Our landscapes accomplish a lot in the months leading up to fall. Their feats, such as developing new, leafy growth, flowering, and producing seeds all consume great amounts of energy. As winter draws nearer, perennials, such as our trees and lawns, will store any remaining energy to survive winter and reemerge the following spring. This is an ideal time to fertilize. For trees, fall fertilizations ensure that nutrients will be used for beneficial functions such as disease resistance and root development (as opposed to rapid, weak, new growth that is often the result of summer fertilizations). For our lawns, fertilizations in fall will increase the health of the lawn’s root system and allow more food to be stored over winter.
Fall is also a good time to protect against insect damage for next year. Ash, birch, honeylocust, and magnolia trees are all susceptible to insect damage that can be preventatively treated in the fall. Consider contacting us to see what pest management program would work best for your landscape.
Here’s one final tip: fall clean up. It can be as simple as removing diseased plant material and adding compost to your beds. Cleaning up in fall alone can decrease disease populations and create the perfect environment for your plants to flourish in spring. Summer may be ending, but the care we can offer our gardens doesn’t have to!
