September is an ideal time to divide many of your perennials. The cooler air and still-warm soil reduce stress on plants and give transplants a good start before winter. Not all plants need dividing every year. Choose those that look overcrowded, aren’t flowering as much as they used to, or are spreading too much.

When dividing plants in fall, the general rule is to tackle those that bloom in spring and summer and to leave fall-flowering plants in place. Here, we have a list of plants you can divide now and a few not to touch just yet. Whatever you’re dividing, be sure to do it about four to six weeks before the ground freezes.

Grab a perennial shovel from Lowe's that is specifically designed for dividing and transplanting perennials to make the task easy peasy. Let's dig in and explore which plants to divide in September!

1. Garden Phlox

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Garden phlox flowers in summer, so early fall is a good time to uproot and divide it if necessary. Look for older, crowded clumps that look like they could use some more space or a rejuvenation. Water your phlox well before dividing, then dig around and beneath the clump.

Carefully lift and divide the clump, ensuring each division has healthy roots and several plant shoots. Larger pieces will establish more quickly, so resist the temptation to make too many small divisions. Replant divisions right away at the same depth as the mother plant.

2. Astilbe

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Astilbe generally should be divided every three to four years, but you can do this task whenever plants look crowded. The fleshy root system of astilbe plants allows you to create multiple divisions, so this is also a good task for when you need new plants in other areas of the garden.

Dig around and lift the entire clump. Use a sharp spade or clean garden knife to cut through and separate the crown into sections. Each should have roots and healthy, growing parts of the plant. Replant the divisions right away and water regularly as they establish.

3. Spiderwort

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Spiderwort can be divided in early fall whenever it becomes crowded or when you need new plants. Carefully dig up a clump to be divided and gently shake or brush away the dirt so you can see the roots and stems. You may be able to pull apart divisions by hand. Just be sure each new plant has several healthy roots and visible shoots. Replant the divisions at the same depth and water regularly.

4. Veronica

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Also known as speedwell, Veronica is easy to divide in early fall after the flowers have faded. The plants will reward you with fresher, bushier growth in spring. In general, you can divide veronica every three to five years, or as needed when plants get crowded and show dead centers.

Dig up the entire plant and gently lift the roots from the soil and shake it off to see the roots. Veronica roots can be tough, so use a clean, sharp knife or spade to make divisions. Discard the dead or woody center and use divisions from the fresher, outside growth. Replant quickly and keep transplants well watered.

5. Oriental Poppy

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Oriental poppies have a unique growth cycle. They go dormant in summer heat with foliage dying back after flowering. In early fall, they start to put out new growth, so this is the best time to divide them. Usually every five years is adequate, but divide poppies when flowering has reduced.

Oriental poppies can be challenging to divide, due to a long taproot. Dig down as far as you can to get this root out. It helps to water first to soften the soil. Use a sharp knife to cut vertically through the roots, ensuring each section gets part of the taproot and shoots. Replant right away and keep transplants watered.

6. Asiatic Lilies

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These lilies are winding down in early fall, so it’s a good time to divide and propagate them. Dig up the roots after the foliage starts to fade. Look for offsets or small bulblets to separate from the parent bulb. Remove these and replant immediately. Don’t let the bulblets dry out before transplanting them. Dispose of any that show signs of rot.

Don't Divide These Perennials in Fall

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It’s tempting to get this chore done throughout the garden all at once, but certain plants should never be divided in fall:

• Chrysanthemums. These fall beauties are still flowering, so don’t disrupt them. Early spring is the best time to divide fall mums.
• Ornamental Grasses. Hold off on dividing these until spring, too. Grasses provide good winter habitat for native animals and visual interest in the garden. Spring is also less risky for the plant. Divisions replanted in fall tend to rot at the roots.
• New England Asters. Like mums, asters are still putting on a big show in September. Dividing them now causes unnecessary stress and reduces flowering. Divide in spring instead.

Be selective when dividing perennials in fall. Don’t automatically divide any plant that looks crowded. Some are better left for spring. For those you divide now, do the chore on a cool, cloudy day, prepare the new planting site first, and get those divisions in the ground right away to reduce stress. Follow these guidelines, and you’ll have double the healthy plants next spring.

For years now, gardeners have had one goal when it rains: get the water out as fast as humanly possible. We’ve used everything from gutters and drains to sloped patios that would send that water rushing away before it could collect into puddles.

But 2026 has changed that thinking entirely. Designers have started treating water less like someone who randomly shows up at your house, forcing you to hide behind the sofa, and more like a guest who is absolutely worth welcoming. Plus, it will help your plants thrive and lower your water bill. That’s like killing two mosquitoes with one slap!

The design world is really taking notice of this new landscaping trend and sharing accordingly. So, I consulted some experts on water management to give me some advice on how you, the reader, can apply these trends to your own backyard.

Why Water Management Is Suddenly a Big Deal

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While water has long been important in gardening (otherwise you just have a desert), it’s increasingly becoming a starting point for landscape designers rather than an afterthought.

Diego Camarena, commercial representative for the landscape company GreenMex, says this shift is being driven by real water supply challenges and changing environmental conditions.

“Water management has become central to garden design due to regulations and real supply challenges. Today, it’s essential to create green spaces that require less water and are adapted to new environmental conditions.”

Rather than forcing plants in a climate not at all suitable for them, designers are focusing on the basics first: sunlight, rainfall patterns, and local conditions. Camarena says, “Everything starts with context: climate, water availability, and sun exposure. Climate change has driven the use of more resilient, low-water-use plants with high sun tolerance.”

To put it in TL;DR terms: the smartest gardens today are the ones that work with their environment, not against it.

1. Healthy Soil Is the Real Water-Saving Hero

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While it may seem that a garden that handles water well would include everything above the ground (water does fall from the sky after all), the most important work actually happens underneath it. Healthy soil acts as a sponge, absorbing rainfall when it arrives and slowly releasing the moisture back to plant roots during drier periods.

Lawrence Markovitz, President of BioXtreme, says soil health is often overlooked in water-wise garden design.

“The future of water-smart garden design isn’t just about how water moves above ground – it’s about how effectively the soil holds and uses that water below the surface.” When soil has an abundance of organic matter and microbial life, it improves water absorption during storms and water retention during droughts.

Some easy ways to improve water retention in your soil:

• Mix compost (like this manure-free blend from Back to the Roots) or organic matter into planting beds
• Add mulch to slow the evaporation process
• Convert struggling patches of lawn into plant beds
• Plant ground cover plants to shade the soil

Better soil means healthier plants in the long run and less desperate evening watering sessions mid-summer.

2. Catch Rain Where It Falls

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One of the biggest changes we’ve seen in modern garden design is the idea of capturing rainwater rather than sending it in a tsunami down the street. Things like rain barrels, rain gardens, and bioswales are all becoming more common in residential areas.

Seymen Usta, Architect and landscape designer at Modern Chandelier, frequently uses these systems in his projects. “I create rain gardens and bioswales within narrow constraints by capturing rain where it naturally falls, such as by placing rain barrels (like this one on Amazon) directly on the ground in close proximity,” he says. “This allows for direct delivery of the captured rainwater to the roots of the plants through a contained drip irrigation system, as well as eliminating any wastage of the water after capturing it.”

Rain gardens also offer another added bonus: they support wildlife.

“Even on sloped surfaces, a properly designed shallow rain garden will utilize the rain runoff from the roofs of the buildings to create small parcels containing native, perennial plants providing habitat for pollinators, while also reducing the risk of flooding.”

So, your garden can manage stormwater and feed the bees; our pollinator friends will love that.

3. Let the Ground Absorb Water

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Hard areas like patios made from concrete or traditional paving can stop water from soaking into the soil. Making a change to permeable materials will allow rain to filter back into the ground where plants can actually use it. Usta suggests options like gravel paths or permeable pavers.

“Gravel walkways or pavers allow water to soak into the ground, which reduces the overall temperature of the plants growing in the garden and decreases erosion.” While the change in design may seem tiny, it can dramatically improve the way water moves through your garden.

4. Choose Plants That Won’t Panic During Dry Spells

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Plant choice plays a huge role in water-smart gardening. Camarena recommends choosing plants naturally adapted to heat and lower water conditions. “The easiest way to start is by selecting low-water plants such as Persian lily, Pennisetum, Sansevieria, Dracaena compacta, or bougainvillea.”

Plants already adapted to drier conditions often develop roots that are much less dependent on constant watering. This means your garden won’t fall apart the second you forget to water it for a few days (we’ve all been there.)

5. Mulch: The Garden’s Unglamorous Overachiever

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Mulch isn’t necessarily known for its glamorous appearance, but if you’re looking for an effective water-saving tool, this is it. Usta recommends it for nearly every landscape.

“I always recommend mulching. Although the upfront costs of mulch are often very low, the long-term benefits of mulch include: increasing the amount of water retained in the soil, suppressing the growth of weeds, and improving the soil's fertility over time.” Not bad for something that basically looks like a shredded tree.

This Oldcastle Lawn & Garden cedar mulch from Walmart has a lovely scent that will give your garden that great outdoor atmosphere.

A Smarter Way to Garden

Water-smart garden design isn’t about eliminating water from the equation – it’s about using it more intelligently.

When you design your garden to slow water down, capture it, and then put it to good use, it becomes more resilient and often even more beautiful. That’s a pretty good return for something that used to just run down the driveway.

Growers have started talking about fall colors, but what does this really mean? For me, fall colors tend to be the flaming reds, russets, coppers and golds of fall leaves. However, I also think of the warm, fiery tones of the sky at dusk – the dusty pinks, moody purples, twilight ochres and twinkly limes. You might have heard of the “desert sunset” color palette this year, and fall is the perfect home for this dynamic scheme.

It might be controversial, but one thing I don’t go crazy with in my yard in fall is the chrysanthemum (aka the mum). Nurseries and grocery store entrances may now be filled with them, but these container gardening icons do come with challenges. They demand lots of watering, and may drop their petals or flop long before the season’s over. If you want stress-free containers that hold up easily through fall, I’ve rounded up some excellent drought tolerant alternatives that can bring these desert sunset hues to life with very little fuss.

So, let’s move beyond the mum monopoly and try these vibrant container ideas filled with lively fall hues. My unique container ideas each work in a distinct part of your yard, so they can transform your porches, patios, entrances and curbside corners with the rich tones of an evening desert sky. For maximum curb appeal with minimal fuss, these container recipes bringing in a fresher kind of seasonal wonder that will last right through fall.

Prep Your Pots for Fall

Tapping into the warm palette of an evening desert sky offers a surprising range of planting options that last a lot longer than mums. Partnering up drought-tolerant succulents, saturated leafy plants, and ornamental grasses, you can build seasonal containers in rich shades of copper, amber, magenta, lime-gold, and deep violet. These plants don't rely so much on delicate petals that shatter in fall winds. Instead, they draw their power from resilient foliage and bold silhouettes that maintain their crisp beauty to first frosts. These selections deploy the thriller, spiller, filler style, with mixed heights, textures and tones creating lasting impact.

Before adding your plants, inspect your planters for proper drainage holes. Setting pots directly on cold concrete or wet deck boards blocks drainage holes and draws chilling moisture into the root zone. Elevate pots using Lemon Road Terracotta Pot Feet, available from Amazon, to improve airflow and prevent waterlogging. If you are a cat person, this range also includes adorable kitty pot toes, as well as elegant lion’s paws, both also available from Amazon.

(Image credit: Kschulze / Getty Images)

As daytime temperatures drop and rainfall increases, containers take longer to dry out than they would have done even a few weeks earlier. Standard peat-heavy potting soils can easily become waterlogged in October. This can lead to cold, soggy root systems that cause tropical foliage and succulents to collapse overnight. Protect your plant life and reduce your own ongoing daily workload by making sure you use a fast-draining potting soil. Where necessary, top up drainage with a few handfuls of perlite, mixed well into your potting medium. Then add some of these stunning container recipes for stress-free fall beauty.

1. Sunshine Sculpture

(Image credit: Marina Andriichuk / Alamy)

Designed for baking south-facing patios, unshaded front steps, and gardeners who can’t hold down a watering routine, this drought-proof marvel frees you from having to worry about a watering can. Thriving in dry fall breezes, this combination pairs sweeping shapes with dense, sun-blushed succulent foliage. The effect is a bold display that looks high-end while requiring virtually zero maintenance.

The dramatic anchor of this pot is Purple Fountain Grass, currently available from Trees for a 30% discount. Wispy burgundy foliage with dark plum plumes bring rippling height and rich violet tones. Nestled at the base, golden sedum forms a dense core of warm color. Succulents Box’s Japanese Golden Sedum Ogon from Amazon features the characteristic chartreuse foliage rippled with a rosy blush for a highly distinctive addition to your pot.

(Image credit: LianeM / Getty Images)

Spilling softly over the container rim, trailing elephant bush (Portulacaria afra 'Variegata') provides cascading contrast with reddish stems and purple accents. If this is hard to locate locally, string of bananas (Senecio radicans) and blue sedum (Sedum burrito) are equally tough but pretty.

Plant in a wide, terracotta bowl filled with a gritty cactus and succulent mix, like Back to the Roots Organic Succulent & Cacti Mix from Walmart, which is laced with perlite for better drainage. Top with fine pea gravel or crushed granite. Purple fountain grass functions as an annual in cooler northern zones, while sedum and elephant bush can easily be moved indoors before the first hard freeze hits.

2. Shade Foliage Supreme

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Looking for saturated color that thrives without needing constant deadheading? This shade container combo is perfect for covered porches, north-facing entryways, or shaded urban balconies where sun-loving blooms struggle to thrive. It side-steps bloom dependency, relying on velvet leaf textures, fiery leaf veins and dappled neon chartreuse tones that hold their own for high-octane color in partial shade.

The star of this shaded arrangement is the heart-shaped Caladium Desert Sunset, which has salmon-pink heart-shaped leaves with contrasting copper-colored veins. You can currently buy a trio of BubbleBlooms Caladium Live Plants from Amazon for a zingy fall punch of wine red, sunset pink, and wine soaked chartreuse. Surrounding caladiums, add dragon wing red begonias for crimson volume and continuous color.

(Image credit: Itasun / Getty Images)

To round off this trio, add some delicate cross wire vine (Muehlenbeckia complexa) plants. These break up the broad foliage with wiry, cascading green stems that trail downward in a dappled trail of chartreuse links. Winter Greenhouse Fairy Vine is available from Walmart. Alternatively, small-leafed ivy or trailing plum asparagus fern make equally airy, shade-tolerant substitutes.

Plant in a rich potting soil blended with leaf mold, preferably in a glazed ceramic pot. Keep the soil evenly moist but never soggy, as shaded containers dry out slowly in cool weather. Because caladiums are tropical tubers, it’s a good idea to bring the pot indoors or lift the tubers before night temperatures drop below 50°F (10°C) to store them safely for spring.

3. Porch Centerpiece

(Image credit: Krblokhin / Getty Images)

Looking for easy porch and patio color to impress the neighbors this fall? This combo is sure to command attention on a front stoop or entryway, and add a splash of fiery sunset drama to your curb appeal. Where small pots can get lost on wide porches, this recipe uses height and saturated warmth to create a grand seasonal statement. It thrives in morning sun and afternoon shade for an opulent, long-lasting display.

Crimson mandevilla provides stunning vertical height, drawing the eye up with rich red sunset blooms. For a dazzling orange variation, Sun Parasol Fired Up Mandevilla from Trees offers zingy flowering pinwheels. At the base, plant some copper Sedona coleus for copper tops and wine-red undersides. Or, if you fancy a neon sunset, you can get LA Tropic Alabama Sunset Coleus Plants from Walmart in sets of 3 for bubblegum pink and chartreuse notes to dazzle porch containers.

(Image credit: Mike Jarman / Alamy)

Spilling over the front rim, trailing lysimachia (L. nummularia 'Aurea') provides bright gold contrast that mirrors the final golden rays of an evening sky. For a lush tangerine variation, try some fiery-orange nasturtiums. The trick with this trio is to pick the biggest pot you can get away with, and make sure it is well supported.

Fill with an all-purpose organic potting soil and add some gravel for weight to prevent fall gusts from tipping your vines. Mandevilla is frost-sensitive, so move the entire vessel inside a sunroom or bright garage when freeze warnings begin to enjoy the lingering late-season blooms indoors.

4. Native Pollinator Pot

(Image credit: Moelyn Photos / Getty Images)

Native plants already know how to survive on their own and rarely require much help. When you pull together a fall container with natives, you buy beauty that does its own thing without much ongoing care. This native-inspired arrangement blends low-input native beauty with movement and pollinator appeal. Combining starry lilac blooms, hot pink spires, and trailing nectar sources, you get a low-maintenance sanctuary for late-season bees and migrating butterflies.

Standing tall in the center, society garlic (Tulbaghia violacea) such as Florida Foliage Society Garlic from Walmart gives narrow grass-like foliage topped with starry lilac-pink flower clusters. You wouldn’t think anything with the name garlic could be this ethereal and pretty. It provides grass-like height and soft twilight-purple tones.

(Image credit: Charles Melton / Alamy)

Nestled alongside your society garlic, Parry's penstemon adds magenta-pink blooms and wildflower texture that late-season pollinators adore. But if this is tricky to find, native autumn sage (Salvia greggii) or dwarf purple coneflower offer equally resilient natives. Cascading over the edges, Trailing Purple Lantana Starter Plants from Amazon blankets the rim in pink and purple clusters that trail on 2 foot (.6m) stalks.

