Brighten Your Landscape with Autumn Colors

The warm colors of orange, red and yellow are synonymous with the fall season. The spring and summer colors of your landscaping will disappear as the leaves start to fall. To keep the exterior of your home bright and in step with autumn, you will need appropriately colorful fall plantings. Going forward, you will also want your landscaping to be in good shape for the spring.

This K-State Research and Extension video shows you how to grow big bushy mums:

Here are some suggestions for the fall months:

• Plant ornamental cabbage, kale, camellias, snapdragons, pansies, dwarf pomegranate and fragrant tea olive. Good herb choices include sage. parsley, rosemary and thyme.
• Take tropical plants indoors and apply a slow-release fertilizer to your lawn.
• It’s best to plant trees and shrubs in November, but as long as the ground is not frozen you can plant throughout the winter. You can plant spring-flowering bulbs in November as well.
• Cut back flower stems on black-eyed susans and mums and pinch snapdragon and pansy tops to remove stocky growth.
• Rake your leaves regularly. They can be mulched or added to your compost pile.
• As December approaches, prevent winter damage to your flower beds by covering them with three inches of pine straw or mulch.
• Make sure to prune herbs, cut back or deadhead perennials and weed every week.
• On a monthly basis, treat your lawn and plants with pest-control products and fertilizer.
• Lastly, just once during the season, aerate and fertilize your lawn with a wintering fertilizer and split your perennials to stop them from overrunning your planting bed.