• Michaelmas daisies have bright flowers in purples and dark reds. These perennials come back every year to brighten the fall garden.
• Lilac bushes will bloom better next spring if you cut back on the watering now.
• Keep apples picked up from under the trees to help control the spread of coddling moths which make wormy apples.
Perennials give us some of the best flowers in the garden. These hardy plants come back year after year getting bigger and better each time. Most perennials take a lot of dead-heading to keep them looking nice throughout their blooming time, but there are a few that are easier to care for. Cut them down when they are done flowering and that's all the maintenance they need.
Sedum Autumn Joy is a well-known favorite that attracts butterflies. The leaves grow close to the ground, then once a year it sends up shoots topped with soft pink flowers, similar to yarrow. As the days get shorter, the flowers turn a rich rusty red.
Moonbeam Coreopsis produces star-like blossoms of pale yellow with finely textured foliage that is good-looking all season. It blooms from July through October and spreads 18-24" wide.
Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm', grows into a large clump with 3' tall golden, black-centered, daisy flowers bloom from August to October. Seed heads are attractive to birds in the fall and winter.
Stella D'oro Daylily has bright, golden-yellow flowers that bloom throughout the summer above fresh green leaves. It is compact, growing only 16 inches tall, and is good for containers and flower borders.
Purple Dome New England Aster is a compact aster with dark green foliage and profuse bloom of dark purple daisy flowers which can entirely cover the plant in September and October.
Santa Barbara Daisy, Erigeron karvinskianus, is a low-growing perennial that is covered with little white daisy flowers all summer long. It is tolerate drought once established, and can be used as a border plant or to hang over a wall.
Peonies are easy to grow and give you magnificent flowers in May-June. They come in pink, white and red and live for many years, growing into a larger clump with more flowers each year.
For shady areas, Hostas can't be beat. With their beautiful foliage in different combinations of blue, green, white and yellow, they will fill the shady bed with their colorful leaves. Hostas also bloom in the summer with spikes of lavender to white, lily-like flowers, which can be quite showy.
Heucheras, or Coral Bells, are one of the most diverse and colorful shade perennials. Plant them as a groundcover, or intersperse some between other plants. Their round leaves come in many colors from bright green to purples to near black, and they send up delicate spikes of white or coral flowers in the summer.
Helleborus is an iron clad deer-proof plant that tolerates dry shade once established. It blooms very early, in late winter with cup-like, greenish-white flowers. Some varieties have pinkish flowers, but their broad leaves are good-looking all year.
Dicentra, or Bleeding Heart, is one of the easiest perennials to grow in the shade. The pretty little pink flowers in the spring resemble pink and white hearts, and when they are done, the plant turns yellow and dies back. Clean up dead foliage and forget about them until next year.
Fall is a good time to plant perennials. They will get established over the winter and bloom beautifully for you next year.
If your looking for a small tree to provide year-round beauty, consider a crape myrtle for your landscape. The tree gets it's name from the appearance of the flower petals that are crinkled, resembling crepe paper. They can be planted together to make a large hedge or screen, or in a grove or a single tree can act as a specimen to create a distinctive focal point.
The trees leaf out rather late in the spring. Then about midsummer, large 6 inch flower clusters form on the ends of the branches, and bloom through the summer and fall. The flowers are truly outstanding, and come in vibrant pink, purple, watermelon red, lavender and white.
In the fall after the leaves turn yellow, orange and red and then drop, the attractive trunk and branches are revealed. The bark of the crape myrtle is mottled and smooth. With age, the grey bark peels away to reveal a reddish-brown color underneath that is attractive all winter.
Crape myrtle is actually a shrub but tree forms, which have been pruned to create one strong central trunk, are very popular. The tree form of crape myrtle will grow to a maximum height of 15 to 20 feet tall and spread about 10 feet wide.
They flower best in full-sun locations, but will tolerate light shade or morning shade. Deep shade locations are not recommended, because the tree will not flower well and will be prone to developing powdery mildew disease.
Newly planted crape myrtles should be watered often for the first summer to aid establishment. Watering should then be gradually reduced in frequency. Crape myrtles like moist, well drained soil but are drought tolerant once established. More frequent watering will make them grow faster.
To keep crape myrtles attractive, suckers should be removed on tree forms. Pruning to remove old flower clusters will promote additional blooming, but it is not necessary to prune the tree to make it bloom. Small twiggy growth should be thinned out from underneath and within the canopy.
Never cut main branches and leave stubs. These trees should be allowed to develop their natural style without whacking off their tops, which ruins the natural graceful effect of the plant.
If you like trees with lots of color and character, check out the crape myrtle. It may be just the tree your looking for to add to your home landscape.
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