Assemble this hardy trio in a breathable, weather-resistant pot or unglazed terracotta. Use a 50/50 blend of native topsoil and coarse grit. Native roots thrive on minimal fertilizer, so avoid heavy feeding, which can cause tall flower stems to become floppy. This tough native trio will easily survive light fall frosts. Simply snip back spent penstemon flower spikes after a hard freeze and top-dress the soil with gravel to protect roots over winter.

5. Mini Modern Statement

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No container roundup would be complete without a wild card – and this one is designed to fit in small spaces. Perfect for bistro tables, balcony railings, or compact urban steps, this free spirit packs a huge amount of jewel-toned color into a small pot. It focuses on unexpected textures: glossy peppers, rosette succulents, and bright, trailing penny-shaped leaves.

With the deep violet and fiery tones of desert dusk, this drought-tolerant boutique pot will turn heads without taking over. The focal point of this compact pot is a glistening ornamental pepper plant, filled with rich red or purple fruits. Try ornamental peppers like Sangria or Black Pearl, with black foliage as well as clusters of peppers. You can still get Expert Gardener Ornamental Pepper Live Plants from Walmart in packs of 5 if you hurry. Chili peppers can also work, although this type needs more watering. Alternatively, compact ornamental kale is relatively drought tolerant.

(Image credit: Medeia / Shutterstock)

Combined with your peppers, add some echeveria round the edge of a wide, shallow planter. Echeveria Afterglow or Perle von Nürnberg add architectural, jewel-toned elegance. As well as their easygoing, fleshy texture, these plants give vibrant pastel colors that can shift in the warmth of late season sun. Trailing over the edge, Golden Creeping Jenny, available from Nature Hills provides bright contrast.

Tuck this compact trio into a shallow bowl filled with a gritty succulent potting mix. Charcoal and slate tones work well with this vibrant potted community. Keep water application minimal and only moisten the soil when the top two inches (5cm) are dry to the touch. To overwinter, bring the echeveria indoors to a sunny windowsill before freezing night temperatures arrive. Ornamental peppers will hold their bright colors even on dried stems late into the season.

Container Planting Essentials

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So now you’ve got your plants and plans, you just need a few little extras to help see your containers through fall and even past the first frost. To help plants thrive in the cooler months, these planting essentials will help with drainage, and will also help you to relocate heavy planters with early freeze warnings. That way, you can keep your desert sunset arrangements crisp, vibrant, and stress-free for longer.

Dream Fall Trio

Tip-Top Toes

Lemon Road Lemon Road Terracotta Pot Feet for Planters

Give drainage an easy lift with these pot risers. By elevating heavy planters off cold, wet patio pavers, they maintain airflow around the base and ensure rainfall drains instantly, keeping drought-tolerant roots rot-free in cool weather.

NItty Gritty

Back to the Roots Back to the Roots Succulent & Cacti Mix

If you need a fast-draining potting blend for low-maintenance fall pots, this organic mix is ideal. Packed with perlite and airy organic matter, it prevents moisture pooling around succulent and grass roots as temperatures drop.

Roll With It

Bloem Bloem Plant Caddy With Wheels, 100 Lb Capacity

This durable, weather-resistant wheeled base makes light work of relocating heavy pots. It allows you to glide statement planters into sheltered spots or garage corners, which is great peace of mind when early freezes threaten.

Need more ideas for getting the most from your plants, indoors and out, and looking for the best seasonal expert advice delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for the free Gardening Know How Newsletter!

Want a spring lawn that's filled with flowers next year? Now is the perfect time to plant crocus bulbs to create a dreamy carpet of colorful blooms that appear in the early days of spring.

Getting a full, colorful naturalized crocus lawn that whimsically fills your whole yard can be a challenge though. The reality is often a few lonely flowers scattered here and there, rather than a tapestry of bright spring blooms.

I consulted with some experts about why crocus lawns often underperform and how you can avoid this issue. Here's what they said the biggest problem (as well as a few other mistakes to avoid) and how you should plant bulbs this fall for stunning results next spring.

You're Not Planting Enough Bulbs

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"The biggest reason crocus lawns do not turn out the way people want is quite simple," says Erik Collado Vidal, CEO of Growbarato.net and a horticulturalist with expertise in the cultivation industry. "Gardeners usually plant too few bulbs but still expect to wake up to a full carpet of crocuses the next spring."

Mario Galo of G&V Tree Service agrees and puts a specific number to it. "Most people place bulbs too equally and widely apart. Plant 75–100+ bulbs per square meter in random clusters rather than rows to replicate natural spread for maximum impact," he says.

While the instinct to space out bulbs evenly and add quite a few is obviously understandable, it works against everything most people want. Crocus bulbs are small and need to be planted 3-5 inches apart (8-10 cm). But Vidal recommends going even tighter with spacing in each group, as close as 1-3 inches (2.5-7.5 cm), and planting bulbs in irregular, wave-like clusters rather than neat lines.

"The biggest mistake is when they are planted in narrow rows or when a small number of bulbs is spread across a large area," he says. "That almost always looks sparse and disappointing."

Planting a ton of bulbs can be time-consuming. But this DeWit Crocus Bulb Planter (available on Amazon) is super helpful and will make it so you can plant hundreds of bulbs at a time.

This process is not only time-consuming, but your knees will be aching by the end. This Klarg Kneeling Pad (available on Amazon) has extra-thick foam to protect them, and it’s budget-friendly.

Your Mowing Habits Could Be Undermining Everything

(Image credit: Olha Solodenko / Shutterstock)

Even if you get the planting down perfectly, a crocus lawn can still get weak over time if the grass is mowed too soon after they flower. The leaves need to complete a full cycle of turning yellow and dying back before you mow the lawn again, which will be about 6 weeks after the flowers fade.

"If you cut the grass too early, the leaves will not get enough time to feed the bulbs," Vidal warns. "This will make the flowers look weaker over time."

Galo echoes the point, warning, "Mowing bulbs too soon weakens them and stops them from growing."

Don't Overlook Hidden Threats

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Sometimes the problem isn't technique at all, but tiny little animals munching on your bulbs. David Joles, COO of PURCOR Pest Solutions, points to animal pests as an overlooked cause of crocus lawn failure.

He says, "The problem primarily lies with animal pests that go after the bulbs for food – voles, mice, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and others. Once they discover the crocus bulbs in your yard, your lawn becomes a goldmine for them."

Becky Heath, President and CEO of Brent and Becky's Bulbs, has seen this firsthand and flags the vole as the main guilty party or the ringleader of the pest gang, as you might start referring to them.

She also raises two other overlooked factors: herbicides used in standard lawn care that can make it harder for anything other than grass to grow and the impact of a harsh winter on shallow planted bulbs.

"Since crocus bulbs are small, they are often only planted about 2 to 3 inches deep," she notes. "If their roots had not had the opportunity to grow and get established before temperatures dropped significantly, it's possible that some of them froze."

Choose the Right Crocus

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Not all crocuses are equally suited to life on the lawn. Both experts point to Crocus tommasinianus as the standout choice when it comes to naturalizing in grass. It reliably self-seeds, can handle competition on turf better than larger hybrid varieties, and does super well in thin grass or under deciduous trees.

Brent and Becky’s Bulbs sells Crocus tommasinianus on their website in quantities divisible by ten and they’re even squirrel-resistant. Other crocus varieties include Crocus chrysanthus varieties like 'Cream Beauty,' 'Gipsy Girl', 'Ruby Giant', and 'Whitewell Purple'.

Stick to these tips and that carpet of color you’ve been dreaming about will be genuinely achievable next spring.

I love dahlias. Those enormous flowers have a habit of making everything around them look slightly underdressed, and every time I pop down my local community garden I find myself staring at those dinner-plate sized blooms with my mouth agape.

Can you blame me? Just when the rest of the garden is beginning to look a little tired, dahlias are still putting on their best performance – but then, depending on where you live, comes the inevitable business of lifting, storing, dividing, and generally fussing over those precious tubers. And if there's one thing I'm not a fan of, it's fussing.

With that in mind, then, I've been wondering if there might be a slightly easier way to get that same late-season wow factor... and I think I've found it in the form of a seriously pretty perennial.

The Pretty Perennial That's Quietly Replacing Dahlias

If you, too, dream of replacing dahlias with something a little easier – and of course you do – then meet Autumn Gold Helianthus (available at Burpee).

Burpee.com Autumn Gold Helianthus - 1 Plant

A compact perennial sunflower that absolutely comes into its own when summer is winding down. And I know what you're thinking: a sunflower instead of a dahlia? Well, hear me out.

For starters, Autumn Gold Helianthus is nothing like the enormous sunflower stems you're probably picturing right now. And, while dahlias have that wonderful ability to keep a border looking alive when summer's first flush of flowers is beginning to fade, 'Autumn Gold' does something remarkably similar, but with cheerful golden flowers that appear en masse from September through early November.

Unlike most sunflowers, too, Autumn Gold forms a much mound, smothered in golden-yellow flowers that are hardy in USDA Planting Zones 4-9, which is excellent news for local pollinators (because, yes, its late-season flowers attract butterflies and birds).

Shop Fall Flowers:

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Burpee.com Purple Dome Aster - 1 Plant

Another reason this is a good one to consider if you want to start replacing dahlias?Well, rather than giving you one or two enormous sunflower heads towering above everything else, 'Autumn Gold' creates a dense display of medium-sized flowers.

In other words, it has the kind of visual impact I usually want from a late-summer perennial without asking me to make room for a giant plant. And, perhaps most importantly for those of us who like our gardens to do a little more of the work themselves, it doesn't require coddling.

Give it full sun and well-drained soil, and it isn't particularly fussy. The compact habit also means it shouldn't need the kind of staking that can become necessary with taller sunflower varieties. Plus, it comes back every year, making it the ideal option for those looking to swap their dahlias for something hardier.

(Image credit: Martin Wahlborg / Getty Images)

Now, I'm not suggesting we all break up with our dahlia tubers tomorrow. I still love them, and nothing quite matches the variety of flower shapes and colors you can get from those wonderfully indulgent blooms.

That being said, if what you're looking for is a reliable late-season display, perennial return, lots of wildlife value and less fuss, then Autumn Gold makes a very convincing alternative.

Try not to think of it as a dahlia lookalike (although planted en masse it makes one heck of an impact!). Instead, think of it as a different way to get the same thing we all love about dahlias: a proper fall spectacle.

Don't tell everyone, but buying end-of-season bargains and bare root plants now will fill your garden with flowers for years to come while saving a fortune. With fall sneaking up on us, next summer probably isn’t on your radar yet. But now is a surprisingly smart time to shop for perennials to plant in fall and give your garden a head start. There are September plant bargains to be had with garden centers keen to clear the last of their summer stock. Dormant bare root plants also offer an economical way to buy without paying out for a large plant that's costly to transport, and planting bare roots is just as easy as adding a potted plant to your backyard.

The real advantage of fall planting goes way beyond price, however. Warm soil and cooler air create excellent conditions for root growth, helping perennial plants settle in with less heat and transplant stress. And while there'll be no instant show of flowers or lush foliage, what matters is that roots are busy growing in the soil. By spring, that supportive root system means perennials hit the ground running, giving you bigger, stronger plants and, in many cases, lots more flowers.

So, if you want to have a gorgeous garden on a budget, start with these 10 reliable plants with serious flower power. Every garden should have all these hard-working flowering plants that bring plenty of blooms year in, year out, in return for very little effort. All are cheaper to buy right now in both bare root and potted form, and we've hunted out the very best deals on our recommended varieties. So, whether you're starting a new yard from scratch or want to ensure existing borders are packed with blooms, all these plants make great garden investments.

Ready to know what to buy and how to give it the best possible start so that next summer your garden will be blooming lovely? Let's dive in…

1. Peony

(Image credit: Getty Images)

• Zones 3-8
• Full sun to partial shade
• Flowers late spring to early summer
• Grows to 2-4 feet high and 2-3 feet wide

With their varied shapes and brilliant colors, peonies are a must for any style of yard, and planting them now is better for the plant as well as your wallet. Buy peonies now as bare roots for planting in fall and in most of the US, the soil is still warm enough for roots to grow while the top growth is shutting down. And it's so easy to do. Plant a peony bare root with the eyes – the pink or reddish buds on the root – just 1-2 inches below the soil surface; any deeper and your peonies may refuse to flower. Give them full sun and excellent drainage, and don't crowd them as good air circulation helps keep foliage healthy.

'Coral Charm' Peony, available from Dutch Grown, is a particular favorite as it brings a succession of warm shades over the summer. Or for timeless romance, ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ Peony, also available from Dutch Grown, is hard to beat with its huge, beautifully ruffled double blooms in soft rose-pink tones. Be patient as peonies can take a couple of seasons to settle in and flower generously but once established, they can live for 50 years or more!

2. Daylily

(Image credit: Getty Images)

• Zones 3-9
• Full sun to partial shade
• Flowers summer into fall, depending on variety
• Grows to 1-4 feet high and 1-3 feet wide

Daylilies (Hemerocallis) are not only glorious, but they’re also wonderfully forgiving, making them one of the easiest bare root perennials to establish in fall. Planting daylilies now gives the fleshy roots time to settle into their new home while cooler weather reduces the stress of transplanting. Come spring, your daylily will start the growing season with roots that have had months to establish, for a standout show of blooms.

Set the crown – where the roots meet the leaves – about 1 inch below the soil surface, rather than burying it deeply. Water well after planting, then keep the soil reasonably moist until the ground begins to freeze. Give daylilies a sunny spot for the best flowering, although many varieties tolerate light shade.

One of the most popular varieties with garden designers is Daylily 'Black Stockings', available from Dutch Grown, with unrivalled near-black, velvety petals. It’s a reblooming variety, so you'll enjoy more blooms for your bucks. For a softer, more romantic note, Daylily 'Lavender Tutu', also available from Dutch Grown, makes a beautiful contrast to deeper purples, burgundies and pinks of other perennials.

3. Oriental Poppy

(Image credit: Catharina E Insley / Shutterstock)

• Zones 3-7
• Full sun to partial shade
• Flowers late spring to early summer
• Grows to 2-4 feet high and 1-2 feet wide

With their huge blousy blooms, oriental poppies (Papaver orientalis) are a perennial favorite and their chunky, fleshy roots are tailormade for bare root planting in fall, giving plants time to settle in before winter. Plant the roots horizontally, following the supplier's directions, being careful not to bury them too deeply. Choose a sunny position with sharply drained soil as winter-wet ground is a bigger threat than cold. Oriental poppies don’t take kindly to being moved so choose the right spot to start with and they'll put on a spectacular display for years to come.

For drama, few poppies can rival ‘Patty’s Plum’ with its huge, crinkled blooms, and bare root poppy 'Patty's Plum' is available at Dutch Grown. To bring light and contrast to any sunny border, 'Perry's White', also available from Dutch Grown, is a winner with enormous, ruffled white flowers.

4. Sedum

(Image credit: Jacky Parker Photography / Getty Images)

• Zones 3-9
• Full sun
• Flowers summer to late fall
• Grows to 1-2½ feet high and 1½-3 feet wide

There’s a good reason why sedum (Hylotelephium) is such a reliable garden favorite, and that's because it's one of those late-season heroes that keeps on flowering when everything else has given up. It combines beautiful flowers with incredible resilience and requires hardly any looking after. These succulent-leaved perennials thrive in full sun and well-drained soil, shrugging off heat, drought and poor soil once established. So if you have a tricky too-hot area where not much wants to grow, here's your solution.

Sedum flowers are rich in nectar for bees and butterflies, and this plant earns its place in the garden well beyond its flowering season. The sturdy flowerheads look good through fall and you can leave the spent heads standing over winter to provide structure.

Buying potted plants at knock-down prices and planting them now gives sedum roots time to settle before next summer’s heat arrives. Water thoroughly after planting, then allow the soil to dry between waterings rather than keeping plants constantly moist. Autumn Joy sedum, available from Nature Hills is a must-have classic with large, flat heads of dusky pink flowers that deepen towards rich red as autumn progresses. For something a little different, Plum Dazzled sedum, available from Plant Addicts, combines sumptuous plum-purple foliage with rosy-pink flowers and adds rich color to the garden as the season begins to fade.

5. Bearded Iris

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

• Zones 3-9
• Full sun
• Flowers spring to early summer
• Grows to 1-2½ feet high and 1½-2 feet wide

Bold yet elegant bearded iris flowers bring vibrant color and beautiful structure to a garden, yet are far more low-maintenance and drought-tolerant that their exotic appearance suggests. Bearded iris can be bought as rhizomes – underground storage stems – at this time of the year, which is far cheaper than buying a potted ready-to-flower plant next year.

Fall planting allows the rhizome to make roots before the plant goes fully dormant, giving it a stronger launch into spring. Just be sure to give your bearded iris several weeks of root-building weather before winter arrives. Plant the rhizome at or just barely below the soil surface in a sun-baked spot with free-draining soil. Water thoroughly after planting, but don't keep the soil constantly wet.

The intense purple ruffles of bearded iris Black Knight, available from Dutch Grown, is a sophisticated choice and a worthy talking point, so add these to your front yard if you want to make your neighbors a little jealous. Bearded iris Wine and Roses, also available from Dutch Grown, offers a more romantic vibe with deliciously coloured pink and purple petals.

6. Coneflower

(Image credit: Victoria Ross / Getty Images)

• Zones 3-9
• Full sun
• Flowers summer to fall
• Grows to 2-4 feet high and 1-2 feet wide

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is a dependable perennial and will transform from a late-season nursery bargain into next summer's best pollinator magnet. By September, many container-grown coneflowers have finished their biggest floral display so garden centers drop the price – which is great news for savvy shoppers! Your garden birds will be pleased, too, as coneflowers provide plenty of homegrown seed for feathered friends.

