Organic Gardening News

How two ingredients can elevate a recipe to such heights, I don’t know, but rose salt is simply magical and it's so easy to make from your garden-grown blooms. While rose salt pairs so well with chocolate bakes such as brownies and cookies, a scant sprinkle over a stack of pancakes is similarly game-changing. Try a pinch on a bowl of strawberries or a watermelon slice, too. And don’t stop at sweet dishes if you make rose salt, because a scattering over roast vegetables just before serving takes you straight into Thomas Keller territory.

But the best thing? If you’ve got roses growing in your garden and salt in a kitchen cabinet, you already have all you need to make this flavorful condiment and create some culinary alchemy. Roses are one of the best edible flowers to grow in your backyard as they don't just look pretty but bring noticeable taste and a subtle yet appetising fragrance to recipes.

Here’s exactly what to do for great results.

How to Make Rose Salt1. Pick the Right Rose

(Image credit: Getty Images)

If you're wondering can you eat rose petals, rest assured. The petals of all true roses are edible, but it’s important to ensure they’re not contaminated with chemicals. The best way to be sure they’re untainted is to pick roses from your own garden that you know to be free of pesticides. Avoid any plants growing near a road or a treated wooden fence.

Unless marked as organically grown, any recently purchased rose bushes should be left well alone, too, as it takes around 6 months for chemical sprays and fertilizers to fade. Never eat petals from shop- or florist-bought cut roses as these are highly likely to contain chemicals.

As a general rule, strongly-scented roses have petals with the most flavor.

2. Harvest Some Petals

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For plenty of flavor, harvest newly-opened blooms early in the morning. Separate the petals from the central base, and discard the inner workings. Remove the heel – the pale, whiter base of each petal – as this tastes incredibly bitter. Submerge the petals in a bowl of cold water to remove any dirt or debris then pat dry with a paper towel. You will need ½ cup of fresh rose petals.

3. Blend the Petals With Salt

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Put the rose petals in a food processor or blender along with ¾ cup of coarse or flaky sea or rock salt. Pulse until the petals are finely chopped and the salt takes on the tone of the roses.

4. Dry and Store

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Spread the salt mix on a parchment-lined baking sheet. It’s important that the layer is fine, so use two sheets if necessary. Place in an oven on a very low heat (120°F), stirring every half an hour, for around two hours or until the petals have darkened and the salt is fully dry. Leave to cool completely then store in an airtight jar.

How to Use Rose Salt

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The exact taste of your rose salt will depend on your rose variety, as some petals are far more potent in both flavor and fragrance than others. To enjoy the fullest flavor, scatter rose salt over a dish at the end of the cooking or baking process. If you’re using rose salt as the final flourish to your favorite brownie recipe, sprinkle it on the second you remove the tray from the oven so the residual heat helps the crystals stick to the crust. For a slightly more subtle finish, remove the tray from the oven 10 minutes early and sprinkle the salt on before returning to the oven to finish baking.

As well as using rose salt on savoury dishes – and it adds an extra depth of flavor to pretty much any dish but especially vegetable-based recipes – use this fragrant condiment to edge glass rims when making margaritas and dirty martinis.

(Image credit: Getty Images)Flavorful Roses

A rose’s taste mirrors its fragrance in terms of its scent profile but also its strength. So, choose a rose with a fragrance you adore and you’re likely to appreciate its flavor, too. As a general rule, pink, white and yellow roses have the best flavor, while darker reds can be bitter.

Fully floral

Gertrude Jekyll English Shrub Rose

With an intense, quintessential rose scent and flavor, Gertrude Jekyll boasts plenty of petals to play with.

Fruity flavor

Boscobel English Shrub Rose

For a fruitier, nuttier flavour, Boscobel pairs well with baked dishes because of its delicious pear-almond notes.

Fresh and bright

Charles Darwin English Shrub Rose

Charles Darwin has a fresher flavor that sits between a soft and citrussy lemon and warming herbal tea.

In one of his famous poems, Robert Frost wrote: “Good fences make good neighbors.” Does this apply to hedges as well? It might, if the hedge is on your property line.

Hedges are eco-friendly alternatives to fences and walls. They can provide hiding and nesting places for local wildlife, while also marking the property line.

But planting a hedge on the edge of your property is shadowed by legal concerns. Your best bet is to know the law before you begin then act carefully to make sure the hedge stays on your side of the fence.

I cover more questions like this in my Gardening Lawyer series, drawing on my experience as both a gardener and former attorney.

Benefits of Hedges

(Image credit: Ben Bryant/Getty Images)

Who wouldn’t prefer a natural, lovely boundary of shrubs on the property line instead of a wall or fence? A hedge offers privacy, environmental benefits, and structural protection, but it’s green and growing. The best hedge plants have foliage dense enough to create a privacy screen, blocking your backyard from the views of curious neighbors and muffling traffic noises.

And hedges are lovely, with ample aesthetic appeal. The greenery - sometimes with seasonal colors, flowers or fruit - softens your property line but also serves as a wind block. It can also act as a sun buffer, shading backyard areas in summer while also limiting chilly winter drafts.

Finally, hedges can stabilize the soil and also provide wildlife habitat. Hedge plants with deep root systems prevent soil erosion, while the dense foliage offers nesting sites, safe areas for birds and mammals, and food sources for birds and pollinators.

Property Line Perils

(Image credit: Grace Cary / Getty Images)

Planting near your home is easy. You don’t need to worry that your neighbors won’t be happy. It’s your land and you can plant whatever you want. But when you plant anything near the property line, your neighbor might be involved. This includes property line hedging.

It’s easy to understand why you should hesitate to plant an oak sapling near the property line. That tree is going to grow tall and wide, and its branches (and maybe even the trunk) will expand into the neighbor’s backyard…and they may not like it. Hedge shrubs may be trimmed neatly, but a property line hedge raises the same issues as border line oaks. Hedges are shrubs, and shrubs can grow even faster than trees.

Laws About Property Lines and Plants

(Image credit: Klaus Steinkamp / Alamy)

Every state has their own laws regulating plants on property lines, and some cities and even housing communities have rules too. The general law in most states allows a neighbor to cut down any part of a tree or shrub planted by a neighbor on your property line that extends into your own property. They don’t even need to ask permission.

But that’s not all. Many communities limit the height of any tree or shrub planted on a property line. Some cities and HOAs limit the species of trees and shrubs you can plant. Others won’t allow trees that block views or shade neighboring backyards.

Steps to Take Before Planting a Property Line Hedge

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You can prevent problems with your neighbors over your property line hedge by acting carefully. These are the seven steps you should follow before planting your hedge.

1. Learn all of the laws relevant to planting shrubs on the property line. Check for state laws, municipal regulations, and HOA or bylaw requirements - if you live in a housing community with an HOA or a housing development where bylaws apply. Find out if species or mature heights are regulated and whether there are any setback requirements. While you are researching, see if there are laws prohibiting planting that blocks a neighbor’s view or shades a neighbor’s backyard.
2. If you are still unclear on the law, consult with an attorney.
3. Develop a plan for your hedge. Select the type of shrub - taking into account your hardiness zone and the sun exposure of the area. Note the mature height and width of the species of shrubs you have selected. If you have any questions, ask a plant expert or an arborist to be sure the species is appropriate for the location.
4. Review city records that show the location of the property line between you and the neighbor.
5. Map out where you will plant your hedge. Set plants up to 3 feet (1m) back from the property line so branches do not cross into your neighbor's yard when fully grown. Add even more access space behind the hedge so that you can maintain the hedge without walking on your neighbor’s property.
6. Talk with your neighbors. Tell them what shrubs you want to plant and their mature size. Show them your hedge map. Walk the property line with them to make sure that your understanding about its location is the same as theirs. Listen to their concerns and address them if you can.

More from the Gardening Lawyer

• The "Spite Fence" Rule Every Homeowner Should Know
• 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?

Spanning the Mamquam Blind Channel, a newly opened $20-million crossing connects downtown Squamish with SEAandSKY, the 53-acre waterfront community being developed by Bosa Properties and Kingswood Properties.

Aspect Structural Engineers led the engineering on this project. They brought Rafael Santa Ana Architecture Workshop (RSAAW) on to help transform a complex piece of infrastructure into something more than a route from one side of the channel to the other.

“We wanted the bridge to be a destination rather than a utilitarian instrument of circulation for the urban landscape that will be Squamish and the SEAandSKY community,” says Rafael Santa Ana, principal of RSAAW.

The result is an operable double-leaf drawbridge, believed to be the first operable pedestrian drawbridge in British Columbia. Its engineering allows pedestrians and cyclists to cross the channel while preserving marine access to the active marina below. Its architecture gives people a reason to stop once they get there.

Santa Ana says bridge design is normally “110 per cent engineering”, and this one was no exception. The structural and mechanical requirements largely determined what the bridge had to do. RSAAW’s role was to shape how it would look, feel and be experienced.

