Collier's Garden Scoop

October 2015

The wind is rising,
and the air is wild with leaves.
We have had our summer evenings,
now for October eves.

~ Humbert Wolfe

Welcome, Fall!

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New Hours for October

Monday - Saturday 9 to 5:30

Sundays 1 to 5

Fall is finally in the air, and here we are at that strange place between summer and winter where the plants that have endured and survived the heat now mingle with the cool-season plants that will succeed them. This is a bittersweet time in the garden as we watch the lushness of summer fade yet are excited for the change in temperature, and look forward to the unique pleasures that fall & winter gardens have to offer.

We hope to see you at the nursery this month!


We've got a great selection of mums in stock now, in a variety of sizes- instant color for pots!	These garden hardy mums are perennial if planted in the ground, where they will bloom spring & fall.


Don't underestimate the visual power of foliage in the cool-season garden. We love the dramatic leaves of ornamental mustard & have been surprised by its cold tolerance.	Ornamental peppers add a lot of interest to fall arrangements and can be brought indoors and grown in a bright, sunny room when temps drop below 50 degrees.	Ornamental cabbage & kale exhibit lovely ruffled leaves in shades of green, white, pink & deep purple. Group several together for visual impact in larger spaces.

Great Garden Find

Gerbera Garvinea

a perennial gerbera daisy

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Bred in the Netherlands for endurance and resistance to pests & diseases, this isn't your typical gerbera daisy. Garvineas are cold hardy to USDA zone 7, so they are perennial in the Birmingham area! Profuse 2 inch blooms atop sturdy stems appear in late spring and continue until first frost.

Full or partial sun. Grows to 18" tall & wide.

It's Pansy Season!

Pansies & violas (the pansy's petite cousin) are the most reliable blooms for the winter garden. Early to mid October is the ideal time to plant & we will have our best selection and variety of colors during this month. Use pansies in full or partial sun but opt for violas if you've got a shadier area (violas are more shade-tolerant). Pinch off dead leaves & blooms every once in awhile, and fertilize with a liquid bloom-booster (like fertilome Blooming & Rooting) about a month after planting, and once a month afterwards.

When planting annuals & perennials in containers or flower beds

in fall & winter we recommend using

fertilome Start-N-Grow

- feeds plants for 3 to 4 months

with one application

-effective even when ground temperatures drop below 70 degrees

Pansy Lore

The pansy's name comes from the French word

pensee, which means thought or remembrance and was acquired because the 'blotches' on some blooms resemble a face. In Hamlet, Ophelia distributes them with the remark, "there's pansies, that's for thoughts." Romanticized nicknames for the pansy abound and include heartsease, ladies delight, love-in-idleness and call-me-to-you. Now widely considered the world's favorite flower, the pansy was developed in the mid 1800's by Lord Gambier and his gardener, William Thompson, by crossing different viola species in order to produce larger flowers and unusual colors. Thompson is credited with discovering the cross that produced Viola x Wittrockiana, what we know as pansies today. Thanks to intensive breeding by folks such as these, pansies flower in nearly every color imaginable and we can enjoy creating with their spectrum of blooms.

If you would like to grow

dianthus

foxglove

poppies or

snapdragons

be sure to get them planted this month for sturdier, larger plants and more blooms next spring. All will bloom some this fall, go dormant (cease actively growing, except for roots) and resume growth and flowering when spring arrives. Grow in full or partial sun and well-drained soil.

Fall is an exciting time visually in the landscape,

as well as the ideal time to plant trees & shrubs.

Here's a look at several interesting finds in the shrub yard right now- all great choices to add visual interest to your garden

during Autumn.


Encore Azaleas bloom in fall as well as spring! Pictured here Autumn Coral. Grow in very bright, filtered shade or full sun.	Beautyberry is a native shrub which produces vivid purple berries that are also a delicacy for local birds.	During fall & winter we have our best selection of conifers. Pictured here Yellow Ribbon Arborvitae.


Delta Moonlight Crape Myrtle pairs deep wine-colored leaves & bright white blooms. Small-growing, 8-12' tall.	Gardenias will often bloom sporadically into the fall, allowing you to savor the scent of summer a little longer.	Winter Red Hollies are another native plant that brings bright berries into the landscape, and attracts birds as well!


The blooms of Hydrangea paniculata varieties like Firelight (pictured here) last well into the fall, fading to spectacular shades of pink. Also long lasting as a cut-flower.	The Little Lime hydrangeas (another H. paniculata variety) are also still in bloom. They stay relatively small, 3-4' tall & wide, while other varieties can reach 6-8 feet easily.	Newly arrived Sunshine Ligustrums have already been popular for their golden, evergreen foliage. This is a non-invasive variety that stays 3-4' tall & wide.


Ninebark (Coppertina, pictured here) is a large-growing native shrub (6-8' tall, 8-10' wide with time). Deep red stems & coppery-purple leaves are a striking combination.	A new introduction, Carefree Celebration shrub roses are particularly tolerant of hot, humid climates. Shimmering, deep coral blooms are certainly eye-catching!	Often mistaken for hydrangeas, snowball viburnums have similar blooms, but flower twice a year (unlike hydrangeas) in spring & again in fall. Large-growing (6-8') in a sunny spot.