It's time to plant! All systems go!

As we emerge from the air-conditioned refuge of our homes and businesses with October's long-awaited cooler days and much cooler nights, the "gardening gene" doesn't always fire with the same intensity as it does in March each year. We need to reprogram that!

Mid-October to January should be your busiest planting time of the year.

You see, when you work with natives and adapted perennial plants grown in our area for our area to create a vibrant and dynamic garden, you have a huge advantage. That is, the plants are already ready to endure a winter's intensity. This endurance allows them to develop strong, capable root systems during the cold months, emerge beautifully in Spring with flushes of color and growth, and ultimately deal with their first summer like champs, assuming they're installed in the proper sun exposure, and get occasional deep watering. 

Conversely, when you get your plants in April, May, or into the summer, you;'ve got a bit of an uphill battle. Roots that have developed in cushy greenhouses with regular water and fertilizer have a countdown to perhaps 100 days of 100 degrees. Hot! Dry! They're going to go straight into survival mode, simply trying not to die, rather than flourishing like their fall-planted cousins. 

This is even more important with trees, shrubs, and vines. The root systems rely on a complex network of hyphae (fungal "roots"), chemical exchange of nutrients, and developing a functional metabolic system that is reliant on a well-established root system that simply does not have time to develop in spring-planted trees. 

Applying a generous layer of compost and mulch on the soil's surface will dramatically help too; your plants will have far less temperature fluctuation in the root zone, better water distribution and retention, more vigorous and diverse  microbiological colonies, and a gentle, more sustained source of nutrients.

Fall planted perennials, shrubs, trees, vines, etc. will always exceed the performance of the exact same species, planted in spring or summer, and make your life easier, and your garden much more successful.

Note* Grasses and succulents should be installed in spring or summer. Grass-roots are fibrous and rapidly developing, but dormant in the cold, making them far more susceptible to rot if they're not established by winter. Similarly, underdeveloped succulents such as Nolina, Hesperaloe, and Agave are prone to rot when in cold, wet soil. Once they have established roots, they can process excess moisture much more efficiently, but it is a better idea to plant in the March-May timeframe for both of these groups of plants.