The bridge changes elevation and geometry to create viewing platforms oriented toward Squamish’s dramatic mountain landscape. Benches invite people to pause rather than simply pass through, while the weathering steel structure references both the railway history of the region and the vertical rhythm of the surrounding forest.

“We knew that we had the opportunity to create platforms to see the Chief and the landscape of Squamish,” says Santa Ana.

The bridge’s mechanical requirements became part of its architectural expression rather than something to disguise. Pistons lift the central sections, while gates temporarily stop pedestrians as the bridge opens for vessels.

“It’s a bit like waiting for the train to go by, and you’ll just be able to sit on the edge of the benches or really take in the views,” says Santa Ana.

Lighting was also designed around the natural setting. Santa Ana says the intention was “to keep the light off the water at all times” to avoid disorienting marine life.

Public art by Squamish Nation artist Calvin Charlie-Dawson is integrated into the concrete pile caps, reflecting Coast Salish design traditions and the cultural history of the Mamquam Blind Channel.

Six years in the making

For RSAAW, the bridge has been a long project.

“It’s been a project that has been around our office for six years or more,” says Santa Ana. Design work began in 2019, before the pandemic.

COVID complicated co-ordination between architects, engineers, municipal authorities and provincial and federal agencies. Marine construction brought another layer of difficulty, with Fisheries and Oceans Canada imposing restricted activity windows to protect species and habitat.

Wildlife itself occasionally had other ideas. Santa Ana recalls curious seals interfering with piling work and repeatedly returning to the construction area.

The bridge was largely pre-assembled off-site, then disassembled, transported to the waterfront and craned into position.

Despite the complications, he credits Bosa and Kingswood with maintaining their commitment to an increasingly ambitious piece of public infrastructure.

“They never hesitated on delivering the project that they said that they would,” he says.

Connecting a growing Squamish

The bridge was approved by Squamish Council in 2017 as part of the SEAandSKY masterplan. Once open, it will be owned and operated by the District of Squamish as part of its active transportation network.

SEAandSKY is already home to more than 900 residents and is ultimately planned to provide more than 1,500 homes, alongside parks, retail, public spaces, a waterfront village plaza and marina.

For the wider community, however, the significance is the connection. The bridge effectively extends downtown across the Mamquam Blind Channel, providing a direct walking and cycling route to SEAandSKY and Miyíw̓ts Park while improving connections for surrounding areas.

“SEAandSKY began with a vision to transform a former industrial waterfront into a vibrant neighbourhood connected to Downtown Squamish. This pedestrian bridge has always been central to that vision, and seeing it come to life after so many years of planning, collaboration and hard work is a proud moment for everyone involved,” says Bosa Properties CEO Colin Bosa.

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Toilet paper – we all use it. But our daily bathroom visits result in a million little cardboard rolls that either end up in the recycling bin or the trash. What if there were ways to reuse toilet paper rolls in the garden that benefited our plants and kept this unavoidable waste from piling up in a landfill somewhere?

There actually are several clever ways to use toilet paper rolls in the garden. I’ll share how you can turn trash into garden treasure that solves a handful of common issues. From pests to pollinators to seed starting and composting, toilet paper rolls have varied applications in the home landscape.

Here are the best ways to use old toilet paper rolls to grow a better garden.

1. Stop Hungry Pests

(Image credit: CasarsaGuru / Getty Images)

One of the best uses for toilet paper rolls in the garden is to protect plants from pests. Seedlings are especially vulnerable to pests like cutworms and slugs, which can suddenly chomp through a stem overnight. Use a toilet paper roll like a collar around your young plants to protect their stems from hungry pests.

Squash vine borers are another pesky insect that can quickly kill your squash plants. Cut lengthwise down a toilet paper roll and wrap it around the stem of your squash plants to protect it from these burrowing pests. Cover the toilet paper roll in tin foil and push it down into the soil a bit at the base of the stem.

You can also create an easy earwig trap by filling a toilet paper roll with a damp paper towel. Place the toilet paper roll trap on its side next to the plants affected by earwigs, then the next day check to see how many pests you trapped. Place them in a bucket of soapy water to kill them.

2. Start Seedlings

(Image credit: T-sableaux / Getty Images)

This is a popular gardening hack that seems to take over the internet every spring, but it keeps resurfacing for good reason. Most of us have tons of toilet paper rolls lying around and want to save money when starting seeds in the spring. So using toilet paper rolls as seed starting pots seems like the perfect solution.

Although most toilet paper rolls are made from biodegradable cardboard, some are reinforced with glue that makes them break down slowly. If you plant them directly into the garden once your seedlings are big enough to transplant, it can cause circling roots that never reach the native soil.

To solve this issue, cut slits into the sides of your toilet paper rolls before planting, then simply fill the rolls with a high-quality seed starting mix, like this one from Miracle-Gro, plant your seeds, and grow! When it’s time to move plants outdoors, just peel back the rolls along the slits.

3. Turn Them Into a Bee Hotel

(Image credit: Marcel Krauss / Getty Images)

You can turn your toilet paper rolls into a pollinator-friendly hangout spot. To create a bee hotel, like this one from Amazon, where these beneficial insects can rest and nest, gather some hollow stems and sticks – bamboo is perfect for this purpose – and fill a toilet paper roll with them. Fill several toilet paper rolls and tie them together with twine to create a bigger bee hotel.

You can decorate the outside of the toilet paper rolls with paint or colorful tape that doubles as reinforcement in case the toilet rolls start to break down in the elements. Then place your mini bee hotels around your garden. You can put them near pollinators’ favorite plants or hang them in a tree where bees can stop and chill from the summer heat.

4. Add Them to the Compost Bin

(Image credit: Getty Images)

As I mentioned above, toilet paper rolls are typically made of cardboard or paper that breaks down easily. That means they’re a prime brown material for the compost pile or tumbler – this compost tumbler from Home Depot is a good choice for small backyards.

To help speed up decomposition, cut up the toilet paper rolls into smaller pieces before putting them into your compost bin or pile. But like any other uncolored paper product, toilet paper rolls are perfect for composting.

My husband has worked as a professional gardener for years, and during that time he's tried a lot of tools. Like, a lot of tools.

From expensive gear to the latest must-have gadgets, he's seen plenty of products promise to make gardening easier. But after countless hours spent maintaining gardens of all shapes and sizes, he's learned that the tools he relies on most? Well, they aren't necessarily the flashiest ones.

Case in point? When I asked him which tools every home gardener should own, he didn't list off loads of specialist equipment; instead, he immediately picked out three simple tools that earn a place in his van every single day.

The Tools A Pro Gardener Never Starts a Job Without

Now, his reasoning for picking out these tools makes a lot of sense, because he's made a point of picking the ones that aren't just good at one job; instead, they're versatile enough to tackle multiple tasks, durable enough to withstand years of regular use, and reliable enough that you don't have to think twice about reaching for them.

Whether he's pruning overgrown shrubs, digging out stubborn weeds, or tidying up flower beds, my pro gardener husband says that these are the tools that consistently save him time. So much so that, whenever he arrives at a new job, these are the first three tools he unloads from the van because he knows they'll be useful, no matter what's on the day's to-do list.

If you already have these in your gardening kit, you're well on your way. If you don't, they're where he'd suggest starting...

1. A Hori Hori Knife

(Image credit: Ashley-Belle Burns / Getty Images)

“If I could only take one hand tool with me, it’d probably be my hori hori knife.”

Yes, according to my husband, a hori hori knife is one of the most versatile gardening tools you can own. While it looks like a large knife, it doubles as a trowel, making it ideal for digging, planting, dividing perennials, and cutting through roots.

According to my husband, it's also the best tool for removing stubborn weeds because the sturdy blade lets you get underneath deep taproots without fighting with the soil. “I probably use it more than anything else I own,” he says. “Whether I’m planting, digging out weeds, or working in compacted ground, it’s almost always in my hand.”

Shop Hori Hori Knives:

SAVE

Grand Way Hori Hori Garden Knife

SPEND

Nisaku The Original Hori Hori Knife

SPLURGE

Barebones Hori Hori Ultimate Knife

2. Felco No. 2 Pruners

(Image credit: Melanie Griffiths)

Every professional gardener needs a reliable pair of pruners, and my husband's choice is the Felco No. 2. “They’re built to last,” he says. “Mine are always on my tool belt because I’m constantly reaching for them.”

Unlike cheaper pruners that often end up in the trash once they wear out, Felco’s tools are designed so that many individual parts can be replaced if they become damaged or worn. That means a quality pair can last for many years with proper care.

It makes sense, then, that, whether he’s pruning shrubs, deadheading flowers, trimming small branches, or tidying up plants, these are the pruners he trusts every day.

3. A Retractable Leaf Rake

(Image credit: BOKEH STOCK / Shutterstock)

Most people think of a leaf rake as one of those tools you only use in the fall, but my husband says a retractable model earns its place year-round.

Oh sure, it’s excellent for clearing leaves and lawn debris, but that’s only part of its job; my husband also uses it as a mini scarifier to loosen small patches of moss in the lawn, and the adjustable width makes it much easier to work in flower beds and borders. By narrowing the head, he can reach between plants to level the soil and pull out fallen leaves or other debris without damaging surrounding plants.

