Take Stock Now for Next Spring

Lily-flowered Merlot tulips and Alexander’s white candytuft create a striking combination in mid-spring.

October is an ideal time to scope out fall color and plan for next spring in your garden.  Items you might want to add include:

Spring-flowering bulbs.  It’s not too late to order and plant tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, corydalis, and such.  October is a great time to plant them, and you can even plant in November as long as the ground isn’t frozen.

Big-headed Darwin hybrid tulips and lily-flowered tulips are my favorites.  Just plant them in clumps or drifts around your yard.

If you want to add a complementary ground cover, try woolly speedwell (Veronica pectinata, not the invasive V. repens) or candytuft (Iberis sempervirens).  These two stellar plants have evergreen foliage, providing a carpet for both early-blooming and later-blooming bulbs.

For outrageous fall color, tiger eyes sumac is tough to beat.

Plants with vivid fall color.  Walk or ride around to check out the fall color displays in parks and gardens.  Then you can figure out what to plant now or next spring to increase autumn excitement in your own garden.

I love red/orange fall displays.  That’s why I’ve planted tiger eyes sumac (Rhus typhina ‘Bailtiger Tiger Eyes), autumn brilliance serviceberry (Amelanchier x grandiflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’), and  Pawnee Buttes sand cherries (Prunus besseyi ‘Pawnee Buttes’).  Then there’s always the complementary golden glow of regent serviceberry (A. alnifolia ‘Regent’).

Other plants that provide striking fall color include hedge cotoneaster (Cotoneaster lucidus), hot wings maple (Acer tartaricum ‘Garann), Ginnala maple (Acer tartaricum subsp. ginnala), Washington hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum), purple smokebush (Cotinus coggrygia), burning bush (Euonymus alatus), Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), gro-low sumac (Rhus aromatica ‘Low-Gro’), and leadwort (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides).

Cute, scruffy bangle genista sports green branches year-round, creating winter interest.

Plants that add winter interest.  Trees, shrubs and ornamental grasses provide structure to your garden to prevent it from looking like a moonscape in the winter.

And of course, evergreens lend color.  I’m not just talking about pines, spruces and firs.  I’m also talking about “evergreen” groundcovers, such as candytuft (brilliant green all winter), dwarf brooms (such as bangle genista, green all year long), Veronica pectinata (purplish winter foliage), and Angelina sedum (orange/red winter foliage).

In my winter garden, dogwood shrubs transform into a red twig forest, complemented by the white bark of my miniman viburnum and the green branches of the bangle genista.  It’s beautiful on a carpet of fresh snow.

It may be too late to snag bargains this fall at garden centers.  But in late April every year, Fort Collins Nursery sells its gallon-sized perennials for half price, so sign up for their newsletter to stay informed.