Cool fall colors

Persian ironwood glowing yesterday

Light bouncing off Persian ironwood

Nyssa sylvatica green gables shining yesterday

Nyssa glowing translucent reds

Fully overloaded delivery Friday of nice evergreens for fall plantings

The worst time of the year for plants is summer drought time, so my favorite time to plant lawns and plants/trees is as far away from hot time as possible, even if it is in December or winter time.

​Our industry has has done a very poor job in getting this point out there to the general public. Why plant in spring? Because you are sick of being inside, and you want to get out there and do stuff for the yard! Course, understandable!

Yet the biggest problem with our industry is that we all think like people and not like plants. When we think like trees do, we are in sync with them, and can provide for them to help them maximize their genetic potential.

The best example is feeding plants and trees. Almost nobody comes to me to buy food in the fall. Why? Cause people think the landscape is dormant. Why? It’s “people cold” and there are no leaves on the trees, people are more dormant, so plants must be asleep too right? HELL NO!

The birches out in front of the street expand their trunks more from oct-April than any other time of the year. Bark sheds off like crazy! They AINT dormant! Roots on our trees grow like crazy all winter, same on everything else too.

At the same time these plants are really active, there is record precipitation in the form of rain, sleet, and snow. The soil becomes nutrient-poor, and the plant’s ability to do its thing is limited. Fall feeding is really really important if you wish to maximize potential for performance during the “visible growing season.”

​Fall planting and fall feeding are two great examples of how to shy away from thinking like a human when thinking about your landscape. The more you think like a tree the better able you are to have a great relationship with your yard.