“The adjustable width is what makes it so useful,” he says. “You can open it up for larger areas or narrow it down when you’re working in tighter spaces.”

Shop Retractable Rakes:

SAVE

JAOTREL Adjustable Metal Leaf Rake

SPEND

cogardenshower Adjustable Leaf Rake

SPLURGE

ORIENTOOLS Adjustable Leaf Rake With 5-Section Handle

And there we have it; the must-have tools that every gardener needs in their arsenal. Still, if you're looking to build out your gardening kit even further, my husband says these are the next investments he'd make:

• A quality digging fork and spade for heavier landscaping work.
• A battery-powered STIHL KombiSystem, which lets you swap between multiple attachments using one power head.
• A dependable lawn mower if you're maintaining larger lawns and want professional-quality results.

Personally, I would consider splashing out on something like this nifty little All-In-One Raised 2x2 Garden Bundle, too, especially if you want to take a lot of the legwork out of watering.

Still, it makes sense to follow my husband's advice and to start with the three everyday essentials first as, in his experience, buying fewer (but better-quality) tools usually pays off in the long run. And, as these are the three he reaches for time and again, they make a pretty good starting point for building your own gardening arsenal.

A Christmas cactus spends most of the year looking like it needs nothing at all, which is roughly true from March through August. September changes that. Flower buds form in response to a fairly narrow set of fall conditions, and once October is well underway, the window for supplying them has mostly closed.

Standard Christmas cactus care carries a plant through summer just fine, but fall asks for adjustments that have less to do with keeping it alive and everything to do with getting it to flower. Six of them matter in September. Most take a couple of minutes; one has to be kept up for six straight weeks.

1. Track Nighttime Temperatures Before Moving It Inside

(Image credit: NoDerog / Getty Images)

Cool nights do real work here. Flower initiation happens under any day length once temperatures settle between 50 and 59 degrees Fahrenheit (10-15C), so a plant that summered on a shaded porch may already be getting a head start by late September in much of the country. Hauling it into a warm living room on the first chilly evening throws that away.

The hard limit is frost. These are tropical epiphytes from Brazilian rainforest, with no meaningful cold tolerance. Even a light freeze damages the stems outright. Watch the forecast rather than the calendar. Bringing the pot in once nights start falling below 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10C) is the common advice. An indoor thermometer with min/max recall from Amazon settles the question, since a windowsill can run several degrees cooler overnight than the room it sits in.

2. Look It Over for Pests Before It Crosses the Threshold

(Image credit: Rojer)

Anything that moves indoors in September brings along whatever it picked up outside. Mealybugs (Planococcus citri and related species) are the usual culprit, showing up as small cottony patches tucked into the joints between segments. Soft brown scale (Coccus hesperidum) turns up as well. Sap loss during bud initiation shows up later as fewer flowers, so this counts as a bloom task rather than simple housekeeping.

Check the underside of every segment and the base of the stems, where things hide. Light infestations of Christmas cactus pests come off with a cotton swab dipped in diluted rubbing alcohol, roughly one part 70 percent alcohol to three parts water, since undiluted alcohol can burn the tissue. For anything more widespread, a ready-to-use insecticidal soap spray from Amazon knocks back mealybugs and scale. Coverage decides the outcome. Anything the spray misses survives, so plan a second pass a week or two later. Doing all of it outside keeps one infested pot from becoming five.

3. Stop the Fertilizer

(Image credit: Herman Vlad / Getty Images)

Christmas cactus feeding should be tapering off by now. September is a reasonable place to stop it entirely. Nitrogen pushes segment growth, and a plant with plenty available tends to keep making new segments instead of buds. The standard recommendation is to hold off through late summer and fall, then pick feeding back up when new growth appears in late winter or early spring.

There is a magnesium angle here too. Holiday cacti pull more magnesium than most houseplants, and a monthly teaspoon of Epsom salts per gallon of water (5ml per 3.8L) covers that during the growing season. It should never go down in the same week as regular fertilizer. That one comes off the schedule now as well. Stopping the feed is a lever, not neglect.

4. Give It 13 to 14 Hours of Real Darkness

(Image credit: Paolo Gagliardi / Getty Images)

Christmas cactus light exposure is what decides things. Long, uninterrupted nights trigger bud set. Mid-September is where the treatment starts. Thirteen to fourteen hours of continuous darkness each day, held for at least six weeks, is what a full flush takes. Buds usually become visible three to four weeks in.

Continuous is the operative word. As little as two hours of interrupted light will stop the process, and that includes a hallway bulb or headlights sweeping across a window. The dark period is a switch, not a dial. A spare closet works fine, or a cardboard box tipped over the pot at six in the evening and lifted around eight the next morning. Return it to bright light during the day, since photosynthesis still has to happen.

Timing shifts by species, too. Most plants sold as Christmas cactus are Schlumbergera truncata, which flowers around a month earlier than the true Schlumbergera x buckleyi. Once buds appear, day length stops mattering and the pot can go back to a normal spot.

5. Water Less Now, Then More Once Buds Set

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Christmas cactus watering gets dialed back in fall without going anywhere near drought. Let the top third of the mix dry before watering again and drop the fixed schedule, because potting mix in a cool room dries far slower than it did in August. Soggy mix during long nights is the quickest route to root rot on a plant that evolved sitting in tree debris.

Then it flips. Buds that have set need the mix kept evenly moist, since letting it dry at that stage causes bud drop, and dropped buds do not come back. That reversal catches people out every year. If finger-testing a dense pot feels unreliable, a 4-in-1 soil moisture meter from Amazon reads moisture down at root level. Water should never be left standing in the saucer underneath.

6. Skip the Repotting

(Image credit: mamadela / Getty Images)

September is a poor month to repot a Christmas cactus, though fall tidying instincts run the other way. Christmas cactus flowers best kept somewhat pot-bound. A repot is needed only about once every three years anyway. Disturbing roots now interrupts the whole process at precisely the wrong moment.

If a plant truly needs more room, with roots pushing out the drainage holes or mix broken down to dust, wait until spring and repot after flowering. Pruning waits too. Once buds form, keep the pot away from heat vents and drafty doorways, since a sudden temperature swing will drop buds about as readily as dry mix does.

There is nothing complicated in any of it, though the timing runs tighter than most houseplant care gets. Start the long nights in mid-September and a Christmas cactus should be showing color right about the time the decorations come out of the attic.

So many of our favorite backyard blooms that we plant afresh every year have long-lived cousins that survive the winter and return, year after year, with lots more blooms for near-zero effort. If you’re wanting to cut down on the time and cost it takes to keep your garden looking good, swap those flower-once-and-die annuals for long-lived perennial plants that will bring abundant flowers for years to come.

Whether you like to grow lush borders or raise flowers for cutting, there are plenty of perennial versions of popular annual plants to choose from. From sweet peas and sunflowers to candytuft and coreopsis, foxgloves and poppies to baby’s breath and cosmos, there’s a perennial option that brings plenty of blooms for a lot less effort – and we all love flowering plants that practically grow themselves. For a lovely but low-maintenance garden, it's a no-brainer.

Which of these annual plants do you currently grow in your garden, that you could swap out for a perennial version that will flower for years to come?

1. Sweet Pea

Everlasting Pea Seeds, Mixed

If you're wondering what to grow in a low-maintenance garden, start your planting list with a perennial sweet pea. The annual sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) is fabulous, granted, but the everlasting sweet pea (Lathyrus latifolius) has lots to offer, too. Pest-resilient and happy to grow in poor soil, it flowers from mid-summer to the first hard frost and returns year after year in zones 5-9.

The only trade-off you’ll have to make is scent, as perennial sweet peas don’t have the wonderful fragrance of annual sweet peas. Everlasting sweet pea varieties range from white to a warm palette of pinks, magenta and red, and for the prettiest result, grow a mix for a standout color show all summer long.

2. Sunflower

3 Maximilian Sunflower Bareroots

Yes, it’s fun to plant sunflower seeds each spring and watch the plants grow sky-high – but it’s also lovely to sit back on the patio and see your perennial Helianthus pop up without any assistance from you! Most sunflowers are annuals (Helianthus annus), completing their life cycle in one season, but there are also a few perennial sunflower varieties that return year in, year out.

If you love the height of annual sunflowers and have the space, then Helianthus maximiliani (Maximilian sunflower) is an excellent choice, growing 6-8 feet tall stems smothered in yellow flowers from midsummer to frost in zones 3-9. Explore the wonderful world of perennial Helianthus salicifolius, too, which brings the same sunny vibes on shorter stems. Autumn Gold Narrow-Leaved Sunflower, available from Plant Addicts, is a favorite, growing just 1-2 feet high with a similarly long blooming season in zones 5-10.

