Gardening Tips
Extending the Garden Season: Autumn's Abundance
Gardening tips provided by Beth Fausey, OSU Extension ABE Center
www.abe.osu.edu, fausey.11@osu.edu
As summer passes and fall quickly approaches, shorter days, cooler nights, and rich, vibrant colors are all hallmarks of the autumn season. Now is the perfect time to plant hardy mums, pansies, and numerous other ornamental plants that offer color and texture now and long after the first frost as passed. A brief list of plants ideal for fall plantings can be found below. Many of these plants are richly hued with shades of purple, burgundy, red, orange, yellow and cream.
In additional to gardening, autumn is a wonderful time to enjoy the harvests of the field. Pumpkins, gourds, corn stalks and straw bales in combination with fall plants make for attractive and inviting displays. Contact or visit your local Maumee Valley Grower for these items along with numerous others that are suitable for both fall container and landscape plantings and displays.
Annual Plants for Autumn. Most tolerate light frost. These generally survive a moderate to hard frost and may overwinter in Ohio gardens*.
- Dusty Miller ( Senecio )*
- Marigold ( Tagetes )
- Pansy ( Viola )*
- Petunia ( Petunia )
- Snapdragon ( Anthirrhinum )*
- Sweet potato vine ( Ipomoea )
- Ornamental cabbage and kale ( Brassica )*
- Coleus ( Coleus ) - the most sensitive on this list to frost
Perennial Plants for Autumn. Most perennials are reliably hardy in Ohio when planted in the late summer or early fall and are established before the onset of winter.
Common ( botanical name )
- Aster ( Aster )
- Black-eyed susan ( Rudbeckia )
- Bugleweed ( Ajuga )
- Chrysanthemum ( Chrysanthemum )
- Coral Bells ( Heuchera )
- Stonecrop ( Sedum )
- Ornamental grasses and sedges ( Acorus, Carex, Miscanthus and Stipa, among others)
Additional Items for Autumn Displays
- Pumpkins
- Gourds
- Corn stalks
- Straw bales
•••••••••
Contact the Maumee Valley Growers for more information (fill in the message and send it)