Choose a spot with full sun and well-drained soil and water thoroughly when planting, then regularly irrigate while your coneflower is establishing without keeping the soil constantly soggy.

Magnus purple coneflower, available at Nature Hills is an unbeatable classic, offering color and sustenance to bees and butterflies throughout summer. For a sturdier habit and just as much butterfly appeal with masses of rich burgundy-red flowers, Sombrero Baja Burgundy coneflower, available from Burpee is another super choice for any garden.

7. Black-eyed Susans

(Image credit: Getty Images)

• Zones 4-9/10 depending on species
• Full sun to partial shade
• Flowers summer to late fall
• Grows to 2-6 feet high and 1-3 feet wide

Black-eyed Susan is a stalwart of sunny summer borders, delivering masses of cheerful flowers with little fuss. Leave some spent flowerheads over winter and you'll also provide seeds for birds, extending the plant's usefulness well beyond its flowering season. Potted Rudbeckia plants are often discounted once their peak summer display has passed; buy them now and you should still get a few weeks of color from these late-season bloomers.

Full sun is ideal, with reasonably fertile, well-drained soil. Water deeply after planting to encourage roots to explore the surrounding soil so, once established, plants are robust and can cope with heat and periods of dry weather.

‘Prairie Glow’ black-eyed Susan, available from Nature Hills, has a fiery twist and glows through the summer and into fall – perfect for bringing warmth to the late-season garden. Or, for a variety that takes up very little border space, choose Rudbeckia Little Goldstar, also available from Nature Hills, which is perfectly compact and equally floriferous. This is also one of best perennials for patio pots if you want maximum flowers for minimum effort.

8. Yarrow

(Image credit: Getty Images)

• Zones 3-9
• Full sun
• Flowers summer to fall
• Grows to 1-4 feet high and 1-3 feet wide

Achillea is one of those plants that looks deceptively delicate but is a real garden workhorse. Its flat-topped flower clusters bring butterflies and other pollinators, while the foliage has a pleasingly ferny texture. With its tough constitution and long flowering season, yarrow is a particularly useful perennial for low-maintenance borders. By fall, container-grown yarrow plants have finished flowering, making them prime candidates for end-of-season markdowns.

Especially lovely is Achillea ‘Strawberry Seduction’, available from Nature Hills, which carries domed heads of deliciously rich pink-red flowers, gradually fading to warm straw yellow as summer progresses. For the earthy warmth of a summer sunset, yarrow ‘Desert Eve Terracotta’, available at Lowe's, is a more compact choice to add glowing color to a sunny border. Give yarrow full sun and good drainage and plant it at the same depth it was growing in its pot.

9. Aster

(Image credit: Albert Fertl / Getty Images)

• Zones 3-8, depending on species
• Full sun to partial shade
• Flowers late summer to fall
• Grows to 1-6 feet high and 1-4 feet wide

Native asters (Symphyotrichum) peak just as many perennials are winding down, producing clouds of daisy-like flowers in late summer and fall. That makes them particularly useful to wildlife – and easy to overlook when plant-shopping earlier in the year. Native asters are particularly useful for supporting specialist bees and are important host plants for numerous moth and butterfly caterpillars. Leaving the dried stems standing over winter will provide habitat and seed, as well as a little structure when the rest of the border has gone quiet.

Plant asters now while the soil is workable, preferably in sun and well-drained soil. Don't worry if the plant looks less than impressive once its flowers fade: the root system is busy growing to support bountiful blooms next year.

If you have a small gap to fill, try dwarf variety ‘Purple Dome’, available from Nature Hills – it’s great for being naturally pest-free too. For intensely rich, grape-purple flowers, ‘Grape Crush’, also available from Nature Hills, is the perfect antidote to fading summer color.

10. Hosta

(Image credit: Getty Images)

• Zones 3-9
• Partial shade to shade
• Flowers summer
• Grows to ½–2½ feet high and ½-3 feet wide

The magic of hostas is they don't need to be in flower to be fabulous. Their leaves create structure, color and interest from spring onwards, making them wonderful for woodland gardens, shady borders, containers and naturalized planting.

Hostas are one of the easiest shade-loving perennials to establish from bare roots in fall. Plant your bargain roots in partial to full shade and rich, moisture-retentive, well-drained soil. Keep the crown level with the soil surface, water thoroughly and keep the soil consistently moist while roots establish, particularly if fall is dry. Don’t worry if there’s little to see above ground after planting as hostas naturally die back for winter before emerging in spring, when you'll need to protect tasty fresh leaves from slugs and snails with Garden Safe Slug and Snail Granules, available from Amazon.

A mixed hosta collection such as this Walmart deal is a lovely (and highly economical) way to discover just how much variety these plants can offer. Or skip straight to the showstoppers with a standout variety like hosta White Feather, available from Dutch Grown, whose cream leaves light up a shady corner. Hosta Fire & Ice, also available from Dutch Grown, is another surefire hit with stunning variegated foliage.

Top Tips for September Success

• Don't judge a plant by its flowers. End-of-season container plants can look a little scruffy but as long as the crown is firm, the foliage is reasonably healthy and the roots aren't rotten or completely pot-bound. When you're searching through a garden center's bargain corner, skip anything with obvious disease, severe pest damage or a dry, brittle root ball.
• Treat bare-root plants with care. The bare roots should arrive firm and substantial rather than dried out or brittle. Keep roots from drying out and plant as soon as practical, following the supplier's instructions for soaking and planting depth.
• Get the basics right. Always match the perennial to your USDA hardiness zone, sunlight, soil drainage and local growing conditions. The cheapest plant is no bargain if it's planted in the wrong place.
• In colder regions, aim to plant at least four to six weeks before the ground freezes, giving new arrivals time to establish before temperatures plummet.
• Water after planting. Fall rain may do some of the work but newly planted perennials still need a thorough drink and should be watered during prolonged dry spells while they establish.
• Always mulch fall-planted perennials. A 2-3 inch layer of organic mulch such as Back to Roots Organic Mulch, available from The Home Depot, laid over the soil surface helps conserve moisture and buffer temperature swings; keep it a little away from crowns and stems to prevent rot.

If you've been wondering what to plant in fall, now you know. Get busy in September and take advantage of end-of-season bargains and bare root plants and your garden will be packed full of flowers next summer, for years to come, without splashing the cash. There's no better way to save money when starting a new garden, adding another border or filling up an existing bed with extra flower power, than planting great-value perennials in fall.

Something shifts for orchids once the calendar turns. The days are shortening, the nights are cooling off, and for a moth orchid that spent all summer building leaves and roots, that combination is the cue. Whether flowers happen at all tends to be settled around now – not in January, when the spike finally shows itself.

Most of what good orchid care asks for in September is subtraction. Less water, less feeding. Cooler nights, too – that one probably matters most. The thing worth adding is attention, since a fair bit of the month’s damage comes from running summer habits a few weeks too long.

1. Let the Nights Get Cold

(Image credit: Helin Loik-Tomson / Getty Images)

Phalaenopsis needs a run of cool nights before it will push a flower spike. Around 55F (13C) after dark for a few weeks is the usual target, with days holding in the normal 75 to 85F (24 to 29C) range. A house kept at a flat 72F (22C) all year is comfortable for people. For an orchid, it can be the reason nothing ever happens.

An east or north-facing window does much of this on its own once outdoor lows start dropping, since the glass runs colder than the room. A small monitor near the pot takes the guesswork out of it – a ThermoPro hygrometer from Amazon logs the overnight low so the number is sitting there in the morning, which beats guessing.

2. Bring Summering Plants Back Indoors

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Anything that spent the summer on a porch is working against a deadline now. Once nighttime lows start touching 55F (13C), plants belong back under a roof. Waiting for frost is how people lose orchids outright – cold damage on a leaf doesn’t heal, and a hard night can take the whole plant. Cymbidiums shrug off more chill than most, though the common houseplant types really don’t.

Scrub the indoor growing spot before anything comes back to it. Algae and old debris on a windowsill carry problems forward, and dealing with it now is easier than chasing an infestation across a full shelf in February.

3. Check Every Plant for Hitchhikers

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Plants that summered outside almost always bring something in with them. Mealybugs (Pseudococcidae) tuck into leaf joints as cottony white specks. Scale insects (Coccoidea) look like small brown bumps that scrape off with a fingernail. Slugs and weed seedlings ride in inside the pot itself, sometimes with an ant colony living under the bark.

Rinse the leaves and their undersides first, then treat while the plant is still outside. Captain Jack’s insecticidal super soap from Amazon is labeled for outdoor use, so the porch is where that step belongs anyway. Keep treated plants separated from the rest for a couple of weeks afterward. It’s a precaution, not a verdict on the plant.

4. Follow the Light as the Sun Drops

(Image credit: All For You Friend / Shutterstock)

The sun sits lower every week now. A south-facing window that was scorching leaves in July can become decent real estate by late September, while a corner that suited a plant fine in June may be too dim by month’s end. Leaf color reads the situation faster than any meter – grassy green is about right, and dark forest green usually means the plant could take more.

Cleaning orchid leaves helps more than people expect, since a summer’s worth of film cuts into what light there is. Rotate the pot with a quarter turn every week or so to keep growth even. Small stuff, but it stacks up.

5. Ease Off the Water and Fertilizer

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Growth slows as the light goes, and orchid water requirements fall off with it. Bark that dried out in four days in August might stay damp for eight or nine now, so an unchanged watering rhythm quietly becomes a root rot problem. Check before pouring. In a clear pot, silvery roots mean thirsty and green ones mean wait a while longer.

Orchid feeding can taper too – a diluted dose every few weeks rather than the weekly warm-season routine. Flush the pot with plain water first to clear out built-up salts. And never feed a bone-dry plant, whatever month it is.

6. Save Repotting for the Spring

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

September feels like a tidy-up month, which is exactly why so people repot orchids right about now. Better to wait. Disturbing roots while a plant is setting up to spike can cost the flowers, and shortening days leave little in the tank for recovery. Unless the medium has gone to mush or the roots are rotting, spring is the safer window.

Watch instead. Spikes tend to show up later in fall, and once one reaches 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20cm) it wants support – a set of orchid support stakes with clips from Amazon handles that. Clip loosely and leave the growing tip free to move on its own.

None of this is dramatic work. Let the nights run cold, back off a little on everything else, and the flowers arrive on their own schedule.

They say that every fruit holds its secret, and that's even more true when you consider that we each have a birth month fruit!

Yes, we all know our birth flowers, and by now you may even know your birth month bird, tree, or animal. You can even find a special meaning for you in your birth month vine... so what if your birthday had a fruit, too?

There's something wonderfully satisfying about imagining that the natural world has a little personality profile waiting for each of us, especially if it comes in the form of something we can grow an our own garden. Even more so, too, if that something is edible.

All 12 Birth Month Fruits

From strawberries to pomegranates, each month has its own fruity personality. Some are sweet, some are bold, some are a little unexpected – and, frankly, all feel uncannily accurate.

So, whether you're a January baby looking for a little sunshine or a September soul who'd rather march to the beat of their own drum, let's find out which fruit represents you. And because this is Gardening Know How, let's also consider whether you can actually grow your birth month fruit at home...

January – Orange

Bright, optimistic, and impossible to ignore, oranges are the perfect birth month fruit for January babies. There's something wonderfully cheerful about a bright orange fruit appearing when much of the garden is looking decidedly sleepy, so if you're a January baby, you're probably someone who brings a little sunshine wherever you go.

You're naturally positive, energetic, and perhaps slightly more determined than people realise. You may also have a secret talent for making everyone around you feel a little better.

Grow it yourself?

Orange trees need plenty of warmth and sunshine, but dwarf varieties can be grown in containers. In cooler climates, you'll need to bring them somewhere protected from frost during winter.

Shop Orange Trees:

Brighter Blooms Navel Orange Tree

JAVAGREEN Red Mineola Tangelo Honeybell Tree

Brighter Blooms Calamondin Orange Tree

February – Strawberry

(Image credit: Westend61 / Getty Images)

Sweet, sociable, and perhaps a little romantic, strawberries are a fitting fruit for February birthdays.

If this is your birth month fruit, you're warm-hearted and generous, with a tendency to make people feel at home instantly. You may also have a playful streak that comes out when you're around the people you love most.

And honestly, who wouldn't want strawberries as their personality fruit?

Grow it yourself?

Absolutely. Strawberries are among the easiest fruits for home gardeners to grow, and you don't even need a huge garden. Try growing something like these Sweet Charlie Strawberry Plants in containers, hanging baskets, or a sunny border.

March – Lemon

(Image credit: Future Publishing Ltd)

Fresh, energetic, and full of personality, the lemon is obviously the only contender for March's birth month fruit.

You're curious and adaptable, with a knack for finding the bright side of even slightly sour situations. You're also not afraid to say what you think – although you probably manage to do it with enough charm that people forgive you.

Grow it yourself?

Lemon trees (like this Meyer Lemon Tree from Brighter Blooms) love sunshine and warmth, but compact varieties can be grown in pots. If you live somewhere cold, keep your tree somewhere protected and bring it indoors when temperatures drop.

April – Cherry

(Image credit: Romeo-f / Getty Images)

If you're an April baby, your fruit is the cherry – beautiful, fleeting, and impossible to ignore. Hardly a surprise, of course, as cherries are associated with joy, beauty, and appreciation, making them a fitting match for people who tend to notice the little things.

You're likely sociable and optimistic, with a talent for turning an ordinary day into something memorable. And, much like a cherry blossom, you probably know how to make an entrance.

Grow it yourself?

Cherry trees need plenty of sunshine and space, but dwarf varieties can make home growing much more manageable. Just remember that pollination requirements vary between varieties, so check before you buy (personally, I'm a fan of this Stella Cherry Tree from Nature Hills).

May – Apple

(Image credit: Billysfam / Shutterstock)

Reliable, generous, and quietly confident, the apple is a classic choice for May birthdays. If this is your fruit, you're the person everyone knows they can rely on, because, while you may not always demand attention, you're usually the first person people call when they need help.

There's also something wonderfully wholesome about having an apple as your birth month fruit. Very garden-to-table.

Grow it yourself?

Yes – although you'll need to choose a variety suited to your climate and available space. Something like this lovely Honeycrisp Apple Tree from Nature Hills promises beautiful apples and a buzz of happy pollinators, too!

June – Peach

(Image credit: Kenneth_Keifer / Getty Images)

Warm, affectionate, and full of summer energy, peaches are a fitting birth month fruit for June babies. You're likely generous with your time and attention, and you have a talent for making people feel comfortable around you. You also have a softer side, even if you don't always show it straight away.

And, naturally, you probably have excellent taste. How could you not, right?

Grow it yourself?

Peaches need warmth, sunshine, and a little patience, but they're very rewarding if you have the right conditions. Look for a variety suited to your USDA hardiness zone (this Elberta Peach Tree from Brighter Blooms is a great option) and give it a sunny, sheltered position.

July – Raspberry

July's birth month fruit is the raspberry, which suits all those who are energetic, independent, and just a little bit wild.

You don't necessarily like following the crowd, and you're happiest when you have the freedom to do things your own way. Beneath that independent streak, though, you're incredibly loyal to the people you care about. Just... just like a raspberry, obviously.

Grow it yourself?

Raspberries are surprisingly easy to grow, provided you give them fertile soil, plenty of sun, and something to support their canes. Just be prepared for them to spread if you don't keep them in check.

Shop Raspberries:

Burpee.com Heritage Raspberry - 1 Plant

Burpee.com Glencoe Raspberry - 1 Plant

Burpee.com Glencoe Raspberry - 1 Plant

August – Fig

(Image credit: SabbirDigitall / Shutterstock)

Figs are luxurious, unusual, and slightly mysterious – making them an excellent match for confident and creative August babies.

Hardly surprising, but figgy babies everywhere know how to enjoy the good things in life. Because, yes, they're the kind of people who would happily eat fresh figs in the garden while everyone else is still deciding what to barbecue.

Grow it yourself?

Figs can be surprisingly easy to grow, especially in warm climates. In cooler areas, grow them in a container so you can protect the roots and move the tree somewhere sheltered if necessary. The Violette de Bordeaux Fig Plant from Burpee is said to supply the very finest tasting figs around, so snap one up!

September – Pear

(Image credit: Tara Moore / Getty Images)

Need a sign to plant a pear tree? If you're born in September, this is it; it's only your very own birth month fruit!

Calm, thoughtful, and quietly elegant, if you're a September baby, you're probably someone who thinks before they act. You're observant, practical, and good at spotting details other people miss. You might not always be the loudest person in the room, but people tend to listen when you speak... and hey, that's way more important in the long run.

Grow it yourself?

Pear trees can make excellent additions to a home orchard, but many varieties benefit from having another compatible pear nearby for pollination. Choose carefully based on your space and climate.

October – Pomegranate

(Image credit: Cavan Images / Getty Images)

Dramatic, passionate, and packed with hidden depth, the pomegranate is an excellent birth month fruit for October babies like yours truly!

Like the fruit itself, we may not reveal everything about ourselves immediately (we love that sense of mystery, right?). We're also thoughtful, intense, and probably have more going on beneath the surface than people first realise.

We're also not afraid of a little drama, and that isn't always a bad thing. Drama is basically a byline for passion, after all.

Grow it yourself?

Pomegranates need plenty of sunshine and warmth, making them best suited to warmer climates. In cooler areas, a container-grown tree can be a better option, provided you can give it enough light and protect it from freezing temperatures. Something like this Dwarf Pomegranate Fruit Bearing Starter Fruit Tree from Gurney's could be ideal!