3. Poppy

Eden Brothers 2 Papaver Orientale 'Forncett Summer' Bareroots

There are so many beautiful annual poppy varieties that pop up and flower for a few weeks then die, from corn poppies (Papaver rhoeas) to opium poppies (Papaver somniferum). Wonderful as their paper-thin petals are, the flowers can be fragile and fleeting. The perennial oriental poppy Papaver orientale, however, has a lot more punch in the flower power arena.

Because they’re fuelled by a far bigger perennial root system than their annual cousins, oriental poppies are bigger plants with bigger flowers. Papaver orientale flowers last far longer in a vase, too, produce robust seedpods that dry well, and their plump, fuzzy buds are adorable. There are all sorts of varieties to choose from, and Eden Brothers has a lovely oriental poppy selection to begin a journey into this world of flouncy petals and six-inch crepe-paper blooms.

(Image credit: Getty Images)4. Cosmos

2 Chocolate Cosmos Roots

Love the carefree flowers of cosmos? If you’re already growing annual Cosmos bipinnatus you’ll know just how many blooms a single plant can put out over the summer months. And there’s a perennial cosmos that's just as enthusiastic.

Cosmos atrosanguineus – the chocolate cosmos – is a dark, sensuous beauty that blooms all summer with rich, deep red petals that last well in a vase as well as borders. It’s hardy in zones 9-11 but as it grows to 30 inches high and is heat- and drought-tolerant, this perennial cosmos thrives in a container so you can easily move it to overwinter in a sheltered spot in cooler zones. As you'll discover, growing chocolate cosmos in a pot is a great move as you can easily place the blooms on a table or plant stand to enjoy their remarkable chocolate fragrance.

(Image credit: Getty Images)5. Foxgloves

Digitalis Grandiflora Yellow Foxglove

The cottage-garden appeal of foxgloves is joyful; the hassle of sowing seed one year and having to wait till the following summer for a fleeting show of these sensational spires is not. The foxglove we most often grow in our gardens is Digitalis purpurea, a biennial that grows leaves in its first year, then flower spikes in its second year before dying. There are perennial foxgloves, however, that return year after year.

Digitalis grandiflora, the large yellow foxglove, lives for around five years and flowers from June to August in zones 3-8. Digitalis parviflora (chocolate foxglove) is a slightly shorter-lived perennial but an incredibly striking plant to add to a modern border or gravel garden. With tightly-packed flower spikes in an unusual rusty brown tone that looks fabulous paired with corten steel, chocolate foxglove seeds are available from Walmart and are suitable for zones 4-9.

6. Black-Eyed Susan

American Gold Rush Black-Eyed Susan

Why grow short-lived annual or biennial Rudbeckia hirta when you can grow long-lived perennial Rudbeckia fulgida and enjoy a reliable display of golden black-eyed Susan flowers for years to come?

There are plenty of varieties to choose from ranging from short-stemmed cultivars perfect for a pot to tall back-of-the-border plants. Perhaps the best of all is Rudbeckia fulgida ‘American Gold Rush’, named Perennial Plant of the Year in 2023 and reliably growing well-behaved mounds smothered with yellow daisies in zones 3-8. The blooms are beloved by pollinators and, as this variety has been bred to be exceptionally disease-resistant, keep on coming to the first frost.

7. Candytuft

Perennial Candytuft Snow Flurries Seeds

You’re no doubt familiar with the annual Iberis umbellata, sown every spring to fill fronts of borders with white, pink or purple flowers through summer – but do you know the perennial candytuft, Iberis sempervirens? It does a similar job of bringing a carpet of flowers – though earlier, typically from March to June, and with white blooms – but also boasts a dense, evergreen mat of needle-like leaves thats act as year-round ground cover.

Because it has woody stems, this is a tough, reliable perennial in zones 3-8, heat- and drought-tolerant once established, and also does well cascading over the front of walls and raised beds.

(Image credit: Getty Images)8. Coreopsis

Lance-Leaf Coreopsis Sunburst Seeds

If you’re a fan of annual Coreopsis tinctoria and its pretty daisy-like flowers with yellow petals and darker centers, take a look at Coreopsis lanceolata. This perennial tickseed is native to North America with long-lasting spring blooms in zones 4-9, and lance-leaf coreopsis seeds are available from Eden Brothers.

Several cultivars have been bred from the wildflower for more dramatic, long-lasting blooms with the same tough nature and appreciation for poor soil, such as Coreopsis lanceolata ‘Sunburst’. Exceptionally heat- and drought-tolerant, it's as happy in a container as it is in the ground, and the flowers are easily dried, too.

9. Baby’s Breath

Festival Star Baby's Breath

Annual Gypsophila elegans is such a useful plant in any garden, with clouds of tiny white flowers and gray-green leaves on airy stems. It only lasts a summer, though, so if you want to keep its elegant effervescence in borders, you need to replant every spring. There is, however, a perennial baby’s breath that reliably returns year after year, bringing that wonderful froth of petite blooms for far less effort.

There are various Gypsophila paniculata varieties but one of the most useful is Festival Star. It has fairly short stems, only reaching 18 inches, but they're smothered with tiny white flowers. Blooming from late spring, this sea of bijou blooms acts as the most fabulous coverage for dying bulb foliage, and it continues flowering into early fall in zones 3-9. Festival Star baby's breath has a long tap root so is drought-tolerant, you don’t need to deadhead it, and it spreads to two feet so one plant makes quite an impact.

10. Marigold

Tagetes Lemmonii Shrub Marigold 50 Seeds

If you grow vegetables, you likely grow marigolds to attract beneficial pollinators and act as a sacrificial trap crop to lure aphids away from your precious veggie plants. While the annual French marigold (Tagetes patula) is easy enough to raise from seed every spring, the perennial Tagetes lemmonii works in a different way to benefit your veg patch, for far less effort.

Thanks to a concentration of oils in the foliage which emit a citrussy mint smell, Tagetes lemmonii deters pests and can mask the alluring fragrance of nearby crops. This Mexican bush or mountain marigold is hardy in zones 8-10 but many gardeners outside these zones grow it in pots so it's easilty moved to overwinter in a sheltered spot. As this shrub can grow 3-6 feet tall, growing it in a container also helps to keep the plant small, and the stems are easily pruned into a pleasingly bushy, rounded shape.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

A summer spent outdoors on a shaded patio or porch can be amazing for certain houseplants, most of which are tropical plants that thrive in heat and humidity. Soaking up the fresh air, natural moisture, warm breezes, and filtered sunlight can often trigger lush new growth. But in September, that outdoor haven can become a bit more risky. These tropical species like warm, consistent conditions, and sudden shifts in temperature can cause issues long before fall frost arrives.

Leaving these sensitive houseplants outside during sudden night-temperature dips can trigger rapid leaf drop, root rot, and severe cold shock. So this month is a time to transition key summering houseplants indoors to preserve all the vibrant momentum your plants gained over the summer. Sensible transitions now can protect against undue plant stress. This is also a good chance to get on top of any outdoor pests that might be looking to hitchhike indoors.

If you’re not careful, you could be bringing spider mites, scale, and mealybugs directly into your indoor spaces. By recognizing which tender species require a timely shift indoors, and taking a few quick steps to clean foliage and adjust soil moisture, you’ll protect your houseplant family and ensure they flourish through winter. Here are the key houseplants you need to move indoors now, and the easy ways to keep them clean and safe at the end of the summer holidays.

When the Houseplant Holiday is Over

There isn’t a single, universal date for bringing houseplants indoors for the winter. When you bring them in depends on your growing zone, local weather, exposure, and the types of plants you have. One of the best ways to determine when to make the transition is to keep an eye on nighttime temperatures. Many of your tropical houseplants will start to get uncomfortable when nighttime temps reach 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) consistently. Some are even more sensitive to cold and should be brought in before the nights get this chilly.

The key to a successful fall houseplant migration is tracking nighttime minimums rather than daytime highs. While a sunny September afternoon might feel warm, a sharp drop to 50°F (10°C) at night triggers the plants' roots to enter survival mode. Extremely tender varieties will be susceptible the moment nighttime forecasts consistently touch 55-60°F (13-16°C). Delaying the transition leaves them vulnerable to chill damage, which manifests weeks later as black leaf margins, soft stems, or foliage collapse. If you’re not sure, the highly rated Serundo Digital Thermometer from Amazon can help you determine temperature and humidity levels outside.

(Image credit: Liudmila Chernetska / Getty Images)

Of course, indoor environments can present lower light levels, dry forced-air heating, and reduced airflow. To prevent severe acclimation shock, you need to ease your houseplants inside over a 7-10-day buffer window. For the best houseplant care at the end of summer, start by moving your designated potted travelers to a deeply shaded porch spot for a few days. This will help to get them used to lower light. You can then bring them indoors for the night, while leaving them out during warm days.

