Garden

[Happy In the South]

My summer flower garden is still beautiful, I'm finding it hard to get rid of them to make room for my fall/winter flowers!  If I wait for my summer flowers to die off, it'll be too late to purchase my cold weather flowers. I need to gather the courage and just do it, but they're so pretty.  Anyone else have this problem?! 

[fthunt]

I would never destroy summer plants - I would buy winter ones in pots and enjoy both seasons.

[NickNack]

@Happy In the South   I would never take out beautiful summer plants while they're still blooming.  If you want fall plants now, use them in pots.

[x Hedge]

   I bought five new garden mums this year, but transferred them to slightly bigger pots for now.

They won't go into their permanent location until spring.

Not disturbing perennial roots now, and wouldn't remove summer plants unless they were tattered.

[Sweetbay magnolia]

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@Happy In the South wrote:

My summer flower garden is still beautiful, I'm finding it hard to get rid of them to make room for my fall/winter flowers!  If I wait for my summer flowers to die off, it'll be too late to purchase my cold weather flowers. I need to gather the courage and just do it, but they're so pretty.  Anyone else have this problem?! 

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I do understand!  I spent most of my adult career working at nurseries.  It was a little easier to be cavalier when you had ready access to the next in line seasonal plants, for sure.

Then I got to the point where it became less interesting to change things out, and I began to rely a bit more on other things, for "color".

Then I realized I knew how much longer I thought the pretty summer things would actually be pretty, and whether it was worth it to keep them or go ahead and take the plung(er) and replace.

So many things go into it.  Now I am quick to "warehouse" the next season plants when they are available and look good, if I think it's worth it.  My garden beds are full of trees, shrubs, perennials, and groundcovers, so the primary focus of annual plants is in pots on the front porch and back deck.

 I still have beautiful "Big Red" begonias and some coleus, but also mums, pumpkins, and gourds, and some panises that I am "growing on", hopefully to take the place of a begonia, but right now the days are too hot and the nights not cool enough, so I keep shifting them in and out of "zones" in an attempt to keep them from legginess and to develop a strong root system.

Don't hesitate to rip stuff out, though.  They've lived their functional life.  If you compost, all the better.  I find all sorts of marvelous plants coming up because the seed found a home.

Happy gardening!

[drizzellla]

I can't rip out my flowering summer plants right now. This year they filled out the entire flower bed and are still looking good. The flowers were really robust this year.

I put a mum in a planter and that will be it this year. I usually buy about half a dozen mums but it seems like the frost will not be far behind. And every year I wonder why I bother since the frost will be in a few weeks.

[fthunt]

I stopped throwing money at Mums long time ago.  Like poster said - zap the frost comes and I see $$$ down the drain.  

[BirkiLady]

@drizzellla  @fthunt  You can easily overwinter mums in their potted containers in your garage. Bring them out again in late spring (after all chance of freezing weather is gone)  and let them begin their growth cycle again.

It's a good idea to move them into a larger pot each spring or divide them every other year, but it certainly saves having to purchase your favorite type of mum every late summer or early fall. Or, plant them in the ground for an easy fall color.

Just remember to pinch them back A LOT before July 15th (most say the 4th of July, but I give mine some extra time) to become full and avoid that droopy, uncared for look.

[mousiegirl]

I only have perennials all over, so would never destroy them.  My Fall flowers are inside in the form of faux, look beautiful and don't die.  Otherwise, a deck or porch may be the answer, if one has one or the other, or in pots elsewhere.

[Mom2Dogs]

@fthunt   If you purchase garden mums, they will come back.  My garden mums have returned for several years.