November – Persimmon

(Image credit: Volff / Alamy)

Sweet, elegant, and ever so slightly mysterious, the persimmon is November's birth month fruit. If this is you, then you're resilient, patient, and perhaps a little underestimated. You don't necessarily need to be the centre of attention, but when your moment comes, you tend to make the most of it.

There's also something wonderfully autumnal about a persimmon – which makes it almost too perfect for November.

Grow it yourself?

American persimmons (like this one from Ginger Glow) can be surprisingly hardy and make beautiful additions to an edible garden. Just check whether you need a male and female tree, or choose a self-fertile variety if you have limited space.

December – Blueberry

Last but by no means least, the blueberry is December's birth month fruit.

Sweet, spirited, and full of surprises, a December baby is curious and enthusiastic, not to mention always looking ahead to the next adventure. They are also adaptable, which is useful because they tend to have a habit of saying yes before they've fully considered what they've agreed to.

And while blueberries might look small, they certainly aren't short on personality — much like the incredible December-born people in our lives.

Grow it yourself?

Blueberries are excellent additions to a home garden, and many varieties can be grown in containers. They need acidic soil, plenty of sunshine, and regular watering, so choose a specialist compost like this one from Down To Earth if you're growing them in a pot.

Shop Blueberries:

Burpee.com Jersey Blueberry - 1 Plant

Burpee.com Pink Lemonade Blueberry - 1 Plant

Burpee.com Sunshine Blue Blueberry - 1 Plant

Whether you're a strawberry, a fig, a raspberry, or something a little more unexpected, there's something rather lovely about finding another way to connect ourselves with the natural world.

Of course, your birth month fruit doesn't actually determine your personality; you're much too precious and complicated for that. But if your symbolic fruit happens to feel strangely accurate, why not lean into it? Or, better still, try growing it.

After all, there's no better way to celebrate your birth month than with something beautiful, delicious, and growing in your own garden, right?

Fall kitchens turn out some odd waste. Shrimp shells from a weekend boil, rinds left over from juicing, bread that went stale before anyone got to it: these food scraps usually end up in the trash on the assumption they won’t break down, or that they'll draw something unwelcome into the yard. But there’s some surprising gourmet treats lurking at the bottom of your trash can that can work wonders recycled in the yard.

When it comes to kitchen waste that can nourish our soil, coffee grounds, eggshells, banana skins, used tea leaves, and vegetable peelings get most of the attention. While those staples have their place in the compost pile, there are other treasures hiding in plain sight in our trash, and these unexpected foodie scraps are just begging to be put to good use.

Fall is the perfect time for composting some of this more complex, dense kitchen waste. A compost heap you get to work now has all winter and early spring to quietly work through these materials. The colder weather might slow decomposition a bit, but it also keeps smells and scavengers in check while heavy scraps soften. Come spring, you’ll have organic gold ready for quick absorption in your beds and borders.

Set the Table for Foodie Scraps

Adding these gourmet foodie scraps to garden beds doesn't require expensive or tricky equipment, but it does rely on getting your composting pile in decent shape before the ground freezes. It’s not a good idea to just fold these foodie scraps directly into the soil: composting gives a more efficient (and hygienic) flow of nutrients. Still, all you need is a composting pile, some time, and a little patience.

Dense, wet food waste needs plenty of carbon packed tightly around it to prevent the heap from turning sour or overly saturated. Fall provides the ultimate solution, as fallen leaves are free, and starting to appear everywhere. Layer 2 parts of dry, shredded leaves to 1 part rich kitchen food scraps to keep microbes alive through early frosts. Bury the wet stuff toward the center of your compost pile and keep those leafy browns around it, and the months ahead should take care of the rest.

(Image credit: Olesia Shadrina / Getty Images)

While you’re waiting for the following gourmet scraps to break down in your compost pile, there are a couple of foodie extras worth adding now. Fall is the ideal season to introduce ocean-derived tonics. Seaweed and kelp are vital soil superfoods, packed with over 60 trace minerals, growth hormones, and enzymes.

For a hearty pop of seaweed, you can add tonics and powders such as Down to Earth Organic Kelp Meal, available from Amazon to give quicker benefits for soil health. Another great soil treatment to add now is mushroom compost. You can get lush ready-made bags of Espoma Natural Mushroom Blend Fertilizer, available from Walmart, to replenish tired autumn beds. This is a great way of priming the ground in readiness for the following treats.

1. Crushed Shellfish Shells

(Image credit: ValentynVolkov / Getty Images)

Crustacean shells from the likes of crap or shrimp bring a unique defense that standard veggie peels cannot match. The hard exoskeletons of wild blue crabs, Gulf shrimp, and Maine lobsters are rich in calcium carbonate and a complex carb called chitin. When buried in warm fall compost, chitin triggers a bloom of bacteria that release chitinase. Those same enzymes go after the egg casings of destructive root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) lurking in garden soil.

To extract this goodness safely without inviting cats or raccoons, rinse off any heavy salts or seasonings first. Crush the dried shells using a mallet or rolling pin, until you get fine, coin-sized fragments. Bury these deep in the hot center of your pile with plenty of carbon. Then give them 4-6 months to soften. For a quick, pre-ground alternative that delivers instant chitin to beds, you can dust your rows now with a commercial blend such as Neptune's Harvest Organic Crab & Shell Meal from Walmart, which is high in natural chitin and calcium, and a little goes a long way.

2. Artisanal Beer Lees & Stale Crusty Bread

(Image credit: 500px Asia / Getty Images)

That flat inch (2.5cm) of craft IPA at the bottom of a bottle, the dregs of a rich autumn stout, or the forgotten heel of a sourdough loaf are massively useful. Used well, they hand soil microbes a supply of quick-release sugars and active yeasts in a form that is usable straight away. Cool fall weather can stall microbial activity in your compost, but these carbohydrates and live yeast can help jumpstart things, generating internal thermal energy that keeps the core of your heap warm enough to continue breaking down material well into November.

You can pour beer directly across dry, carbon-rich leaf layers, where it absorbs instantly into the material without pooling. Crusty breads, brioche, or stale dinner rolls must be torn into small chunks and buried at least 8-12 inches (10-25cm) deep within the core of the heap. Left too near the surface, damp bread can mold over and attract rodents. To fast-track the breakdown of bakery waste before adding it to your pile, you can use a tabletop composting or dehydrating unit, such as the Airthereal Revive R500 Electric Kitchen Composter, available from Amazon. This compact countertop food waste recycler easily dehydrates and grinds scraps.

3. Toasted Pecan, Pistachio & Hazelnut Shell

(Image credit: Julia_Sudnitskaya / Getty Images)

While soft kitchen scraps decompose in a single season, unsalted nut shells (such as crushed pecan hulls, hazelnut shells, and pistachio casings) provide a long-term benefit. Made of woody lignin, crushed nut shells take a year or more to break down. Tilled into beds, these fragments prevent heavy winter clay soil from packing tight under heavy rain and melting snow. Just make sure shells aren’t salted and give them a rinse, since sodium can build up in soil and damage delicate roots.

Word to the wise, avoid using black walnut (Juglans nigra) hulls. Black walnuts contain a natural herbicide called juglone that persists through composting and can stunt or kill sensitive nightshades like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in spring. To build a moisture-retentive humus around your shells, layer your heap with some worm castings. Sta-Green Earthworm Castings from Lowe’s are a gentle, slow-release way of building a balanced humus around these nutty extras.

4. Finely Grated Avocado Pits

(Image credit: Dina Belashova / Getty Images)

Toss an avocado pit into a standard compost bin and it will still be sitting there, virtually unchanged, 2 years later. However, beneath that rock-hard outer skin sits a stash of concentrated potassium, nitrogen, and essential fatty acids to power a growing tree seedling (and plenty else besides). The secret to unlocking those nutrients is changing the physical surface area of your pit before it dries out. In other words, get your grater out.

Freshly harvested pits from Hass, Reed, or Bacon avocados are surprisingly soft and easily processed. Use a heavy-duty manual box grater for this job. If you haven’t got one, the Farberware Pro 9.5 Stainless Steel Steel Box Grater from Walmart is a great heavy-duty option for easy (and satisfying) pit shredding. You need to shred the moist pit into nut-like shavings. Scattered into your fall compost or buried beneath bed mulch, these shavings break down in 60-90 days, releasing potassium just in time to power heavy-feeding spring perennials.

5. Charred Fish Bones & Seafood Scraps

(Image credit: Olesia Shadrina / Getty Images)

The bits of fish we don’t tend to eat (heads, frames, skins) represent some of the richest natural nitrogen sources a home compost heap can ever receive. While soft tissues break down rapidly to feed nitrogen-hungry soil microbes, the calcium-dense fish bones function as slow-release bone meal. As soil acids slowly dissolve these bones over winter, they release phosphorus and calcium, essential building blocks for spring heavy-feeders like dahlias, roses, and tomatoes.

Animal proteins carry a potent scent during initial decomposition. Dig a trench 12-15 inches (30-38cm) deep into the center of a hot compost pile. Lay down the fish scrap, and cap it with a foot (30cm) of shredded leaves or straw. To monitor whether your pile is generating enough heat, you can track internal temps using a compost thermometer. The REOTEMP Backyard Compost Thermometer, available from Amazon, is a reliable probe with an easy-to-follow dial that tells you whether the middle of the heap is running hot enough.

For growers who want the benefits of fish and bone meal in a quicker way, or don’t want to handle raw fish frames, you can also work a handful of Espoma Organic Bio-Tone Starter Plus, available from Walmart, directly into fall planting holes.

6. Pomegranate, Persimmon & Exotic Citrus

(Image credit: Julia700702 / Getty Images)

Citrus has a reputation for wrecking compost which is unfair. It is believed their natural acidity and d-limonene oils will destroy compost piles or kill beneficial earthworms. While high concentrations of pure citrus oil can bother worms in confined vermicomposting bins, a moderate mix of rinds such as blood orange, Meyer lemon or key lime, or thick pomegranate husks, will be safe for outdoor heaps. Pomegranate husks and thick winter citrus skins are packed with polyphenols, potassium, and trace minerals that enrich winter soil as they soften.

The acidity in citrus peels breaks down rapidly as microbes process the organic matter, and surrounding carbon buffers the pH. To speed up the breakdown of leathery pomegranate husks and grapefruit peels, chop them into small one-inch (2.5cm) pieces before burying them toward the center of your heap. To give tough, leathery fruit rinds an extra boost over cool autumn months, sprinkle the pile with a little compost accelerator, like Roebic Compost Accelerator from Amazon, to double the rate of breakdown before winter. For what it’s worth, these fruity scraps also add a splash of jaunty fall color to your compost heap.

Winter Care for the Big Freeze

(Image credit: Svetikd / Getty Images)

Remember to pack your food scraps in carbon, following that 2:1 ratio for crushed fall leaves and foodie bits. Once gourmet scraps and carbon layers are stacked in the pile, the biggest mistake is leaving the compost heap exposed to freezing winter winds. This can chill the outer edges and stall decomposition. A thick 12-inch (30cm) cap of loose straw, clean hay, or dry autumn leaves laid over the top of the bin acts as a thermal blanket, trapping internal heat and moisture.

Turning matters less now than in July, and a well-layered pile can sit until March. Letting the layered pile sit undisturbed protects the warm microbial core. When the middle needs loosening, the Tumbleweed Compost Aerator from The Home Depot can save a lot of digging in cold, packed material. This handy spiral tool makes light work of aerating dense piles. By the time the beds get turned in spring, your lush foodie scraps will be ready to nourish a new year of plants, flowers and crops!

(Image credit: MillefloreImages / Getty Images)

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Elegant white blooms make the peace lily a beautiful houseplant but a brown flower could be a desperate cry for help. While they’re among the easiest houseplants to look after, peace lilies are incredibly dramatic, and you’ve no doubt witnessed your plant’s diva-esque leaf flop when you’ve forgotten to water it. The same goes for browning peace lily flowers. The discolored blooms are likely telling you critical care information, and as part of our Garden ER series, we’re here with straightforward solutions to help you diagnose and treat the problem, and save your plant.

There are several possible causes behind a peace lily’s brown flowers, from being a perfectly normal part of the plant’s lifecycle to a clear sign that your Spathiphyllum wallisii is in severe trouble. But don't worry – each cause leaves a trail of telltale signs, making it easy to work out what the problem with your peace lily is and take the right action to nurse your plant back to health, pronto. And the good news is that all these common problems with peace lilies are straightforward to sort.

Ready? Come on into Garden ER and let’s diagnose and treat this houseplant patient suffering from brown flowers.

1. Is the Flower More Than a Month Old?

(Image credit: Shutterstock)Probable Cause: Natural Lifespan

Each peace lily bloom, called a spathe, only lasts for 4-6 weeks. So, if this discolored flower has been out for more than a month, it’s likely nearing the end of its life.

Confirm the Diagnosis

Another clue that points towards natural causes is if the sail turned green before it browned. New spathes emerge a bright white but produce chlorophyll as they age, which gradually turns them green, and they then slowly shift to brown. The more light the plant gets, the greener peace lily flowers will become, but all should show a gradual color shift rather than turning directly from white to brown.

(Image credit: Getty Images)Treatment Plan

If this sounds like what’s happened to your peace lily flower, there's nothing to worry about. Trace the stem of the brown flower down to the base of the plant and use a sharp pair of bypass pruners to cut it off as low as possible. This will stop your plant wasting nutrients on a dying flower.

2. Are the Brown Patches on the Flower Irregular?

(Image credit: Getty Images)Probable Cause: Sun Scorch

Peace lilies do best in indirect sunlight, in a bright room but where the sun doesn't shine directly on its leaves. If your plant is sitting in direct light such as on a sunny windowsill, sunbeams have likely scorched the plant and turned areas of the spathes brown.

Confirm the Diagnosis

Sun scorch creates random irregular patches on spathes, in any and many patterns, that are a dark chocolate brown. The affected areas can sink, dry out to a paper-thin lesion, or turn into a hole. The rest of the spathe may also look thin or faded, and the spike may turn brown or black. You may see bleached yellow or white patches on leaves that have been scorched by intense sunlight, too.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)Treatment Plan

This issue is easily fixed: cut the damaged stem off (follow the steps explained above) and move your plant to enjoy bright indirect sunlight – a spot in a sunny room but where the sun won’t shine directly on its flowers and foliage. If you don’t have much choice, then a sheer curtain will help screen your peace lily from direct sunlight.

3. Does the Flower Just Have a Dark Outer Edge or Tip?Probable Cause: Low Humidity

(Image credit: Getty Images)

These fabulous houseplants trace their ancestry back to plants that were ground-dwellers in the warm and steamy tropical rainforests of Central and South America, so peace lilies are houseplants that naturally love humid conditions. In the dry air of our centrally heated homes and offices, peace lilies can struggle, especially in fall when the heating is first turned on, and they’ll let you know they’re not happy with spathes edged in brown.

Confirm the Diagnosis

There’s a very distinct pattern when low humidity is the cause, because the most exposed parts of the flower dry out first. So, the outer edge or very tip of the spathe will brown first, while the center stays green or white at first, and the discoloration gradually moves inwards. If lack of humidity is the problem, you’ll almost always see darker, crispy tips on the leaves too.

(Image credit: Getty Images)Treatment Plan

If you suspect low humidity is the issue, check your peace lily isn’t sitting near a radiator, air-con vent or hearth. Then set the plant pot on a shallow tray filled with pebbles and water: a Bonsai humidity tray such as this from Lowe’s is ideal. It’s important that the pot isn’t sitting in the water, as this can rot the roots; you’re simply using the water to humidify the air as it evaporates. Another option to increase humidity for a peace lily is to move it into a bathroom, or try placing it among other houseplants so it benefits from the moisture released by their leaves.

4. Does the Spathe Feel Soft and Limp?

(Image credit: Getty Images)Probable Cause: Overwatering

If the flowers are drooping and feel a little mushy, and they’re a dull light green or yellowish-brown color, it’s likely you’ve been giving your peace lily too much water. As most houseplants start to slow growth as the days shorten post-summer, a vital element of September peace lily care is to start reducing watering, so overwatering is a common cause of brown flowers at this time of the year.

Confirm the Diagnosis

Overwatering a peace lily can cause its roots to suffocate and rot, and if you slide your plant out of its pot you’ll probably see they’re a little slimy and smelly. Roots may be dark brown or black, too (healthy roots are white or light brown).

Treatment Plan

Remove as much potting soil as you can and trim off any mushy or dark-colored roots. Prune browning flower stems and any fully yellow leaves at the base, too. Wash the pot and check it has a drainage hole before repotting with fresh houseplant potting soil, choosing one with added perlite to improve drainage such as Back to the Roots Organic Indoor Potting Mix, available from Amazon.

Don’t water for a few days, and then only water when the top 2 inches of soil are dry – a simple moisture meter such as this from Amazon takes away any guesswork – or when the leaves show the very first signs of drooping.

5. Is the Spathe Paper-Thin and Pale Brown All Over?

(Image credit: Getty Images)Probable Cause: Underwatering

If the flowers feel dry and brittle to the touch, and look uniformly pale brown, your peace lily is likely severely dehydrated.

Confirm the Diagnosis

If underwatering is the cause of your peace lily's brown spathes, its leaves will be drooping dramatically, for sure. Slide the plant out of its pot and you’ll probably see that the soil is bone dry.