Before bringing any container past your threshold, you also need to perform a thorough pest inspection for each plant. Hose down foliage to dislodge hitchhikers, treat the soil with an organic neem drench, and inspect leaf undersides under high magnification so hitchhiking pests don't invade your home. To get a closer look under the leaves, use a loupe or pocket magnifier. The Jarlink 60X Illuminated Loupe Magnifier from Amazon is terrific value and gives crisp detail to flag up microscopic webs and crawlers before bringing pots indoors. Make this move as early in September as you can, focusing on these tender plants first…

1. Fiddle Leaf Fig

(Image credit: Photography By Tonelson / Getty Images)

Fiddle leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) is a popular but tricky houseplant. It’s a tropical native and strongly dislikes both cold temperatures and sudden temperature changes. Summer outside can trigger a lot of new growth, but cold nights can lead to leaf drop due to stress. While a summer outdoors often pushes out large, glossy fiddle-shaped leaves, cold September drafts below 55°F (13°C) shock the root system. This stress causes the tree to jettison its lower foliage, leaving you with a sparse, leggy trunk.

This houseplant thrives in constant warmth and high humidity, so its return indoors is a high-stakes task. Move your fig inside early in the month (well before nighttime temperatures are consistently 50°F). Transition it into a spot that receives 6-8 hours of bright, indirect sunlight near an east or south-facing window, with no drafts or vents. Once indoors, give your fig a quarter-turn every few days, so all sides receive balanced light, preventing the trunk from leaning awkwardly toward the window.

Because indoor light is less intense than outdoor sun, soil dries out more slowly. Resist the urge to overwater: wait until the top 2-3 inches (8cm) of potting soil are dry to the touch before watering thoroughly. And remember to clean large leaf surfaces using Southside Neem Oil Houseplant Wipes from Amazon, which combine a layer of pest protection with impressive cleaning and instant sheen.

2. Bird of Paradise

(Image credit: Ольга Симонова / Getty Images)

Birds of paradise (Strelitzia spp.) are gorgeous flowering tropical plants that thrive in warm weather and can really put out a lot of new growth on a summer outdoor holiday. With their massive, banana-like leaves and bold silhouettes, they are built for high heat and brilliant sunlight. The right summer placement outside will allow them to stock up generous energy reserves for those distinctive blooms. But cool nights will slow that growth and stress the new foliage long before the first frost.

Bring your bird of paradise inside before the nights become cooler than 55°F (13°C) and place it in the brightest window you have to make the transition easier. Ideally, this needs to be directly in front of an unshaded south or west-facing window. The broad paddle leaves are likely coated in dust, hard water deposits, and spider mites. So give these leaves a good clean before moving day with a soft cloth and warm water or a diluted neem spray. For an extra treat, add a mild drench of Arber Organic Bio-Protectant Concentrate from Walmart to protect against fungal rots.

3. Rex Begonia

(Image credit: Pakin Songmor / Getty Images)

Begonia rex-cultorum hybrids, also known as Rex begonias, are gorgeous plants known for their striking foliage. Loved for their swirls of metallics, magentas, and rich emeralds, Rex begonias are among the most decorative yet cold-sensitive foliage plants. These pretty leaves are especially susceptible to cold damage, which can cause leaf margins to turn translucent, crisp, or drop off entirely. So bring yours indoors as temperatures start to drop to around 55°F (13°C).

Cool damp weather creates ideal conditions for powdery mildew to take hold on their textured surfaces, which is another great reason to bring these plants indoors. Place them in a spot indoors with bright but indirect light (not your sunniest window which can scorch their rich pigments). Allow the top inch of soil to dry between waterings and check moisture levels if you’re not sure. The Xlux Soil Moisture Meter from Amazon is a steal and works across every plant you own (just keep it clean).

4. Calathea

(Image credit: Roman Kochegarov / Getty Images)

Calathea (classified under Goeppertia) is a group of plants prized for their multi-hued and striped leaves. Also known as prayer plants, zebra plants, and peacock plants, these striped beauties have a bit of a reputation as being divas, due to their precise environmental requirements. They require high humidity and steady warmth, and they don’t respond well to environmental changes. They are also vulnerable to nighttime temperatures that dip sharply to 60°F (16°C), which can cause leaf curling, crisp brown tips, and stem collapse.

Transition your calathea back inside over 7-10 days, once nighttime temperatures outside are 55-60°F (13-16°C). Choose a spot indoors that has bright but indirect light, far from drafts, vents or AC units. Tap water containing high chlorine or fluoride levels can cause leaf tips to turn brown, so hydrate with distilled or filtered water. Running a cool-mist humidifier can also ease the transition. For a budget humidity option, the Pure Enrichment MistAire Drop Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier from Target is compact and great for small spaces.

5. Boston Fern

(Image credit: OlgaMiltsova / Getty Images)

Boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata) is a classic summer porch plant, with dense, frilly fronds. They make awesome summer porch staples, tumbling out of hanging baskets in feathery green cascades. However, their lush growth relies heavily on high summer humidity and steady airflow. As September brings cooler nights below 55°F (13°C), these ferns stop growing and prepare to shed fronds. Bringing them indoors before cool weather sets in will preserve their vibrant color, though you should prepare for some minor leaf shedding as they adapt to drier indoor air.

Bring these ferns inside before the nights are consistently cool. Be sure to check for pests before making the transition. Give the pot a firm shake, then spray with a gentle hose stream to wash away dust, whiteflies, and scale. Trim yellowed or bare fronds back to the crown. Then give yours a spot with bright, indirect light and good humidity: a large bathroom window or near a kitchen sink is ideal. For a light mineral boost that can help them adapt in peace, apply a diluted seaweed tonic such as Bloom City Organic Liquid Seaweed & Kelp Fertilizer from Walmart. A gentle soil soak strengthens delicate fern roots and improves frond retention indoors.

6. Tropical Hibiscus

(Image credit: Rosemary Calvert / Getty Images)

Tropical hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) plants thrive outdoors in summer, blooming abundantly and putting out new green growth. With fiery, tropical blooms that draw hummingbirds all summer, it makes a dramatic outdoor patio centerpiece. But while some hibiscus plants are hardy, the tropical hibiscus cannot tolerate cold temperatures. Exposure to night temps below 55°F (13°C) can trigger leaf yellowing and bud drop. Bring your potted hibiscus indoors early in September, while night air is still mild, so it can settle before winter arrives.

Bring it indoors while temperatures are mild, about 60°F (16°C) at night. Your tropical hibiscus will fare best with a spot at your sunniest window. Where indoor light is limited, add an LED grow light for 10-12 hours daily. If you are going to invest in full spectrum lighting, get something that offers at least 35W, like the SANSI 35W Wall Mounted LED Plant Lights from Amazon to supply sun-hungry hibiscus trees with the light intensity they need. These plants can get large in summer, so give it a light trim, but avoid aggressive pruning during this stressful transition.

7. Anthurium

(Image credit: Ludmila Kapustkina / Getty Images)

Anthurium plants (Anthurium spp.), also known as flamingo flowers, are loved for their glossy spathes and long-lasting reds and pinks. As a houseplant, they can bloom all year, and they really appreciate some time outdoors to soak up the warm, humid conditions. Outdoor summering encourages robust root systems and continuous flowering. However, when nighttime temperatures fall to 60°F (16°C), growth halts, leaves turn yellow, and emerging flower buds can abort. So you should bring yours indoors as soon as late-summer weather begins to turn cool.

Clean foliage surfaces with a damp cloth to dislodge hitchhiking scale insects or aphids before moving in. Then place your anthurium wherever it will receive bright, indirect light, such as near an east or curtained west-facing window. Avoid cold drafts and harsh afternoon sun that can scorch those glossy spathes. Allow the top 50% of the potting medium to dry out between waterings. Top-dress with a little epiphytic potting mix such as Miracle-Gro Coarse Potting Mix from Amazon.

Houseplant Cleaning Essentials

(Image credit: Kseniya Ovchinnikova / Getty Images)

Transitioning your tropical houseplants indoors for autumn requires a few targeted plant care products and protective accessories. This collection of essential supplies will help you carry out your September plant move with total confidence, eliminating pests, supporting healthy roots, and keeping foliage lush and vibrant through the winter months ahead.

Flora Microfiber Dusting Gloves for Houseplants

Make dusting and cleaning off sticky houseplant leaves easy with these microfiber gloves.

Bonide Insecticidal Soap Spray

Get rid of pesky pests with a spritz of insecticidal soap. This organic solution solves plant problems indoors and out!

Southside Plants Plant Cleaning Wipes

These easy-to-use wipes keep leaves shining bright with the natural power of neem oil.

Timing is everything when transitioning sensitive tropical plants indoors, but success relies on patience and timing. Always ease your plants inside over several days, so they aren't shocked by sudden shifts in light and humidity. Before moving a single container past your threshold, perform a thorough pest inspection, wash off foliage, and treat the soil to protect your wider houseplant family.

Select indoor locations based on each plant's needs, placing sun-lovers near bright windows and delicate foliage species in humid, shaded spots. Remember, the earlier you begin the transition process, the easier it will be for your plants to settle in and maintain their lush beauty all winter long.

