Newsletter – September 2015

Greetings valued Hickory Lane customer!

………………………and welcome to my newsletter for September.

Well, summer got here a bit late this year but we’ve had beautiful days lately. Typical of early fall which I love. We’d actually like to see a bit more moisture but that will come. New plantings now could probably get away with one good soaking as the nights are cooler, the plants are shutting down and using less water. In fact, I feel this is the best time for planting.

Spring is a renewing time of year and everyone is excited to get out and get in the dirt. But spring weather is soon followed by summer and heat stress. Fall plantings are followed by cool weather, a cold wet winter and wet spring which gives new plantings plenty of time to get their roots established before facing a hot dry summer. Another benefit of fall planting is the warm soil which also encourages root growth. When buying trees in fall you get the “pick of the crop” from the grower. Spring inventory is what’s left after the fall season. So remember………….Fall is for Planting!

This is a great time to cut back your perennials and divide them. If you’ve got bare spots in your beds, consider dividing the perennials that are doing well to help fill in those spots. That being said, don’t worry about cutting back your perennials too hard this time of year. It’s OK to cut the old spent flower heads off (dead heading), but leaving some old stems and foliage up through the winter will help trap snow and provide winter protection for the roots. This is especially beneficial for the ornamental grasses, which are not extremely winter hardy. The winter appearance of dormant perennials and grasses can have a certain appeal as they wave in the breeze with frost and snow in the foliage.

Your lawn might be stressing a bit now from the recent hot dry days. Lawns didn’t root very deeply this summer since they were getting a daily dose of rain! It would be a great time to overseed the bare spots and set up a lawn sprinkler. Fertilizing in the fall is also a good practice as the nutrients move down to the root zone over winter.
Enjoy these beautiful days while they are here!

Mike Epp