(Image credit: Getty Images)Treatment Plan

Because the soil has lost so much moisture, it’s likely hydrophobic, so the best way to help your underwatered peace lily is to soak the pot. Fill a tub with 2-3 inches of lukewarm water and stand the pot in this hydration bath, checking it has drainage holes first. The potting mix will suck up as much moisture as it can hold and, after about 30 minutes or when the soil surface feels damp to the touch, remove the plant from the water and let it stand for at least 10 minutes to drain.

If you caught your peace lily early enough, it’ll likely miraculously recover with a day’s rest. Trim any discolored spathes or fully yellow or brown leaves that haven’t bounced back after 24 hours, but leave foliage that’s still partially green. Going forwards, improve your peace lily watering routine. Make a moisture meter such as this from Amazon your new best friend, and water your peace lily as soon as the leaves start to droop.

6. Can You See Brown Freckles on the Spathe?

(Image credit: Shutterstock)Probable Cause: Tap Water Chemicals

While peace lilies are generally very resilient plants, they are sensitive to chemicals and if you use tap water to irrigate, levels of chlorine, fluoride or other heavy minerals can build up in the soil. These will slowly poison your houseplant.

Confirm the Diagnosis

Tiny brown spots across the spathe, even when flowers first open, is a classic sign of a poisoned peace lily. Flowers may show a yellow outer rim, too, and they won’t last the usual 4-6 weeks. Because leaves push unwanted chemicals to their outer edges, foliage is likely to have crisp dark brown edges and tips, often with a distinct border between the healthy and unhealthy tissue. Look at the soil, too: a white crust may have formed on the surface or around the inside rim of the pot.

Treatment Plan

If your plant isn’t too badly affected, you can simply flush these minerals from the soil with rainwater or distilled water such as this from Walmart. If you filter your tap water, whether that’s with a filter jug like this from Walmart or a faucet filtration system like this, also from Walmart, that will work too. Stand your peace lily in a sink or bath and repeatedly pour water onto the soil and allow to drain well. From now on, only water with harvested rainwater or distilled or filtered water.

If this is a long-standing issue, chemicals will have accumulated in the top half-inch of soil so, if you see a white crust, scoop that off before flushing, then replace with fresh potting mix such as Back to the Roots Organic Indoor Potting Mix, available from Amazon.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Now you know exactly what caused the brown flowers on your peace lily and can take targeted action to resolve the situation, to enjoy fresh new pure-white blooms. Treat brown or faded peace lily flowers as useful signs that alert you that your plant is in trouble, and use them to help you look after your plant.

Whatever caused your peace lily’s brown flowers, don’t be tempted to fertilize it now. Peace lilies naturally slow their growth as winter approaches, so feeding your plant now will stress it – and if those brown spathes are due to over- or underwatering, low humidity, sun-scorch or chemical build-up, your plant is already feeling pretty stressed. The best therapy for your plant now is to give it ideal conditions to recover, and plenty of TLC.

Little Extras for a Happy, Healthy Peace Lily

Regular Water

Green Moon Indoor Metal Watering Can

A small 35oz watering can that’s handsome enough to display alongside your houseplants will remind you to irrigate regularly.

happy roots

Better Gro Orchid Bark Potting Media

When you next repot your peace lily, add some orchid bark to the potting mix to mimic the forest-floor conditions of its natural habitat.

Healthy Leaves

Bless Your Soil Microfiber Leaf Cleaning Gloves

Keeping the leaves of your peace lily dust free allows it to photosynthesize efficiently, and these gloves make it easy and fun to do.

More Garden ER Help

Every week, The Garden ER series brings you solutions to this season's most pressing problems for happy and healthy plants.

Powdery Mildew

Leaves turning white? Here's everything you need to know to stop this common fungal disease starving plants of nutrients.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

It feels like an ecologically sound habit: harvesting seeds from desirable plants in the parks in your neighborhood. It also saves you money and gives you immediate access to seeds that might be hard to find in the garden store. And yet, that doesn’t make it right.

As a gardener, I do understand. It’s fun and economical to collect and save seeds in the fall. But as an attorney, I have to suggest that you tap the brakes. Taking seeds from public parks or government land without permission can get you in trouble with park authorities or law enforcement.

I cover more questions like this in my Gardening Lawyer series, drawing on my experience as both a gardener and former attorney. Let's dig in to this issue to keep you on the right side of the law.

From a Tiny Acorn...

(Image credit: brusinski / Getty Images)

We learn at a young age that plants grow from seeds. Remember hearing for the first time (or the 70th?) that "mighty oaks from little acorns grow"? Or maybe your parents helped you plant those super-size nasturtium seeds? We all learn at some point that plants grow from seeds, and, in fact, produce the seeds that propagate the species.

Many grown-up gardeners deliberately select plants that reseed themselves - I must admit that I do this, using nasturtiums, California poppies, black-eyed Susans and cosmos, just because they do their own seed-planting for the following year.

Other plants in my backyard produce seeds, but I need to harvest them and replant them. This is fun too, but somewhat limited since using this approach, you can only grow plants you already have. Whether you own or rent, your backyard may not be as large as you would like. So that raises the alternative: harvest seeds from parks or public land nearby. Yet… you generally do not have the right to do this without express permission.

Check the (Many) Laws That Might Apply

(Image credit: JulieAlexK / Getty Images)

It would be nice if there was one set of easily accessible laws you could check to see whether harvesting seeds is legal in a park near you. But there are many places to look. City parks will have their own rules, as will state parks and national parks. Most of these will prohibit gathering any plant material from within their boundaries, including seeds. Your odds are not good.

In my experience, your better bet is to find the park manager or a park ranger and ask for permission. If the plants at issue are beside the road or in some unregulated public space, ask at the city public works department. Try to narrow your request as much as possible for the best results. If you make a courteous request and a reasonable one, you have a pretty good chance of getting an affirmative response.

Learn Which Plants are Endangered in the Area

(Image credit: SolStock / Getty Images)

You may not want to collect the seeds of endangered plants, but to avoid this, you must know which plants are endangered. This is easy to figure out if you have internet access; simply run a season for plants endangered in your area. They won’t be the same from state to state or even city to city.

You may think endangered plants are going to look astonishing or have some odd and unusual characteristics, but this is not true. For example, in my area in the Pacific beach end of San Francisco, lots of dune plants are rare, including an unassuming annual with tiny yellow flowers (San Francisco lessingia), and San Francisco Campion, a dune perennial with small, pink, bell-shaped blossoms. And neither of these make the federal list.

Making a Modest Request

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Before you ask for permission to collect seeds, take a moment to consider why these laws exist. Parks want to protect their plants, especially endangered species. The ecosystems can protect more than the plants, but also native insects, birds or reptiles. And humans can be thoughtless - taking not just a few seeds, but taking all that they find, or even uprooting the plants.

To get the best result, tell the official that you understand this and have no intention of taking seeds from any endangered plants. Tell them the name of the plant you want seeds from too, just to confirm this. And give them a specific number of seeds you hope to collect, and make it small: never take more than 10 percent of the seeds from any one plant, so that you won’t negatively impact the ecosystem or native wildlife.

Shop Seed Saving Essentials

Now that you know where and when you can legally collect seeds, a few simple products will make harvesting and storing easy peasy.

ARTDOT Portable Storage Organizer

A great option for storing seeds you have *legally* harvested. Content Editor Kathleen loves this for storing perennial seeds from her garden each year.

Fiskars 6" Steel Micro-Tip Pruning Scissors

These precision snips make deadheading flowers and collecting seed pods quick and efficient.

100pcs Seed Packets

A classic way to store seeds. Easily label each packet with the preprinted information boxes so you know exactly what's inside.

More from the Gardening Lawyer

• Why Taking Cuttings From a Plant You Bought Could Land You in Legal Trouble
• If Your Tree Falls Into a Neighbor’s Yard, Who Pays for the Damage?
• Can You Take Garden Plants With You When You Move House?
• Is Your Neighbor's Tree Blocking the Sunlight in Your Yard? Here’s What You Can (and Can’t) Do About It
• Is It OK to Take Plant Cuttings From Garden Centers?

Fall is an abundant time in the garden. Many vegetables and fruits are ready for harvest, leaves are turning color and falling, and trees are also dropping uncountable seeds and nuts. Many gardeners end up with an abundance of acorns from oak trees and pinecones from conifers.

If your fall garden is littered with these organic riches, don’t automatically rake and dispose of them. Instead, consider some of the smart and fun ways you can use this free and abundant resource for wildlife, garden plants, and décor.

1. Create a Slug and Snail Barrier

(Image credit: Paul Starosta / Getty Images)

Slugs and snails are a constant issue for many gardeners. They love to chew holes through leaves and cause a lot of damage. What they can’t do is move well over jagged surfaces, so they’ll avoid any plants surrounded by a sharp, protective barrier.

If you have plants that keep getting attacked, create a natural barrier around them using spiky acorn tops, crushed pinecones, and whole small pinecones. You can also mix in crushed eggshells to fill in the gaps. If slugs are really getting to you, you might want to try this copper tape from Amazon – people swear by it.

2. Use Pinecones for Lightweight Pot Fill

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Gather up pinecones as you build your fall planters. A layer of pinecones in the bottom of a pot improves drainage and lightens the container. This is especially useful for big pots that become very heavy if you have to fill them completely with soil.

Just be sure you leave enough room for soil so that your plant roots can grow and gather nutrients and water. And, don’t assume a pinecone layer is enough for drainage. You still need good quality soil and a pot with drainage holes in the bottom. These mini whiskey barrels from Amazon are fun.

3. Build a Bug Hotel

(Image credit: Emma Kendell)

Native and beneficial insects, including pollinators, can use your help this fall. Lacewings, solitary bees and wasps, ladybugs, and other insects need dry, safe shelter for winter hibernation. The small nooks and crannies of pinecones offer an ideal space for small critters.

To create a bug hotel, put pinecones together with other natural materials to create a bundle that provides holes and tunnels for insects: hollow stems, bark, twigs, and small pieces of untreated wood.

Stack your materials together in a box, pot, or other container that you can lay on its side, providing access to insects. The materials should fit securely inside the space, so they don’t shift. Place your bug hotel in a spot that will remain mostly sheltered from rain and wind over the winter.

4. Feed Birds and Other Critters

(Image credit: cisilya)

Help your larger native wildlife with a feeding station using acorns and pinecones. They’ll appreciate the food offered over the winter when natural resources are scarce. For acorns, simply scatter them in an area where you don’t mind wildlife congregating, such as a quiet corner in the back of the garden.

Use pinecones to create hanging homemade bird feeders. Spread them with peanut butter or suet and roll in birdseed. Hang your mini feeders from a patio, porch, balcony, shepherd's crook, or even from tree branches to feed birds and squirrels. These suet blocks from Amazon are a great deal.

5. Create Natural Mulch and Pathways

(Image credit: MariusLtu / Getty Images)

Pinecones make a great natural mulch, especially for potted plants that need less material. Break up pinecones into smaller pieces and layer them around plants in containers or small beds. You can also use them whole around container plants as both a protective mulch and seasonal décor.

Crushed pinecones, small whole pinecones, and acorns also look nice as a natural pathway or border between plants, around the edges of beds, and between stepping stones in paths. Just be aware that acorns will eventually sprout, so you might want to remove them in spring.

6. Get Crafty

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Finally, why not use some of these natural materials to make autumn crafts and decorations? Try decorating with pinecones to make seasonally appropriate additions to porch displays, arranged in pots or around pumpkins and gourds.

Use both acorns and pinecones to make fall wreaths, hanging ornaments, and garlands. If you’re planning to use them indoors, bake acorns and pinecones in the oven to dry them out and kill any pests. Bake them at around 200 degrees F (93 C) for one to two hours, but check every 15 minutes to avoid burning them.

What NOT to Do with Acorns and Pinecones

(Image credit: Westend61 / Getty Images)

There are so many good ways to use these gifts of the fall garden, but we also have some pitfalls to avoid:

• Don’t use a lot of acorns in an area you don’t want to attract wildlife or where you don’t want them sprouting.
• While you can bake acorns in the oven to sterilize them for crafting, leave them raw if you plan to use them to feed wildlife.
• Don’t use any garden material that looks diseased. If there’s any question, toss it out with your yard waste.

This fall, don’t automatically rake up and throw away all your acorns and pinecones. Use some of this natural autumn treasure for both practical and decorative uses and start building a more sustainable garden.

Somewhere in the shed sits a bag of gravel waiting for the next repotting job. You might possibly also have a few old broken pots in the shed looking for a new life, and perhaps you know someone who has recycled them in the bottom of a pot while muttering something about drainage? The question of whether a layer of stone or terracotta shards belongs in the base of a container is a thorny one – in fact, it has been argued about for over a century and often gets slammed as a gardening myth.

This sounds like a perfect topic for Garden Mythbusters! So welcome back to our series aimed at probing some of the garden advice that often gets handed down long past the point where the logic seems to hold up. The practice of adding drainage rocks goes back a long way, with pebbles, pea gravel, or broken crocks laid in the base of containers before potting mix goes in. This topic is very controversial in container gardening circles. And the thing is, this particular “myth” comes with a fascinating twist. Most busted myths tend to stay busted – but this one got busted, and then the "busting" itself got re-examined and busted by soil scientists!

Gardening books were recommending it for generations before anyone thought to test the underlying science. Then, in the mid-2000s, extension services flipped hard, with warnings that gravel can actually obstruct drainage. If that wasn’t confusing enough, fresh research carried out in 2025 then turned the debate on its head once again. Which leaves the poor gardener now clutching that bag of gravel in confusion, torn between two camps that are each sure of themselves. So, should you put gravel in the bottom of plant pots or not? In our quest to separate myth from reality, it seems the real story is far more nuanced than a simple yes or no…

How this Gravel Myth Began

Old gardening manuals detail adding drainage layers with remarkable precision: laying a terracotta crock concave-side down over the drainage hole, topped with exactly half an inch of crushed pot shards or gravel chips, followed by coarse organic leaf mold. Half an inch, mind, not a whole one! This level of specific detail reads as authority. Nobody specifies an instruction like laying half an inch of pot chips unless somebody, somewhere, had worked out why… right?

(Image credit: ImageBROKER Anastasiia Yanishevska / Getty Images)

It’s amazing how the certainty behind the advice has helped it survive for generations without being checked. This advice has been passed from Victorian books to nursery staff and garden clubs with confidence intact, even if the reasoning about why it helped with good drainage failed to follow. Underneath it sits a physical fact that has nothing to do with gravel. Water a pot, let it drain, and a band of saturated potting soil mix stays put above the drainage hole. That's the perched water table, and it's real.

When you water a container and let it drain freely, gravity pulls moisture downward, until you get a band of saturated mix at the bottom. This saturated layer stays put, regardless of whether the pot sits on bare ground or a patio deck. Its depth is set by the quality and texture of the mix rather than the height of the pot. So a squat 6-inch (15cm) saucer style pot can end up holding proportionally more water than a tall 18-inch (45cm) urn containing the same mix. Shrinking that saturated layer was the original purpose of the layer of gravel and crocks. But as you may already be suspecting, there is a bit of a gap between the logic and the, ahem, crock.

Why this Myth Sticks

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On the surface, it seems to make a certain visual sense. Those gaps between the stones and gravel chips look like an easy exit for excess water to escape out of the pot’s drainage hole. After all, gravel drains in seconds on a driveway or garden path. So of course one might think that a dedicated layer of such chunky pieces would naturally speed up drainage inside a confined plastic or terracotta planter.

There's the reassurance of doing something extra, too. In a hobby full of things that go wrong quietly, an added step feels like insurance. One of the most common causes of pot plant death is root rot, which is linked to waterlogging in the soil. Because of that, adding a dedicated “drain-away” like this feels like a positive, proactive measure. Yes, you can check soil moisture inside your containers with a good probe, like the Xlux Moisture Meter from Amazon, but any extra level of active drainage feels like a good deed (and a fairly cheap one).

But in the early 2000s, a persuasive counter-argument started to emerge. University extension horticulturists demonstrated that water moving down through fine-textured material stalls when it hits a coarse one (like pea gravel, crocks or rocks). Water refuses to cross until the fine soil layer above is totally saturated. When applied to a flowerpot, the implication is alarming: gravel doesn't drain a pot but acts as a dam.

(Image credit: Kinga Krzeminska / Getty Images)

Let’s think again about that perched water table, the soggy layer of waterlogged soil sitting at the bottom of a pot after free drainage stops. Following the logic put forward in the early 2000s, when a gravel layer is added, it doesn't eliminate this soggy band: it just elevates it. For shallow-rooted or moisture-sensitive plants like lavender, succulents, Japanese maples, or potted citrus, lifting that soggy band into their root space starves roots of oxygen – risking the root rot it is trying to prevent.

It feels like quite a startling myth to bust. For well-intentioned gardeners who had added a bottom layer of gravel method to solve the threat of waterlogging, it was very frustrating – to think this gravel might be causing the very rot it was supposed to prevent. No wonder it spread through extension bulletins and gardening columns as fast as it did. Sadly, in attempting to bust the tradition of using pot shards, experts created fresh panic, telling growers that a layer of stone would ruin their plants.

Problems with the “Gravel Myth”

(Image credit: Дина Орлова / Getty Images)

Here's where it gets awkward. That reversal was reasoning rather than measurement, extrapolated from experiments run on field soils instead of pots. For two decades, gardeners were told that adding gravel would lead to root rot. But in 2025, a landmark study by researcher Avery Rowe in PLoS ONE finally put the theory to a rigorous test, using 10 replicates across multiple potting media, coarse materials, and layer depths. The findings surprised both camps: the coarse drainage layers mostly reduced or had zero negative effect on total water retention. They almost never increased the water held in the container.