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Fall color is heavily associated with foliage. As the heat of August gives way to crisp September mornings, most gardeners assume the floral season is drawing to a quiet close. And the idea that we can plant bulbs now that can reward us with color before the year is out might seem unbelievable. We’re conditioned to treat our bulbs as a lesson in delayed gratification, tucking sleeping tulips and daffodils into cold earth and waiting 6 long months for a spring payoff.

But some botanical sprinters don’t need to wait nearly that long if pushed into the ground now. Planted in September, these bulbs, corms, and tubers nudge through the mulch while everything around them is winding down. The bulb planting routine is much the same as with other bulbs you might be planting now, but there is no chilling period to get through first. Tucking these unique corms and tubers into warm early September soil yields a stunning reward: brilliant goblets, starry umbels, and jewel-toned petals bursting through the ground in just a few short weeks.

And if the prospect of magical fall blooms wasn’t enough of a treat, these late-season bloomers also provide a vital, nectar-rich lifeline for native pollinators making their final pre-winter rounds. Getting these bulbs in the ground during early September takes advantage of residual late-summer soil warmth, sparking rapid root establishment and triggering instant floral spikes. It is an effortless afternoon project that completely transforms how your yard will look – so let’s get ready for the magic.

Choosing Bulbs for Fall Color

The main rule with these fall bulbs is: get them in the ground fast. Dormancy in this group holds for a narrow window. A few will open flowers inside the bag if they sit on a shelf too long. Unlike spring bulbs that require months of chilling in damp winter earth, autumn specialists are adapted to hot, dry summer dormancies. Drainage matters more than richness. These bulbs aren’t fans of heavy clay. If planted in waterlogged soil, the fleshy corms will rot before they can send up flower scapes.

(Image credit: AegeanBlue / Getty Images)

Select spots with naturally sharp drainage, such as sloped rock gardens, raised beds, or the rain-shadowed foot of a south-facing masonry wall. Working some coarse horticultural grit, perlite, or pumice into native soil instantly improves aeration and root penetration. If you haven’t got a bulb planter, there are a range of types with varying degrees of comfort and control, from standing to squatting! For entry-level ease of use, try the Edward Tools Bulb Planter with Depth Marker, available from Amazon, which is exceptional value and gentle on the wrists.

Planting depth for this group requires strict attention, as standard depth rules often do not apply. While traditional bulbs need to go deep (roughly 3 times their height), surface-blooming tubers like Cyclamen hederifolium sit barely covered under an inch of topsoil, while neck-emerging species like Lycoris require their tips exposed to air and sun. So check the instructions on the packet when planting. Don’t forget to grab your gloves before planting, as a few of these bulbs are poisonous. Beyond that, the time is right for bringing on some very special fall color…

1. Colchicum

(Image credit: Svetlana Khoroshilova / Getty Images)

Catalogs routinely sell this as autumn crocus. Colchicum (C. autumnale) sits in a different family, and the tell is 6 stamens where a true crocus carries 3. Hopefully what lands in your mailbox is a fat corm. These corms are famously eager. In fact, if left sitting in a paper shipping bag on a kitchen counter in September, they will push out leafless lilac goblets right on the shelf. To get the best floral show, set them into rich, well-draining garden soil the very day they arrive in the mail.

Set it 3-4 inches (8-10cm) deep in rich ground the day it arrives. If the soil has gone hard and you’re after a long-handled bulb planter, I recommend the Colwelt Long Handled Bulb Planter Tool from Amazon. Planted in early September, these bulbs bloom within 2-4 weeks. Tucking them behind hostas, daylilies, or hardy geraniums will mask the spring foliage without shading the fall flower show. Plant under creeping thyme or low-growing stonecrop to keep the blossoms from flopping in rainstorms. Buy Daylily Nursery Colchicum Bulbs from Walmart.

2. Saffron Crocus

(Image credit: Sevim Fidan / Getty Images)

Cooks have a reason to grow this one. Saffron crocus (C. sativus) is a genuine crocus. Each lilac flower carries 3 red stigmas. Those dry down into the spice, and it takes around 150 flowers to make a single gram. Combining culinary luxury with ornamental beauty, this bloomer is a treasure for the autumn garden. Drainage is non-negotiable. If planted in heavy, waterlogged clay, the corms will succumb to fungal soft rot. If your native soil is heavy, grow them in terracotta pots filled with a 50/50 mix of potting soil and coarse horticultural sand.

Plant corms 3-4 inches (8-10cm) deep and 4 inches (10cm) apart in the sunniest, driest gravel border or patio container you have. By mid-to-late October, delicate violet goblets will push up through grass-like foliage, each displaying the crimson stigmas that can be hand-harvested with tweezers for culinary use. As a sterile hybrid, the plant will not self-seed. However, a healthy clump will multiply steadily via corm offsets over 2-3 years, yielding a lovely spice harvest every autumn. You can buy Marde Ross & Company Saffron Crocus Bulbs from Amazon.

3. Autumn Daffodil

(Image credit: Banedeki / Getty Images)

For anyone who longs for the cheerful, egg-yolk yellow of spring in the middle of autumn, Sternbergia lutea is a joy. Goblet-shaped flowers emerge on 6-inch (15cm) stems, in a yellow lifted straight off a daffodil. This earns it the name of autumn daffodil, although technically it isn’t. The flowers arrive alongside crisp, dark green strap-like foliage which remains vibrant through winter, providing texture long after frost has cleared other perennials.

Native to sun-baked Mediterranean hillsides, this bulb requires a gritty planting site that bakes in summer heat. Bury bulbs 4-5 inches (10-13cm) deep at the base of a south-facing brick or stone wall, where the masonry can absorb and radiate heat back into the soil. Zones 7-9 are best, and zone 6 can work against a warm wall under a mulch of dry, pine needles. Avoid disturbing or dividing established clumps, as it detests root disruption and can take a year or two to recover if moved. You can buy Autumn Daffodil Bulbs from reputable fall bulb suppliers Brent & Becky’s Bulbs.

4. Hardy Cyclamen

(Image credit: Alexandra Glen / Alamy)

Dry shade under a mature tree might defeat a lot of bulbs. Hardy cyclamen (C. hederifolium) thrives in it. The corky, saucer-like tubers push up exquisite pink or white blossoms through to November. As the flowers fade, intricate silver-marbled foliage unfurls, forming a weed-suppressing groundcover that stays pristine through winter. However, while established plants bloom immediately, fresh tubers might put on a modest leaf display this fall and launch their full floral magic next year. You can currently buy Hardy Cyclamen Bulbs from Easy to Grow Bulbs at a 35% discount.

Plant the tubers just 1 inch (2.5cm) deep with the concave side facing up. Orientation matters here: this species roots from the top and shoulders rather than the base. Also, rodents and squirrels love digging up fresh tubers. Pin a scrap of hardware cloth like Everbilt Galvanized Steel Mesh Cloth from Home Depot over the planting for the first month. The delicate flower stems will easily push right through the wire mesh while pests are blocked out. Expect floral carpets by the second year.

5. Red Spider Lily

(Image credit: I love Photo and Apple / Getty Images)

There is no warning with this one. Red spider lily (Lycoris radiata) scapes come up fast after the first soaking rain that follows a hot spell. They reach 12-18 inches (30-45cm), and open into coral-red umbels with stamens curling out like wire. Known as the Hurricane Lily in the South, this beauty delivers high dramatic impact in zones 7-10 (6 with shelter), and scapes can grow 2 inches (5cm) a day. You can buy SB Store’s Heirloom Red Spider Lily Bulbs from Amazon in packs for a great price.

Proper planting depth is the single most critical factor for triggering blooms. The long neck of the bulb must sit at or slightly above the soil surface. If buried deep like a tulip, the bulb will produce plenty of strap-like winter leaves, but will stay flowerless. Because the plant disappears in June and July, it’s a good idea to mark planting spots with stakes so you don't accidentally slice through sleeping bulbs with a spade. Newly planted dry bulbs may skip flowering during their first autumn while building roots, but they establish quickly and bloom reliably every September after that.

6. Nerine

(Image credit: Moonstone Images / Getty Images)

Nerine (N. bowdenii) sends up umbels of narrow, wavy-edged petals on 18-inch (45cm) stems. Bringing neon vibrancy to the late autumn garden, this bulb (aka the Guernsey lily) produces sparkling pink flowers with wavy petals. Blooming in October and persisting well into November, nerines are a beacon for late-season butterflies and beneficial pollinators. Position them along main pathways or near entryways, where their pretty hues can be appreciated up close.

Plant with the top of the bulb at or slightly above the surface, in the driest ground you have. These bulbs thrive with sharp drainage and root confinement, against a sunny, south-facing stone or brick wall. Allow the clumps to multiply for 5-7 years before considering division. In colder zones (zone 6 and below), grow in terracotta pots that can be overwintered in a frost-free garage or basement. If you hurry, you can pick up some Guernsey Lily Bulbs by Seeds, Bulbs, Plants & More from Amazon.

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It can be so rewarding to grow your own food, including tasty berries like blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and more. Not only are they fresher and more nutritious than store-bought, but homegrown berries just taste better.

