, azaleas, rhododendrons and dogwood trees. The main issue is that they lack the ability to uptake sufficient iron and other micronutrients from our alkaline soil. In many situations, annual applications of EDDHA chelated iron will be needed. This can not only be inconvenient but expensive. The current retail price is around twenty dollars a pound. A fully grown shade tree may require more than this annually to keep iron chlorosis at bay. These species also often do not tolerate our low humidity very well.

-Some plants may also have been in their container for more than one growing season. When this occurs, roots grow to the edge of the pot and start to circle. Later on, these roots can choke off major portions of the trunk and harm or kill the plant, especially trees. To avoid this, it is often easy to carefully remove the container from the root-ball, to inspect the roots. If plants are planted that have circling roots, cut into the root-ball from top to bottom with a sharp razor blade or knife a quarter of an inch in on three or four sides but not deeper. Do not break the root ball apart otherwise.

-Some of the most adapted plants to our climate are not well known by consumers. One tree, common hackberry, grows into a good shade tree that is relatively drought hardy and adapted to alkaline soil. However, it does not look very polished in a container as compared to a maple. Just on initial looks, the maple is more appealing. Later on the hackberry will most likely be healthier and of lower maintenance. Other trees to consider include bur oak, English oak, modern crabapple varieties, Hawthorne species and junipers. Some shrubs include ninebark, snow mound spirea, lodense privet, rose of Sharon, alpine currant and mugo pine.