It was found that thicker aggregate layers drained better than thin ones. Coarse sand layers performed exceptionally well. A 2.5-inch (6cm) layer of coarse sand came out ahead across every mix tested. Rowe's own conclusion was that the raised-water-table warning should be treated as inaccurate. One study isn't the last word, of course, and this one measured water, not plants. Rowe says as much and calls for growing trials. But what it does undercut is the root rot story.

(Image credit: StephanieFrey / Getty Images)

While this new testing refutes claims of gravel layers acting as dams, there is another issue with having a layer of crock, gravel, pebble or stone in the bottom of a pot. And this one is a bit harder to argue with. Put simply, a gravel layer takes up room that roots could have used. Two inches (5cm) of stone in the base of a 10-inch (25cm) pot is a lot. Furthermore, adding river rock adds weight to large planters. For anyone looking to add a bit of easy drainage in a more lightweight way, it makes better sense to use an aeration amendment like perlite. SunGro Black Gold Perlite from Walmart is a good-value option and one bag can easily last all year.

When Gravel Really Helps

(Image credit: Repinanatoly / Getty Images)

Whether or not we choose to use gravel a a layer at the bottom of our pots, there are some very straightforward ways in which it can be beneficial. Coarse material still earns its place when used intentionally. Placing several inches in a tall, top-heavy container filled with tall ornamental grasses or wind-vulnerable evergreen topiary works as ballast. On the soil surface, a clean half-inch (1.25cm) topdressing of poultry grit or fine pea gravel, such as Fantian Mixed Color Pea Gravel from Amazon, creates a polished topdressing while keeping rainsplash off lower leaves.

(Image credit: Westend61 / Getty Images)

There is also a benefit to adding a few handfuls of grit or pumice that are mixed evenly through the container. Desert cacti, Mediterranean herbs like rosemary, and alpine succulents thrive when coarse grit opens up air pockets from top to bottom. You can add a little volcanic pumice or horticultural sand to help with drainage. Lightweight expanded clay aggregate pebbles (LECA) are another option. These porous baked-clay balls can be mixed into potting media to boost aeration for tropicals. Alternatively, you can go for a custom blend. Back to the Roots Organic Succulent & Cacti Mix, available from Walmart, is a great-value substrate.

Reality Check: Fall Container Care

(Image credit: FactoryTh / Getty Images)

All this myth-busting of myth-busters might not leave you feeling loads more confident about that gravel layer. But don’t let it put you off putting your fall containers together, or giving your existing pots a timely seasonal refresh. If you want to play it safe, and you care about good drainage, a couple of handfuls of perlite or coarse sand added through the whole potting mix can help reduce the risk of waterlogging and compaction. Used in tandem with a good quality potting soil, this should be fine for fall favorites like pansies, kale, mum, and fountain grass. To give roots a helping hand, top up your soil with a little organic bone meal, such as Espoma’s Organic Bone Meal Fertilizer, available from The Home Depot.

Old summer pots that look tired and shrunken away from the rim can be topped up rather than rebuilt, adding an inch or so (2.5cm) of your fresh mix firmed gently around the crowns. Old mix that's compacted to the point of shedding water off the surface is past topping up, and just wants replacing. Once you have replenished your potting mix, don’t forget to keep the drainage holes clear in the bottoms of your pots, which is clearly more of a win-win. To prevent planters from sealing themselves flat against wet concrete patios, elevate them using Lemon Road’s Classic Terracotta Pot Toes from Amazon for easier drainage down below.

Container Planting Essentials

Tip-Top Toes

LemonRoad Lemonroad Terracotta Pot Feet for Planters

Give drainage an easy lift with these sturdy clay pot risers. They elevate containers off flat surfaces, preventing sealed drainage holes and patio stains.

NItty Gritty

Back to the Roots Back to the Roots Succulent & Cacti Mix

If you need a premium, fast-draining gritty potting blend, this popular blend contains perlite and organic matter, perfect for succulents and herbs.

Roll With It

Bloem Bloem Plant Caddy With Wheels, 100 Lb Capacity

This is a durable, weather-resistant wheeled base for heavy planters, making light work of any larger terracotta pots you may need to move indoors this fall.

(Image credit: John McKeen / Getty Images)

It’s little wonder container growers are muddled. First, we’re told gravel layers could save our plants from drowning. Then we’re told they could be a death sentence – and then we’re told they might be OK after all. But perhaps the real takeaway from the 2025 research isn't that you must use gravel, but rather that containers are more forgiving than warnings suggest. So focus on easy wins: choose a quality, well-aerated soil mix, keep drainage holes clear, and water sensibly.

More Garden Mythbusters

• Does the Pointy End of a Bulb Really Need to Be Facing Up When You Plant It?
• Vegetable Companion Planting Myths – Plus, the Planting Pairs that Really Work

Need more ideas for getting the most from your plants, indoors and out, and looking for the best seasonal expert advice delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for the free Gardening Know How Newsletter!

Kat Von D isn't necessarily a name you might associate with gardening; the iconic tattooist is far more likely to be found in a pair of leather fingerless gloves than pruning mitts.

Still, it seems the real world's answer to Morticia Addams has a surprisingly green thumb – albeit one with a distinctly gothic twist – and her most iconic gardening project is more than glamorous enough to make even the most devoted cottage garden enthusiast consider switching sides.

When you consider the fact that our appetites for gothic romance have been well and truly heightened by the dark drama and sweeping silhouettes of Wuthering Heights, no wonder more and more of us are sitting up and paying attention to Kat Von D's horticultural efforts, eh?

Kat Von D's Gothic Garden

Yes, Kat Von D has been busy; on top of her day job as a tattooist, recording artist, and beauty entrepreneur, she has also created a spectacular display of thousands of near-black tulips outside her Indiana home.

Unsurprisingly, when you consider who you're dealing with, they're about as far removed from the usual pastel spring border as you can get. Better still, we know exactly which variety she's planted, which means you can take full advantage of the fall (aka prime tulip planting season) and recreate a little of Kat's wonderfully dark garden at home.

Check it out:

A post shared by Kat Von D (@thekatvond)

A photo posted by

Kat Von D's famous display is made up of 'Queen of Night' tulip bulbs, one of the deepest, darkest tulip varieties you can grow. Sure, the flowers aren't technically black (if you want to split hairs, they're actually a wonderfully moody maroon-purple) but, when planted en masse, they come pretty close.

What makes the tulip garden so striking isn't just the unusual flower color, however; it's the sheer number of them. Kat originally planted around 10,000 'Queen of Night' bulbs, and the display has since grown to around 15,000, creating an incredible wall of dark blooms.

Shop Kat Von D-Inspired Tulips:

Burpee.com Queen of Night Tulip Bulbs

GSB Garden State Bulb Black Nightmare® Tulip Bulbs

Burpee.com Paul Scherer Tulip Bulbs

Now, you don't necessarily need thousands of bulbs (although, if you have the space, go for it!) to get the Kat Von D look. Instead, plant in big drifts of one color, rather than a little bit of everything.

The idea is simple; a smaller planting of the same variety offers a much more dramatic effect than scattering a few different tulips around a border. And, if you stick to dark flowers, then you will find that they provide an instant contrast to everything around them, whether that's green foliage, pretty pastel blooms, gravel, brickwork or an old house.

In other words, you don't need to turn your entire garden into a gothic fantasy to get the look.

(Image credit: Rob3rt82 / Getty Images)

The best thing about all of this is that Kat Von D hasn't used some impossibly rare variety of tulip that you'll have to hunt down from a specialist collector.; 'Queen of Night' is classic late-flowering tulip that's sold far and wide.

That means you can steal Kat's idea for yourself very easily, and now is the perfect time to do it! After all, tulips are planted in fall so that bulbs have time to develop their roots before winter; the exact planting window depends on which USDA planting zone you're based in, but gardeners in colder regions generally plant once the soil has cooled, while warmer areas can plant later in the fall.

Essentially, you're looking for a window several weeks before the ground freezes.

Shop Gothic Blooms:

BULBORIUM Burgundy Dahlia Seeds

Burpee.com Chocolate Cherry Sunflower

SPROUTARAQ Chocolate Cosmos Seeds

If you're tempted to create a whole Kat Von D-inspired border, you don't even have to stop at tulips. Look for other flowers and foliage in deep burgundy, plum, wine and near-black shades, then use green or pale flowers to stop the planting from becoming too heavy.

Think dark dahlias, purple-black scabiosa, burgundy foliage, deep purple irises, chocolate cosmos, and near-black petunias. And remember: you don't need to copy Kat Von D's garden exactly. Instead, choose one dramatic element – in this case, a mass of almost-black tulips – and let it dictate the rest of your planting scheme.

The result can be every bit as glamorous, mysterious, and wonderfully over-the-top, even if your garden is considerably smaller than a celebrity's.

Pollinators make our world go round. And those of us who keep gardens have a real chance to do something to help bees and butterflies. The best way to do so is by planting the pollinator plants to feed them throughout the whole year. Sure, we can plant flowers in spring. But it’s also possible to install nectar-rich plants into the landscape in September.

So what are some of the best fall-blooming pollinator plants? Luckily, you have more than a few to choose from. To choose the right ones for the autumn landscape, though, you should select resilient perennials that bloom in the cool season and provide essential late-season food for bees and butterflies.

Here are the best plants to provide a fall feast for pollinators in your garden.

1. Asters

(Image credit: Peter Photos / 500px / Getty Images)

Botanical Name

Symphyotrichum spp.

Hardiness

Zones 3-8

Are asters the best fall perennial plants for autumn? A good argument can be made that they are. Asters offer lovely daisy-like blooms in purples, pinks, and blues. These flowers offer essential late-season nectar to feed both bees and migrating butterflies. In fact, they are pollinator magnets from late summer into November.

There are a number of aster varieties, some growing to 6 feet (2 m) tall, but all are exceptional perennial plants for autumn planting. Asters don’t like hot, sunny sites, but they do need some sunshine and well-draining soil. They do best in regions with cool, moist summers and cool nights.

If you are transplanting young plants, do it in spring once all chance of frost is gone. But early September is the perfect time to transplant mature asters in containers you bought at the garden center.

Explore unique native aster plants from American Meadows online.

2. 'Autumn Joy' Sedum

(Image credit: Joanne Dale / Shutterstock)

Botanical Name

Sedum spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’

Hardiness

Zones 3-10

It’s hard to think of a desirable attribute for a fall-blooming perennial that doesn’t apply to ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum. It’s hardy, adapts to cold climates and hot ones. It's also drought tolerant and lovely, offering thick flower clusters in autumn that are magnets for butterflies and beneficial insects during the cooler months after summer. They bloom after most summer flowers fade, providing interest into fall and early winter.

This sedum is a clump-forming succulent perennial beloved for its huge flowerheads that appear from late summer into fall. It’s a real color-show of a plant with green flower buds in late spring that open to pink flowers in summer. These deepen to rosy, coppery and bronze tones as fall arrives. And best of all, Autumn Joy provides vital late-season nectar and pollen for pollinators, including bees and butterflies.

You can find Autumn Joy sedum plants online for under $10 from American Meadows.

3. Butterfly Bush

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Botanical Name

Buddleja davidii

Hardiness

Zones 5-9

Butterflies love butterfly bush – as the common name suggests. But this is not a one-pollinator shrub. Its panicles contain hundreds of nectar-filled florets. These bright flowers in purple, pink, and blue also draw in bees with their sweet honey fragrance. Some butterfly bush varieties have flower spikes almost a foot long and many bloom straight though the summer to the first frost.

Butterfly bush grows fast, making it weedy and even invasive in some parts of the country (check your local extension office before planting). It’s a perennial shrub with arching stems and a bushy habit. These shrubs offer an abundant late-season nectar source for fall pollinators when other garden flowers fade. Pollinators like monarch butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees will certainly be grateful!

The dark and moody 'Black Knight' butterfly bush from Trees.com (formerly Fast Growing Trees) adds a Halloween-y touch to the fall landscape.

4. Goldenrod

(Image credit: Mark Nistico / Getty Images)

Botanical Name

Solidago spp.

Hardiness

Zones 3-9

Goldenrod, with its bright yellow blossoms, is a favorite fall-pollinator plant in Europe, but less popular in the United States – and that’s our loss. But wait, you say. Isn’t goldenrod the plant that causes hay fever and makes you sneeze? Nope! That’s a myth that is more accurately attached to ragweed, which blooms around the same time

Goldenrod blooms from late summer and keeps those flowers coming right through the first frost. Its flowers are loaded with nectar and heavy, sticky pollen that's available to bees and butterflies when most other flowers have faded. In fact, dozens of bee species rely heavily on goldenrod pollen. This plant also supports dozens of species of native moth and butterfly caterpillars, which are essential food for songbirds.

Find the perfect goldenrod species for your yard from High Country Gardens.

5. Joe-Pye Weed

(Image credit: Danita Delimont / Getty Images)

Botanical Name

Eutrochium spp.

Hardiness

Zones 3-9

Joe-pye weed may not be the most gorgeous plant in the garden, but it's a powerhouse pollinator perennial. Its small, fragrant flowers are arranged in large, domed flower clusters that smell like vanilla. They are loaded with nectar that provides high-energy food for pollinators in late summer and fall. It’s a late-season lifeline for autumn pollinators, appearing just as other summer flowers fade.

This plant is one of the primary foods of monarch butterflies getting ready for the long trip south for winter. But it also is a staple for bumblebees and hummingbirds. As fall merges into winter, the dried seedheads offer foraging material for wild birds and beneficial insects as well.

Explore native Joe-pye weed plants online from American Meadows.

This heatwave summer has wreaked havoc on our lawns but grass is an incredibly resilient plant, especially if you give it a helping hand with some essential fall lawn care. Late September and October bring a short window of warm soil and regular rain that are conducive to strong grass growth, but you’ll need to set your lawn up to make the most of it. Spend a few hours this weekend tending to your grass with this essential September lawn care, and you’ll be richly rewarded with lush green grass next spring.

Don't bother, and your lawn will suffer. You see, after the stress of a hot, dry summer, a neglected lawn goes into the winter weakened. Dead drought-striken blades clog the grass that’s still alive, creating moist conditions that invite fungal problems as fall progresses. Plummeting temperatures and compacted soil then means roots sit in cold, soggy soil through the winter, further compounding the damage.

Do these five easy tasks however, and you’ll help prevent all those issues as well as create optimum conditions for fallgrass growth, allowing plants to recover and strengthen before winter arrives. Ready? Let’s get your lawn sorted for the lushest, plushest grass next spring!

1. Banish Weeds

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Thankfully, this summer has been hard for weeds, too, so their roots won’t have too tight a hold in your lawn. And if you hate weeding your lawn, I'll wager you're not using the right tools. There’s no point trying to remove persistent perennial weeds like dandelions and thistles with a standard weed puller: you’ll simply snap off the top mop of leaves and leave the long tap root in the ground, and the plant will grow back even stronger.

To tackle that pesky tap root, you need a weed puller with serrated claws to grip it, such as Fiskars Triple Claw Stand-Up Weeder, available from Walmart, which does the job without you even kneeling down. A two-pronged hand weeder like Fiskars Ergo Weeder, available from Walmart, is also designed for removing perennial weeds, or use a Hori Hori knife like this from Amazon to extract that long root once and for all.

This isn’t just a matter of aesthetics, as weeds rob grass of valuable space, water and soil nutrients. Weeding is an especially important part of autumn lawn care as many weeds carry on growing after cold weather has halted grass growth, further increasing their hold.

2. Rake to Remove Dead Grass

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Your next task to help your lawn recover from summer is to get rid of dead grass and moss that’s taking up valuable room that could be full of lush new blades. As well as making space for new grass growth, raking this unwanted plant material out will improve air circulation, which will in turn help to avoid any fungal issues. It also allows water to soak into the soil more easily, and the process is known as scarifying or dethatching.

You’ll need a spring-tine rake, and a design with strong, closely-spaced tines such as the Kobalt Steel Rake from Lowe’s will rake up leaves effectively as well as scarify your lawn. Rake the lawn all over, and preferably repeat in a different direction, and you’ll pull up all the dead grass and moss (thatch), which can be put onto your compost heap. Don’t be alarmed by how much thatch is pulled out, especially after this year's El Nino summer, or that you can now see the soil – that’s a good sign, and you’ll see why in a moment.

If you’ve got a sizable lawn, then an electric dethatcher that you push along as you would a lawnmower is a good investment and you can pick up a basic model from under $60, such as this Senix Scarifier with Collection Bag from Walmart.

3. Spike the Soil to Improve Structure

(Image credit: Peter Kniez / Getty Images)

What would happen to your precious borders if you walked all over them? And what would happen to your plants? Well, your lawn has just had a long summer of being trampled on, so the soil is likely compacted and the grass roots will be struggling to get enough air and water. Aerating the soil is going to sort that, and it’ll improve drainage, too, for fewer puddles of standing water on your lawn through fall and winter.

To aerate your lawn, you can use a regular garden fork to create holes to allow water and air to grass roots, pushing the tines into the soil at 6-inch intervals. A rolling lawn aerator with metal spikes on a roller such as this Aerator Roller from Walmart speeds up the process.

If you’ve got any problem patches that get waterlogged in winter, or clay soil that doesn’t drain well, you can take aerating up a notch to improve the drainage long-term. You’ll need a lawn aerator tool with hollow tines such as the Landzie Plug Aerator, available from Lowe’s. This punches slightly bigger holes, removing plugs of soil at the same time.

Fill all the holes you’ve created with a mix of two parts washed concrete sand such as Yard Elements Premium Concrete Sand from The Home Depot, and one part garden topsoil, such as Kellogg Garden Organics Soil, also from The Home Depot. Use the back of a flat rake or a stiff yard broom to brush the mix into the holes. It should flow easily into the holes and not create a layer smothering the grass – if it does, you’re applying too much.