If you grow berries, you probably already know the frustration of losing fruit to animals before a harvest. Both birds and mammals love berries, too, and they won’t respect the boundaries of your garden. Keep in mind that knowing how to protect fruit trees from birds is not exactly the same as protecting berries, which generally grow lower to the ground and attract more critters.

From squirrels to birds to rabbits, deer, and raccoons, your berry canes and bushes are susceptible to significant nibbling and harvest loss. Below I’ll share my top tips for protecting those berries so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor.

1. Cover Berries With Bird Netting

(Image credit: Alexander Shapovalov / Getty Images)

A physical barrier is the most foolproof, simple, and humane way to protect fruit from animals. If you can physically prevent animals from getting to your berries, you’ll keep both the fruit and the critters safe. Use this as your primary strategy for berry protection.

Bird netting, which you can get from Ace Hardware, is the most dependable solution for vulnerable berries. If you contact your local extension office for guidance, this is probably what they’ll suggest as the most effective method since birds are the primary problem. Make sure you use a net specifically designed for birds, as these are safe and won’t cause other wildlife to get tangled.

Install bird netting over berries before they ripen. Once birds discover ripe berries, it can be hard to keep them away. The best way to install the net is to use a frame around the bush rather than simply draping it over.

Use stakes, garden hoops, or any simple frame to surround the bush with the net. Use more stakes or garden staples to secure the net to the ground so birds can’t get in underneath it.

2. Build a Cage or Fruit Tunnel

(Image credit: Alamy)

Expanding on the idea of using a net, building a fruit cage or tunnel around your berries takes the physical exclusion strategy to the next level. Consider this solution if you have small mammals like chipmunks or squirrels chewing through the bird netting.

You can create a simple cage out of readily available materials: PVC pipes or hoops, garden stakes, metal conduit, scrap wood, and bird netting or a sturdier type of mesh. You can also find commercial crop cages to buy rather than building your own. This crop cage from Amazon comes in a variety of sizes and shapes to accommodate whatever berry plants you have, from small shrubs to trees.

Either option is a highly effective way to protect your berries, as they keep netting or mesh well away from the fruit so little paws and mouths can’t reach them.

3. Use Scare Tactics & Deterrents

(Image credit: FotoVSmirnov / Getty Images)

Scare tactics can still be humane, as they don’t actually harm animals but deter them from specific areas of the garden. They are like barriers, but not actual physical structures so they're a great way to keep animals out of the garden without a fence.

You can use movement, sound, water, or even scent to scare animals away from ripening berries. Here are some of the most effective ways to scare away animals :

• Reflective mylar tape and ribbons, which you can get on Amazon
• Shiny streamers
• Balloons
• Fake hawk and owl decoys, which are available from Ace Hardware
• Motion-activated sprinklers
• Noise-making devices, like this ultrasonic animal deterrent from Amazon
• Predator scent sprays (for deer, Content Editor Laura swears by Liquid Fence from Home Depot)

The downside of many deterrents is that animals get used to them and lose their fear, especially with stationary items. Move these frequently and consider using anything that moves.

For motion-activated devices, place sensors on paths leading to berries, not just directly next to the berries. Consider using some of these deterrents with physical barriers for extra protection.

4. Harvest Berries Promptly

(Image credit: Vitalii Petrushenko / Getty Images)

One of the easiest ways to avoid losing your berry harvest, or at least a significant amount of it, is to harvest promptly. The longer berries stay on the bushes or canes, the more opportunities you have to lose them to foraging animals.

This is a good strategy if you’re ok with losing some of your berries and if you have a way to use or preserve all the berries you pick at one time. Of course, berries don’t all ripen at once, so check your plants daily.

It’s also a good idea to regularly remove damaged, overripe, or dropped fruit. Even though you don’t want to use this fruit, leaving it in place will only attract more critters.

Aside from harvesting in a timely manner, whichever method you choose to use for protecting your harvest, it’s important that you start well before the berries ripen. For the best results, use all of these strategies. A physical barrier with scare tactics and deterrents plus picking berries early and regularly will work together to save your harvest.

We all want healthy, productive hydrangeas that put on a gorgeous show with big clusters of multiple flowers, often in color-shifting shades that add to the magic. So when your hydrangea looks healthy and is leafy and green, but doesn’t produce very many flowers, it can be very frustrating. We tend to think of lazy blooming as a plant failure, but in reality, your shrub is likely just conserving energy after sustaining some sort of stress or a minor care mistake.

A disappointing season of blooms doesn't necessarily mean your shrub isn’t healthy or that it’s a lost cause. Targeted hydrangea care in early September can help you identify the issue and ensure next year is better. Whether you’re dealing with undersized flower heads, muted color shifts, sparse clusters, or a shrub that failed to produce a single flower bud, this month is critical if you want to turn things around. You can correct care mistakes, safeguard overwintering buds, and guarantee a heavy floral show next year if you take action now.

Timing is everything: as late summer turns into early fall, our beloved shrubs are undergoing a transition. While panicle (Hydrangea paniculata) and smooth (H. arborescens) varieties showcase their final colors, bigleaf (H. macrophylla), oakleaf (H. quercifolia), and mountain (H. serrata) types are setting next spring's flower buds. Taking action this month doesn't just address this year’s frustrations, but lays the foundations for a breathtaking show next year. So don’t give up on your lazy bloomer just yet. Here’s what you need to know…

Why are They Lazy Bloomers?

To solve this floral mystery, you must first pinpoint the specific type of hydrangea growing in your borders. Bigleaf, mountain, and oakleaf hydrangeas bloom on old wood, which means the flower buds that will open next June and July are being formed right now on current summer stems. By contrast, panicles and smooth hydrangeas bloom on new wood, setting buds on fresh shoots produced in spring.

This critical distinction dictates every single move you make now, especially with your pruners. A mistimed trim on an old-wood variety risks snipping away next year’s entire flower show before it even has a chance to start. And if you pruned a bigleaf hydrangea in late summer or fall last year, that could explain why you got few or no flowers this year). So before you do anything, make sure you know exactly which hydrangea type you’re dealing with.

(Image credit: Ironstuff / Getty Images)

Late summer stress can frequently take a silent toll on bloom capacity. Prolonged heatwaves, intense afternoon sun, compacted clay, and accidental over-application of nitrogen-rich lawn fertilizers can force even the hardiest hydrangea into survival mode, prioritizing basic leaf survival over flower production. Regional hardiness plays a key role as well. Growers in northern USDA hardiness zones 4-6 may find late spring frosts zapped tender old-wood buds, while southern gardeners in zones 8-9 may have to contend with root stress and soil dehydration.

You can check to see if your soil is dehydrated with a simple diagnostic like the Soil Moisture Meter from Amazon, which is easy to use, doesn’t need a battery, and also identifies pH levels. Before diving into these fixes, it’s also a good idea to make sure you sanitize your bypass pruners with rubbing alcohol, like the brilliant Swan Isopropyl Alcohol from Walmart, or a light wipe of organic neem oil to reduce the risks of cross-contamination. Hopefully, the following fixes can help you understand what might have gone wrong with your blooms, and how to ensure they flourish and flower to their best next year.

1. Prune at the Right Time

(Image credit: Igor Paszkiewicz / Getty Images)

Pruning a hydrangea at the wrong time of year is a leading reason for decreased flowering. When you prune matters, because bad timing means you might be trimming off the buds that become summer flowers. For old-wood hydrangeas, like bigleaf and oakleaf, prune lightly right after they’ve finished flowering using ultra-precise snips like the Corona Hydroponic Finger Snips from Amazon. Immediacy is key, or else you risk trimming off next year’s buds. Trim lightly for shape and to remove any dead, diseased or damaged stems.

A word of caution: depending on when they stop flowering, old-wood varieties can start to set their flower buds for the following year during September. Pruning in late fall risks removing newly formed buds and can leave you with fewer blooms next season, so please proceed with caution. If you think you have accidentally pruned at the wrong time this year, don’t panic. Allow the plant to drop its leaves naturally, and focus on winter protection so that remaining low buds can survive.

For new-wood panicle hydrangeas (like Limelight) and smooth varieties (like Annabelle), it’s best to prune in late winter or early spring while the shrubs are dormant. They won’t set buds until new growth appears in spring. Do not prune after the new growth appears, or you’ll take off the budding flowers. You can remove one-half to one-third of the plant during dormancy. Committing to correct timings now will help restore structural vigor and yield recovery within a single growing season.

2. Use the Right Fertilizer to Protect Flowers

(Image credit: Valeriy_G / Getty Images)

If your hydrangeas are full of healthy, big leaves and lots of green growth, the issue might be your fertilizer. Products with a lot of nitrogen promote foliage growth over flowers. One common problem is using lawn fertilizer near shrubs. These products are high in nitrogen and can impact your hydrangea’s growth and flowering. High nitrogen forces rapid, sappy growth at the expense of floral development. In early September, high-nitrogen fertilizers are particularly dangerous. They stimulate tender green shoots that won’t have time to harden off before the first frost, leaving the plant vulnerable to winter dieback.