You don’t need to aerate your lawn every year. Aerate the entire lawn well this year and you can wait another three years before repeating the process, or simply aerate the parts that are most heavily used or get waterlogged each year.

4. Overseed for Thicker Grass if Needs Be

(Image credit: Getty Images)

If all your scarifying has made the area look bare, or there are patches of grass that haven’t made it through summer, early fall is the perfect time to overseed your lawn. Warm ground plus rain will mean fast, even germination.

Make sure you buy grass seed that’s tailored to your zone, and it’s a smart move to choose a mixed blend that grows well in both sun and shade when overseeding. That way, you’ll move towards a uniform look across your lawn. Scotts Turf Building Sun & Shade Mix 16lb, available from Lowe’s, contains enough to overseed a typical US garden of 6,400 square feet. Whatever you do, don’t mistake fast-growing grass for fast-germinating grass because, while you’ll get quick results with both, you’ll be mowing your lawn more often for years to come if you buy the former.

By scarifying, you’ve already exposed and scratched the surface of any soil where there's room for new grass plants to take root, but go over any particularly bare patches again with a rake. Sow the seed according to the instructions, using a rake or broom to ensure the seed is in full contact with the soil. Grass germinates best when the air temperature sits between 60°F and 80°F and unless it rains, you’ll need to water twice a day for three weeks or until grass grows 2 inches tall.

5. Boost Root Growth with the Right Fertilizer

(Image credit: Getty Images)

There’s no need to fertilize a lawn in fall every year but if the grass looks like it needs a boost, warm late September days are the ideal time. In fall, it’s vial to pick a tailored autumn lawn feed that’s high in phosphorous and potassium to encourage root growth for long-term strength, rather than a more general-purpose lawn fertilizer with high levels of nitrogen that boosts leafy growth above ground. Choose a product without moss or weed killer such as Scotts Tuft Builder WinterGuard Fall Lawn Food, available from Amazon.

Apply as directed by the instructions but if you overseeded, check the fine print on that packaging too. Many grass seeds include a lawn fertilizer, in which case you should apply the dedicated fall food more sparingly. There’s no need to water in a fall feed unless it doesn’t rain within a couple of days.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

And you’re done! Your lawn can now spend the next few weeks growing – and most grass species will continue to grow until temperatures drop consistently below 40°F-50°F, which in most zones will be around early November. This gives your lawn plenty of time to recover from the rigors of this heatwave summer and strengthen its roots, ready for lush growth next spring.

It's been almost a month since we lost Dolly Parton, but the tributes and memories are still pouring in. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more universally-loved and sincerely missed public figure.

It'd be easy to gush about Dolly's musical genius or her incredible work supporting children's literacy, but plenty of other writers are doing that. This is Gardening Know How, after all, so I want to talk to you about flowers. Wildflowers, to be precise.

Wildflowers Don't Care Where They Grow

Welcome back to Quote of the Week, where I pick out garden-related celebrity quotes and examine the wisdom behind them and the impact they can have on our lives. This week's pick isn't a quote, per se – it's a whole song.

In 1987 Dolly Parton wrote the song "Wildflowers" for the album Trio, a supergroup endeavor she recorded with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. Here it is for your listening pleasure:

And the flowers I knew / In the fields where I grew / Were content to be lost in the crowd / They were common and close / I had no room for growth / And I wanted so much to branch out

The song tells the story of a flower that sprouts in a field where it doesn't fit in. One day the flower uproots itself and takes off on the wind, ready to tackle the mysteries the world has in store for it.

It doesn't take a literature degree to tell that Dolly isn't singing about actual flowers here. She was famously born into a poor family, one child of twelve living in a one-room cabin in rural Tennessee. Buoyed by her grit, musical ability, and business acumen, she took off to tackle the music industry, building a successful career that spanned the better part of a century.

(Image credit: Jason Kempin / Getty Images)So the Garden One Day Set Me Free

While her song may express a need to break free, Dolly never spoke badly of her upbringing. She's described her father as one of the smartest people she ever knew, and credits her mother with her musical talent. The song even gives a nod to the way she was raised, crediting it with her toughness and ability to survive:

When a flower grows wild / It can always survive / Wildflowers don't care where they grow

That's what the song "Wildflowers" is really about – setting out to pursue your dreams, but also being adaptable. You can't expect the world to cater to you or treat you like you're special. (We're not talking about high-maintenance plants here). If you go with the flow and let the wind carry you, you just might have a successful life free from regrets. It certainly seems to have worked for Dolly.

Grow Your Own Wildflowers

American Wild Native Wildflower Mix

Pollinator Garden Flower Mix Seeds

All Annual Wildflower Seed Mix

If you know your state bird (and I suspect you do), then I bet you've wondered what you can plant to make your state's official bird feel more at home in your yard?

Whether your state bird is a bright red northern cardinal, a cheeky Carolina wren or the rather more unusual cactus wren, the right plants can provide one of the three most important things that all birds need: food, shelter, and somewhere to nest or shelter.

And guess what? You don't need a big backyard to make a bird sanctuary; the trick is choosing plants that work with the bird you're hoping to see. While some state birds will happily feast on berries and seeds, others are more interested in the insects living among native trees and shrubs, and a few... well, a few are, admittedly, are rather harder to tempt into an ordinary garden.

What To Plant For Your State Bird

You know your birth month bird, but do you know your state bird? And, more importantly, do you know how to attract them?

To help you out, scroll down, find your state and see which plants could help make your yard more inviting to its official feathered resident. (Just remember that several states share the same official bird, so look for the information in bold)

Northern Flicker

(Image credit: 1306771945/Getty Images)

Alabama

Alabama's state bird is the northern flicker (also known as the yellowhammer), and, unlike many seed-eating backyard birds, these beauties spend plenty of time foraging on the ground for ants and other insects, so a bird-friendly garden doesn't need to be all about bird feeders.

Native trees such as oak, hackberry and serviceberry can help create the kind of habitat flickers use, while leaving some natural leaf litter and mature trees in place can provide additional foraging opportunities.

American Beauties Red Maple Tree

CROWN The Genius of Trees: How They Mastered the Elements and Shaped the World

Nature Hills Nursery Eastern White Pine Tree

Willow Ptarmigan

(Image credit: pchoui/Getty Images)

Alaska

The Willow Ptarmigan is Alaska's official state bird, which means it is rather different from the backyard songbirds on this list. In fact, it is closely associated with tundra, shrublands and willow habitats, so the best way to support it is to think about native habitat rather than ornamental garden plants.

Native willows and birch, along with naturally occurring berry-producing shrubs (something like black chokeberry works beautifully), can provide food and cover where they are appropriate to the local landscape.

Cactus Wren

(Image credit: mdesigner125/Getty Images)

Arizona

If Arizona's cactus wren is your state bird, your garden doesn't need to look like a traditional flower border; in fact, native cacti and desert shrubs can provide shelter, nesting opportunities and food, making them far more useful than thirsty ornamental plants. Prickly pear is particularly valuable in the Southwest, with some species producing fruit that birds eat.

The trick is to work with the desert habitat you already have rather than trying to recreate an eastern-style garden (and, as an added bonus, native plants adapted to Arizona's conditions can provide food and cover while using considerably less water).

Try something like the organ plant cactus if you want a true statement plant.

Northern Mockingbird

(Image credit: Aminda Jayasundara / 500px / Getty Images)

Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas

Five states have chosen the Northern Mockingbird as their official bird, making it one of the most widely shared state birds in the country.

One of the easiest ways to make your yard more appealing to mockingbirds is to provide native berry-producing shrubs.

American beautyberry is an excellent choice in appropriate parts of the South, while other native fruiting shrubs can provide food at different times of year. Mockingbirds also eat insects, so a diverse planting that supports insect life is more useful than a garden that has been scrubbed completely clean.

Generic American Beautyberry Shrub

HILROQG American Beautyberry Live Plant

Florida Foliage American Beautyberry | 3 Live Plants | Callicarpa Americana | Drought-Tolerant, Vibrant Purple Berries, Attracts Birds & Butterflies | Easy to Grow

California Quail

(Image credit: George Lepp/Getty Images)

California

California's state bird is the California quail, and these ground-dwelling birds spend a lot of their time foraging and nesting on or near the ground (flying? Not so much their scene), so dense, low-growing habitat is particularly useful.

Try combining ornamental grasses with low-growing shrubs and groundcover to provide food and places to hide. Dense native vegetation can give quail somewhere to shelter from predators while producing seeds and insects for them to forage... and, while you might love a neat lawn, they certainly do not.

Lark Bunting

(Image credit: williamhc / Getty Images)

Colorado

Colorado's lark bunting is a prairie bird, so the best planting strategy is to think less about flower borders and more about native grasses and open prairie plants.

Allowing native grasses and seed-producing plants to remain standing can provide food and cover, while a more naturalistic planting can support the insects birds need during the breeding season.

For this bird, a little wildness is very much a good thing. Try mixing the following:

CZ Grain Rattlesnake Master Plug Plant

Clovers Garden Purple Coneflower

Clovers Garden Black Eyed Susan

American Robin

(Image credit: Bryan Steingard / Getty Images)

Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin

American Robins are famously adaptable, but they're not simply lawn birds. They eat huge numbers of invertebrates as well as fruit, and in winter they make greater use of berry-producing trees and shrubs.

Try planting serviceberry, hawthorn or other native fruiting plants suited to your region. These can provide berries later in the year while also adding useful structure to the garden. Personally, though, I love a dogwood.

And if you're hoping to see robins hunting for worms, keeping at least some healthy lawn or open ground can help too.

Expert Gardener 4-5' Dogwood Venus® in 1 Gal. Grower Pot

Nature Hills Nursery White Flowering Dogwood

Nature Hills Nursery Kousa Dogwood Tree

Blue Hen Chicken

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Delaware

This one comes with a rather important caveat; Delaware's state bird is the blue hen chicken, a domestic breed rather than a wild bird that you can realistically lure into your backyard with a particular plant (not without annoying your poultry-rearing neighbors, anyway).

So instead of promising a magic chicken-attracting shrub, use this as an opportunity to create a generally wildlife-friendly garden with grasses, shrubs and fruiting plants. Because, if your actual goal is attracting wild birds, those same plants will be considerably more useful.

Brown Thrasher

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Georgia

The state bird of Georgia, brown thrashers like dense cover, leaf litter and places where they can forage, making them a good match for a slightly less manicured garden.

Plant native berry-producing shrubs and allow some fallen leaves and natural groundcover to remain. Dense shrubs can provide shelter, while fruit and the insects living among native vegetation provide food.

It's another excellent excuse not to make every inch of the garden look like a golf course (and rest on your laurels a bit rather than whip the lawn mower out every five seconds).

Nēnē

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Hawaii

Hawaii's official state bird is the nēnē, or Hawaiian Goose, and this is another bird where habitat is more important than choosing one ornamental garden plant.

For gardeners in Hawaii, prioritize native Hawaiian plants appropriate to your island and habitat. Native vegetation can provide food and shelter while helping preserve the ecosystems this endemic species depends on.

This isn't a case where planting one particular shrub will bring a nēnē to your yard; try to think habitat restoration rather than backyard bird attraction.

Mountain Bluebird

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Idaho and Nevada

Mountain bluebirds are associated with open country, so a garden that combines native grasses with berry-producing shrubs can provide more useful habitat than a densely planted border.

Serviceberry is one option where it is native and suited to local conditions (and, hey, there is a great deal on the Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry at Nature Hills right now). Otherwise, native shrubs can provide fruit, while grasses and open ground create foraging habitat.

The important thing is to choose species native to your particular part of Idaho or Nevada rather than assuming a plant is suitable statewide.

Northern Cardinal

(Image credit: Saddako / Getty Images)

Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia

If you're hoping to attract your state's official bird, cardinals are probably one of the easiest birds on this list to garden for. They're the state bird of seven states, more than any other species, and n wonder; they look stunning!

To tempt them into your yard, try planting hawthorn, dogwood, serviceberry, hackberry, sumac or other native fruiting and seed-producing plants. Cardinals eat plenty of seeds and fruit, too, which means you should have luck if you keep feeders topped up, too:

Kaytee Kaytee Cardinal Seed Cake

Birdfy Bird House With Camera

Feeding in Style

Sweetfull Sweetfull Solar Bird Feeder

American Goldfinch

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Iowa, New Jersey and Washington

The American goldfinch is a particularly easy state bird to garden for because its favorite foods are so closely tied to plants.

Plant native thistles, sunflowers, asters and other seed-producing plants, and resist the temptation to cut every seedhead down as soon as flowering finishes. After all, goldfinches eat seeds almost exclusively (although they also use shrubs and small trees for nesting).

Basically, consider this permission to leave the slightly untidy seedhead you were about to cut down out for your feathered friends.

Western Meadowlark

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming

Six states share the western meadowlark, another state bird that makes a strong case for replacing some manicured lawn with native prairie grasses.

Choose something like Golden Sunset™ Yellow Prairie Grass from Nature Hills or any other plants suited to your local prairie ecosystem, allowing them to provide seeds, insects and cover. This isn't a bird that needs a carefully designed flower bed; keep things natural and relaxed.

Brown Pelican

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Louisiana

Louisiana's state bird is the brown pelican, and you're unlikely to attract one by adding a shrub to your backyard. Instead, gardeners near suitable coastal or wetland habitat can support birds by planting native coastal and wetland vegetation and protecting existing habitat (sign up for something like the Wetlands America Trust).

The trick is to think bigger than the individual garden; native plants can help provide food, shelter and nesting habitat for birds, while healthy coastal vegetation also supports the wider ecosystem on which waterbirds depend. Win win!

Black-capped Chickadee

(Image credit: Rumen Raykov / Getty Images)

Maine and Massachusetts

Black-capped chickadees are some of the cutest state birds around, so do them a favor and gift them trees and shrubs; they can use both for both food and shelter.

Try native birch, serviceberry, dogwood and other trees and shrubs suited to your area. Native plants support insects as well as producing seeds and fruit, giving chickadees more than one reason to investigate.

A layered garden with trees, shrubs and lower planting? Way more valuable than a lawn surrounded by isolated ornamental plants.

Baltimore Oriole

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Maryland

Baltimore orioles have a serious sweet tooth. They seek out ripe fruit, nectar and insects, and thus are way more likely to visit gardens filled with plants such as raspberries, crabapples and trumpet vines (this Summer Jazz™ Fire Trumpet Vine from Nature Hills is great for privacy, too!).

For a more wildlife-friendly garden, choose native fruiting trees and shrubs suited to your area, particularly those that produce dark-colored ripe fruit. Mind you, if you already have a mature fruiting tree, don't be surprised if an oriole finds it before you do.

Common Loon

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Minnesota

Minnesota's common loon is another state bird that requires a slight change of thinking. Rather than trying to attract a loon to a residential garden, focus on protecting and restoring native shoreline and aquatic vegetation if you live near suitable loon habitat.

Honestly, healthy lakes and shorelines matter far more than any particular garden plant this this wonderful bird.

Purple Finch

(Image credit: Getty Images)

New Hampshire

Purple finches use a mixture of woodland, shrubland and garden habitat, making a diverse planting particularly useful. Think birches, conifers and berry-producing shrubs, as these can prove a triple threat in terms of seeds, fruit, cover and nesting opportunities.

Greater Roadrunner

(Image credit: Getty Images)

New Mexico

New Mexico's greater roadrunner is another state bird that appreciates a garden with a little more wild character; so, plant native desert shrubs and cacti to provide cover and support the insects, lizards and other small prey that roadrunners hunt.

Rather than filling a desert yard with exotic ornamental plants, work with the vegetation that naturally belongs there. Native Southwestern plants can provide food and shelter while also being better adapted to local heat and drought.

Generic Red Barrel Fishhook Barrel Cactus

GINGERGLOW Colorful Hedgehog Cactus

GINGERGLOW Purple Prickly Pear Cactus Live Plant

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Oklahoma

The scissor-tailed flycatcher is an insect-eating bird, so planting for it is less about berries and more about creating habitat that supports insects. With that in mind, then, choose native trees and shrubs suited to Oklahoma, and let your garden get a little more interesting. Eastern red cedar, American plum, serviceberry and roughleaf dogwood are all worth a look, and you certainly don't need to plant them in matching rows.

A mixture of trees, shrubs and smaller plants creates a much livelier garden, supporting far more insect life than a highly simplified landscape. And that's good news for insect-eating birds, which suddenly have somewhere to hunt, hide and raise a family.

Ruffed Grouse

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Pennsylvania

Ruffed Grouse are woodland birds, so gardeners in Pennsylvania should think less about pristine borders and more about creating the kind of slightly untidy woodland edge a grouse might actually appreciate. Serviceberry (again!), American hazelnut, dogwood and viburnum (especially this Brandywine™ Viburnum from Nature Hills) are all useful native choices, providing berries, cover and plenty of opportunities for birds to forage.

Don't worry about everything looking perfectly manicured, either. A mixture of young trees, mature vegetation, fallen branches and dense shrubs creates a much more useful habitat than a garden where every inch is neatly trimmed.

In other words, this is one bird that may genuinely appreciate you leaving things a little wild. And, frankly, that's a gardening style I can get behind.

Rhode Island Red Hen

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Rhode Island

Like Delaware's blue hen, Rhode Island's official state bird is a domestic chicken breed rather than a wild bird you can tempt into the garden with one magical plant. Still, think about creating a varied planting of little bluestem, American beautyberry, serviceberry and native sunflowers, giving visiting birds a mixture of seeds, berries, cover and places to forage.

And if you happen to keep Rhode Island Reds yourself? Why, that's a whole different gardening problem. Those ladies have their own opinions about what belongs in a flower bed.

Carolina Wren

(Image credit: Getty Images)

South Carolina

Carolina wrens love dense, brushy habitat, making them an excellent candidate for the slightly informal garden. Wax myrtle, American holly (go for the self-pollinating Royal Family Holly Combo from Nature Hills), yaupon holly and native dogwood can all help create the thick cover these busy little birds appreciate, while also offering food and shelter for other garden visitors.

Don't be too quick to remove every fallen branch, twig or patch of natural vegetation, either. Carolina Wrens hunt among dense foliage for insects and use thick vegetation for shelter and nesting, so a garden that's a little rough around the edges can actually work in your favor.

In fact, that messy corner you've been meaning to tidy up? It could be exactly what your state bird wants.

Ring-necked Pheasant

(Image credit: Getty Images)

South Dakota

Ring-necked pheasants aren't looking for a perfectly manicured flower bed. They're birds of grasslands, farmland and scrubby edges, where food and cover are often found side by side.

If you're gardening in a suitable rural area, think in terms of layers rather than landscaping. Native grasses, shrubs and dense vegetation can provide places to feed, shelter and hide, while patches of open ground give these ground-dwelling birds room to move around. So don't worry about creating a garden that looks polished from every angle; for a ring-necked pheasant, a little bit of a scruffiness may look a lot more inviting than a pristine border ever could.

Ring-billed Gull

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Utah

Utah's state bird is the ring-billed gull, which presents a slightly different gardening challenge. Unless your backyard happens to come with a lake attached, you're probably not going to tempt one in with a particularly enticing flower bed.

Near suitable water, native shoreline and wetland plants can help support the wider ecosystem that gulls and other waterbirds rely on. But if your garden is nowhere near the habitat these birds prefer? Well, don't feel obliged to start landscaping like a lakeside resort. Instead, plant for the birds that actually live around you.

Honestly, a diverse native garden can provide food, shelter and nesting opportunities for plenty of local species, even if Utah's official feathered mascot remains firmly elsewhere.

Hermit Thrush

(Image credit: Michael Warren / Getty Images)

Vermont

Hermit thrushes aren't really border-and-lawn birds. They're woodland dwellers, so the more your garden can resemble a little slice of Vermont woodland edge, the better.

Keep mature trees where you can, then build up the layers beneath them with native shrubs, berry-producing plants and other woodland-friendly vegetation. That gives hermit thrushes somewhere to forage, shelter and move through the garden without everything feeling too exposed.

Think less “collection of ornamental plants” and more tiny woodland with a few gaps for you to enjoy, too!

Remember, attracting birds isn't only about food; native trees, shrubs, grasses and flowers can provide nesting sites, shelter from predators and weather, and the insects birds need to feed their young.

So whether your state bird is a cardinal, goldfinch, bluebird or something considerably less likely to visit a suburban backyard, the same principle applies: plant for habitat, not just for the bird. And if your state isn't represented here because it doesn't have an official state bird, don't let that stop you! A garden planted with native trees, shrubs, grasses and flowers can and will still welcome plenty of local birds, whether your state has given one of them an official title or not.

A garden full of feathered friends? Well worth the effort, quite frankly!

Tomato plants in September sit in a strange spot. Days still feel like summer, but nights have cooled and the light is shorter, and the plant keeps throwing out flowers it has no chance of finishing. Most gardeners let it ride until frost takes the whole thing down. That leaves a lot of fruit on the table.

Most of the advice on how to grow tomatoes covers the first half of the season, back when more of everything was the goal. September flips that. The work now is mostly subtraction – cutting off what will never finish so the plant spends what daylight is left on fruit that can.

Here are the top tasks to do in September to get the most out of your tomato plant before the season ends.

What to Do With Tomatoes in September

How urgent these tasks are come down to your average first frost date. Count backward from that date to decide what to tackle first.

1. Top the Vines

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Pruning the growing tip off each main stem of your tomato plants and they will stop growing and ripen the existing fruit instead. The energy will go into swelling and coloring the fruit that's already set. Four to six weeks ahead of the average first frost is the window for this type of tomato pruning, which for much of the country, puts it right about mid-September.

Indeterminate tomatoes are the plants that need this pruning technique. Determinate tomato varieties wrap up on their own and tend to get set back by early topping.

Make the cut just above the highest cluster with a realistic shot, and leave enough leaf cover that the fruit underneath doesn’t scald. Use a sharp, clean pair of pruners. Home Depot carries the Fiskars classic bypass pruning shears that get through green stems without crushing them.

2. Strip Late Flowers & Fruit

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

It feels wasteful to pull blossoms off a healthy plant. It isn’t. A tomato flower needs roughly six to eight weeks to become ripe fruit, and cool nights stretch that out further. Any flowers opening now are a draw on the plant's energy resources, but produce nothing to show for it. The same goes for fruit that's no bigger than a marble.

Pinch off flowers and small fruit with your fingers as you walk the row. Go back through in a week or two to do another pass. Topping usually prompts a flush of side shoots that also waste energy. Pluck off any tomato suckers that appear as well.

3. Remove Diseased Foliage

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Small round spots with pale centers on the lower leaves point to septoria leaf spot (Septoria lycopersici). Bull’s-eye rings inside a dark spot usually mean early blight (Alternaria solani). Both need wet foliage to spread and both overwinter in plant debris, so removing diseased foliage is vital to keep next year's garden healthy.

Late blight (Phytophthora infestans) is the one to move fast to remove. Greasy dark patches creeping in from the leaf margin, sometimes with white fuzz on the underside in damp weather.

Bag infected material instead of composting it and wipe your pruner blades between plants. It’s a containment measure, not a cure. But it's important to clean up diseased plants now to prevent issues next summer.

4. Keep Watering Evenly

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

September rain often arrives in bursts after dry stretches, and that swing is a common cause of splitting tomatoes. Fruit that's already at full size pulls water in faster than the skin can stretch. Watering tomatoes steadily at the root zone is the fix rather than more water overall.

A soaker hose handles this better than a wand and keeps the foliage dry, which is half the battle with leaf disease. Walmart stocks the Expert Gardener soaker hose that's cheap enough to buy two without putting much of a dent in your wallet. Tuck mulch over the top of it if there isn’t any down already.

5. Get Frost Covers Ready

(Image credit: Philippe Gerber / Getty Images)

Frost warnings rarely give more than a day or two of notice, and hunting for a tarp at dusk is how plants get missed and accidentally frozen. A floating row cover buys somewhere between 2 and 8°F (1-4°C) depending on weight, which is often the gap between losing everything and picking fresh tomatoes for another two weeks.

These Agfabric plant covers from Lowe’s are the light-duty option. Heavier grades hold more warmth, but cut more light. Old bedsheets work in a pinch. Run whatever you use down to the ground and weigh the edges with rocks or bricks to prevent heat escaping out the sides.

6. Harvest Mature Green Tomatoes

(Image credit: Catherine McQueen / Getty Images)

Green tomatoes that you pick ahead of a freeze ripens well, but only if they have hit maturity – full-sized with the skin shifted from flat dark green to pale whitish or yellow-green. Anything still small and dark won’t color up properly and is better off in a jar of relish.

Chilling injury sets in around 50°F (10°C) out on the vine and wrecks flavor before you ever pick. Clip each fruit with a short stub of stem attached. Sorting by ripeness helps a batch finish together. Hold them between 55 and 70°F (13-21°C). Add a banana to the box to speed up ripening.

7. Save Seeds From the Best Plants

(Image credit: Getty Images)

This one’s easy to skip and easy to regret, but saving tomato seeds is a great way to save money next year and grow more of your favorite crop. Squeeze seeds and gel from a fully ripe fruit off the best plant in the row into a jar, add an inch (2.5 cm) of water, and leave it loosely covered on the counter.

Three to five days on, a film forms across the top and the viable seeds have sunk to the bottom of the jar. The fermenting process strips the gel coat, which carries germination inhibitors and can shelter seedborne disease. Rinse seeds clean and spread them to dry, then label and store in an envelope. Open-pollinated heirloom tomato seeds come back true; hybrids don’t.

Every night through September, millions of songbirds pass silently overhead on their epic journey south. As dawn breaks, they drop into backyards searching for food to help them refuel before the next leg of their flight. At the same time, resident birds are stocking up energy reserves to survive the cold months ahead. What they need is fat, and they need it fast, at the point in the season when insects are thinning out and the wild larder is running low. This is where black oil sunflower seed can help.

Among all the seeds a gardener can harvest or buy, black oil sunflower seed stands out as the ultimate cold-weather superfood. Whether already available in your homegrown plants or added specifically to feeders, it’s something of a superseed for hungry birds this month. Among birdseed plants a gardener can grow, it's the standout because it’s about as close to concentrated fuel as a birdie can get.

While striped sunflower seeds have thick, tough hulls, black oil seeds have paper-thin shells surrounding high-calorie treats. This makes them irresistible for both migratory VIPs and year-round backyard species, especially as other natural wild food sources are beginning to wane. Stocking these seeds this month provides immediate relief for birds burning massive calories. Here’s how black oil sunflower seeds can support your feathered friends this fall.

Why These Seeds are Best

The secret to the black oil sunflower seed’s superiority lies in its packaging and content. Compared to traditional striped sunflower seeds, black oil seeds such as the great-value Happy Wings Black Oil Sunflower Seeds from Amazon feature thinner hulls. This means small-billed songbirds like chickadees will spend far less energy cracking open the shells, allowing them to absorb the goodies rapidly during high-stress migration and fall foraging. While hulled sunflowers offer convenience, they lack protective shells, so they can spoil faster and harbor dangerous bacteria when damp. So to feed birds effectively this fall, whole black oil seeds strike the perfect balance between easy opening and long-term feeder freshness.

(Image credit: Vinay Sinha / Getty Images)

Inside each black oil sunflower shell sits a kernel bred specifically for oil extraction, yielding a dense concentration of crude fat and essential protein. A US Fish and Wildlife Service feeding trial found that black oil sunflower seeds consistently beat striped sunflower seeds and white proso millet across nearly all songbird species. To inspect seed quality or seed hulls before filling your hoppers, use a high-clarity magnifier like the TechShare Magnifying Glass with Light, available from Amazon, to make sure you actually are dishing up the right seeds for the season.

Birds that Crave These Seeds

(Image credit: William Krumpelman / Getty Images)

Early fall brings a fascinating mix of migrants and resident birds to feeding stations, each drawn to black oil seeds for specific reasons. Migratory VIPs like rose-breasted grosbeaks have heavy, conical beaks designed to crush hulls with ease, making a high-fat tray feeder their ultimate fuel stop before flying south. Purple finches travel in flocks, relying on the seed's dense fat content to sustain rapid body heat.

Red-breasted nuthatches, blessed with nimble, gripping feet and light weights, can effortlessly snatch a kernel, carry it to a nearby branch, and stash it in bark crevices for winter survival. Most move at night and drop in at dawn, so a full feeder at first light really earns its place.

(Image credit: Gordon Magee / Getty Images)

Resident species benefit just as heavily from black oil seeds, as they prepare for the colder months ahead. Northern cardinals visit feeders during low-light hours at dawn and dusk, while black-capped chickadees and tufted titmice work relentlessly throughout the day, shuttling back and forth when they know there’s a hearty sunflower seed stash to enjoy.

The Cornell Lab's seed preference chart marks black oil sunflower acceptable to all nine feeder groups it tracks, chickadees through to doves. Nothing else on that chart comes close to the same spread, so one feeder and one seed type makes a huge impact. To spot arriving migrants from your window, keep a pair of high-clarity optics handy. The National Geographic 8x42 Binoculars from Walmart are great value and offer crisp, wide field viewing for tracking bird movements.

Harvesting Sunflower Heads

(Image credit: Sacit Bulut / 500px / Getty Images)

If you grew tall annual sunflowers this summer, you may already have a generous stash of black-oil superseeds ready to go. Heavy-yielding varieties like Peredovik or classic giant sunflower varieties like Mammoth Grey Stripe produce the oil-dense dark kernels birds crave. However, decorative varieties like Velvet Queen or pollenless types like ProCut either produce empty shells or tough, thick-hulled seeds that offer far fewer calories. So make sure you have the right seeds for your birds.

September is the prime harvest season for sunflower seeds. Heads are ready when the back of the flower shifts from green to a rich yellow or brown, the petals dry and drop, and the seeds look plump, sitting loose in the central disc. Birds usually spot this maturity before we do, so a sudden rush of finch traffic on a head is your cue. To protect ripening heads from eager squirrels, slip a paper bag or cheesecloth bag or similar over the head when the petals brown. You can buy Cotton Farm Cheesecloth Bags from Amazon. Secure it with a soft tie to buy a few extra days of ripening, while stopping seeds from hitting the dirt.

(Image credit: Diy13 / Getty Images)

When ready, cut the stem leaving about 12 inches (30cm) of stalk. Use sharp Fiskars Titanium Micro-Tip Pruning Shears from The Home Depot for clean stem cuts. Then hang the head upside down somewhere warm, dry, and airy, with no rodents in residence. Give it 3 weeks to cure, or longer in a damp spell. Seeds drop on their own, so placing a catch bin or bag underneath saves sweeping later.

Whatever seeds stay put will come loose easily if the head gets knocked against a table edge or rubbed hard against a second head. Just make sure everything is bone dry before storage, because damp seed molds quickly, and moldy seed is far worse for birds than no seed at all.

Best Ways to Offer Black Oil Seeds

(Image credit: Joe Houghton / Getty Images)

Tube feeders, platform trays, and suet cages are all great ways to dish up your black oil sunflower seeds. Hanging tube feeders are the safest default, mainly because they keep seed dry. Moisture is one of the real hazards at a feeder, since wet grain grows mold that can sicken birds. A tube also stops one determined jay emptying the lot in a single sitting. The Woodlink Seed Tube Feeder from The Home Depot is great for finches, nuthatches and chickadees, and hangs off a shepherd's hook or a low branch without fuss. Small perching birds like black-capped chickadees, pine siskins, and American goldfinches thrive on narrow tube perches.

Bigger autumn visitors like grosbeaks and cardinals prefer broader perching space. Setting out a wooden mesh tray like the Kingsyard Platform Bird Feeder from Walmart allows larger species to dine comfortably, while the mesh base ensures that rainwater drains away instantly after rain instead of holding a puddle.

(Image credit: Catherine McQueen / Getty Images)

For a high-energy treat, mix homegrown seeds into melted beef fat and chill in a mold to create suet cakes. These will go down a storm with tufted titmice and white-breasted nuthatches. If you prefer convenience, hang a pre-made C&S Sunflower Treat Suet Cake from Amazon inside a metal wire cage feeder. Finally, observe the 3/30 rule when putting out feeders for the fall frenzy. Place them within 3 feet (1m) of windows or beyond 30 feet (9m) to prevent fatal glass collisions.

Complement Your Sunflower Buffet

(Image credit: Cavan Images / NatureTron / Getty Images)

While black oil sunflower seed is the undisputed star of fall feeding, pairing your seed stations with natural garden forage creates a complete wildlife habitat. Leaving spent perennials standing provides essential foraging opportunities. Goldfinches and native sparrows will happily pick seeds out of dried coneflower (echinacea) and black-eyed Susan (rudbeckia) heads well into winter.

Planting berry-bearing shrubs can also help to pull in a different crowd. Soft-billed American robins, cedar waxwings, and hermit thrushes mostly ignore seed hoppers but will clear a fruit-laden branch in an afternoon. When selecting berrying shrubs, just match species to your hardiness zones. Native winterberry holly thrives in zones 3-9, holding bright red fruit straight into winter. You can buy best-selling Berry Poppins Winterberry Holly from Plant Addicts to set up long-term fall foraging. For northern gardens (zones 2–7), American cranberrybush offers high-pectin berries that soften after the first frost, providing critical late-season fuel.

To cater to specialized species like pine siskins and goldfinches who prefer tiny, oil-rich seeds, supplement your main stations with high-fat nyjer (thistle) seed served in fine-mesh socks or a fine-mesh feeder. You can grab 3lb bags of Kaytee Nyjer Thistle Seeds from Amazon. Scrub the feeders out every couple of weeks as well, since a crowded station spreads disease. A feeder filled this week catches birds that will be gone by November and others that will still be working the same perch in February. And never forget fresh water with dedicated bird baths and puddle baths, as your birdies are thirsty, too.

September Bird Care Essentials

Stocking your backyard bird sanctuary requires a balance of prime nibbles with practical yet pretty feeders, as well as reliable hydration sources. Give your birdies the best shot at survival with these curated fall picks to elevate your bird feeding station setup this season.

Superseed Trio

Premium Seeds

Happy Wings Happy Wings Black Oil Sunflower Seeds Bird Food

If you haven't grown any sunflower seeds this year, don't panic. These premium black oil sunflower seeds are packed with nutrients to fuel migrating songbirds and local residents.

Super Feeder

Wayfair Tucker Murphy Pet™ Huebner Mosaic Glass Fly-Through Feeder

A stunning hand-crafted glass mosaic fly-through feeder that catches fall sunlight while offering a sheltered perching tray for seeds.

Suet Cake

Pennington Pennington Feeding Frenzy Suet Dough Cakes

Couple your black oil sunflower seeds with some extra fuel: these suet cakes can be added as standalone extras or can be used to house some of your seeds for the ultimate fuel boost.

(Image credit: Wirestock / Getty Images)

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