Where possible, keep lawn fertilizers well away from your hydrangea’s root zones. Then check the fertilizer you are using. If it’s high in nitrogen, stop using it. More foliage now will not help you get more flowers next year. Switch to a product with higher phosphorus (ideally 10-20-10) for the final feedings of the growing season. This balance will promote strong root growth and flower bud formation. For a gentle slow release of helpful nutrients, try Espoma Bone Meal from The Home Depot, which balances low nitrogen with targeted phosphorus for root and bud health. This nutrient pivot will dramatically increase flower bud density by the following May.

3. Manage Drought and Heat Stress

(Image credit: Edwardkirillov / Shutterstock)

Late summer can get very hot and dry in many areas. High temperatures, intense afternoon sunlight, and inconsistent moisture in the soil can all cause significant stress. Hydrangeas react to this stress by diverting energy away from flower production and into simply surviving. Some characteristic signs of weather-related stress in hydrangeas include wilting, brown and crispy margins on leaves, scorched leaves, and premature leaf drop, as well as reduced flowering.

Smooth hydrangeas and bigleaf types are known to wilt under high sun, whereas panicle hydrangeas feature thicker, leathery leaves that tolerate full afternoon sun remarkably well if given consistent ground moisture. To reverse heat stress before fall begins in earnest, adjust your watering routine. Water regularly and deeply at the soil level. It’s better to water deeply every few days than shallowly every day. Check the first few inches of soil, and if they are dry, it’s time for a soaking.

Pair deep watering with a 2-3-inch (5-8cm) layer of shredded organic bark mulch. Best-selling Vigoro Shredded Wood Mulch from The Home Depot is exceptionally good value for forming that protective insulating blanket. Layer your mulch around the base, keeping a few inches clear of the main stems. Mulch helps keep more moisture in the soil and cools the roots. If your hydrangeas are getting full sun in the afternoon and showing signs of wilting, be sure to provide some late-day shade with a shade cloth or patio umbrella.

4. Check Light Levels

(Image credit: Billy_fam / Getty Images)

While afternoon light can be a little much for hydrangeas during a drought or extreme heat, too little light can also be a problem. The ideal setup for abundant flowers is bright light but protection from intense late-day sun. Exact light requirements will vary according to variety and region. As a general rule, bigleaf and oakleaf hydrangeas thrive in dappled morning sun with filtered afternoon shade, requiring 3-5 hours of direct morning light. In dense, deep shade, they will produce lovely green foliage but almost no flowers. Conversely, panicle hydrangeas require at least 6 hours of full sun daily to support their massive, cone-shaped blooms.

Check on your hydrangeas at different times of day to notice when they get sunlight and for how long. If you suspect that too much shade is the culprit for causing your hydrangea's lazy blooming habits, please avoid the temptation to dig up the plant during late summer heat. This can cause transplant shock, which can be fatal. Instead, use this month to evaluate canopy lighting and plan a successful transplant for early next spring while your shrub is fully dormant. If it is an option, lightly thinning overhead tree branches in early autumn to increase ambient light penetration, giving your shrub a sunlight boost to initiate flower buds for next year.

5. Protect Next Year’s Buds During Winter

(Image credit: Juan Carlos Juarez Jaramillo / Getty Images)

If you grow old-wood hydrangeas, the buds that form later in the season must survive the winter in order to bloom next year. Winter bud mortality is a big reason why bigleaf and mountain hydrangeas can fail to bloom in zones 4-6. These are vulnerable to winter frost and freeze damage that could be a cause of reduced flowering in summer. As long as you grow hydrangea within its hardiness zone and have normal winter weather, this shouldn’t be an issue.

However, extreme and unusual cold weather or early and late frosts can cause damage. A late spring frost in April or May (after buds have begun to swell) can wipe out a season of flowers in a single night. If your hydrangea seems lazy now, perhaps a late frost is to blame? Sadly, you can’t undo this, but you can prepare for this winter to minimize ongoing problems. Avoid unnecessary late-season pruning, and keep your plants well-watered. Continue deep watering until the ground freezes, as a hydrated plant can resist frost desiccation far better than drought-stressed stems.

It’s also a good idea to cover bigleaf hydrangeas with landscape cloth if temperatures drop unusually low. AG Fabric Heavy Duty Plant Freeze Protection Fabric from Amazon can give peace of mind when those cold snaps threaten, protecting from drying winds as well as lightweight frosts. Alternatively, cover with a landscape cloth, a burlap sack or wrap, or even an old blanket, if temperatures drop unusually low. Keep your frost cloth handy in early spring to shield swelling buds during unexpected late freezing nights, ensuring that floral comeback in summer.

6. Improve the Soil

(Image credit: Ashley Belle Burns / Getty Images)

Poor soil conditions lead to an overall unhealthy plant as well as a lack of flowers. In poor soil, a plant will focus on survival, resulting in weak foliage and flower growth. Check your soil for compaction and drainage. Compaction can prevent water and nutrients from getting to roots, or cause water to pool around roots. Work in compost or other organic matter to reduce compaction. Using a biochar booster is a lovely way of assisting with better soil structure. Rosy Soil Biochar Booster from Walmart is perfect for helping to balance water retention and overall soil health.

There is a lot of talk about pH in the soil with hydrangeas. The acidity or alkalinity primarily affects flower color, not whether or not a plant will bloom, so this is not too important. It’s more important to focus on drainage, compaction, and nutrients. Don’t neglect overly sandy soils which drain quickly, leaching away valuable phosphorus and potassium before feeder roots can absorb them. Consider getting a soil test to find out if it is deficient in any particular nutrient, which you can then address.

September is an ideal month to improve soil structure. Gently topdress with a 1-inch (2.5cm) layer of organic compost or biochar-enriched soil conditioner. Earthworms and soil microbes will naturally pull this organic matter down into the root zone. This foundational soil care ensures your hydrangea emerges in spring with high vigor and massive blooming capacity. Remember, this year’s flower show might be drawing to a close, but there is always hope for next year. With these checks and changes, you have every reason to expect a better show next year.

(Image credit: Valeriy_G / Getty Images)

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Lots of flowering plants are best sown in spring once days begin to lengthen and the last frost is behind us, but there are plenty that can be sown in fall for abundant blooms the following summer. In fact, there are lots of seeds that are better started in fall than spring. Get all these tough-cookie varieties into the ground now and you’ll get bigger plants that flower earlier next year than if you’d sown the exact same seed in spring.

You see, some seeds need to be exposed to low temperatures and moisture before they’ll germinate, a process called cold stratification. That’s why you’ll see tips about freezing poppy seeds in ice cubes before sowing. But it’s far easier to simply let winter do the job for you. Because germination is largely governed by day length or temperature, and sometimes both, you can rest assured that fall-sown seed will sprout at the exact right moment in spring that suits it best, too.

Other species are hardy enough that they will germinate quickly in fall and survive winter as a small plant, racing ahead of spring-sown varieties as soon as the sun’s warmth returns. But the really good news is that because of their naturally resilient nature, seeds that can be sown in fall are usually low-maintenance plants that practically grow themselves, and gently self-seed to give you more blooms for free. Which of these beauties will you sow this fall, for the wisest garden investment you'll make this year?

1. Bachelor Buttons

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Cornflowers sown in fall will flower by late May and June, so by making a spring sowing too, you can enjoy these low-maintenance blooms in your garden for months. While there are plenty of many-petalled varieties to choose from, the simpler open flowers allow bees and butterflies better access to the sweet nectar. Birds will eat the seeds, too.

Centaurea cyanus ‘Blue Boy’ has a lovely blue hue and grows 2-3 feet tall and is particularly attractive to pollinators; stems last well in a vase and the petals are edible, making a pretty sprinkling in salads or on cupcakes. Cornflower ‘Blue Boy’ seeds are available from Botanical Interests. September is an ideal month to sow and while it’s an annual, Bachelor Buttons gently self-sow so will return without any assistance from you.

2. Poppies

(Image credit: Elena Koromyslova / Shutterstock)

Papaver somniferum are annual poppies, completing their lifecycle in a year but gently self-seeding for fresh plants the following year. They need a period of cold to germinate well so by sowing them in fall, you give them the natural conditions to which they’re suited.

There are all sorts of wonderful Papaver somniferum to choose from, which is why it’s fun to grow a blend of varieties such as the Peony Double Blend Poppy Seeds from Botanical Interests. Double poppies look rather like peonies and their nodding buds and shapely seedpods all add to the display.

3. Purple Coneflower

(Image credit: Alamy)

Sowing perennial Echinacea purpurea in fall mimics its natural lifecycle and cool winter temperatures will lead to strong germination in spring. Because seeds sprout as soon as the conditions are viable, you’ll get stronger plants this way, too. Echinacea purpurea usually spends its first year growing foliage and a supportive root system, adding flowers in the second year and reaching full blooming abundance in its third year. Get them off to a head start with a fall sowing, however, and you may be lucky and be rewarded with a few flowers in the first year.

So yes, you’ll need to be a little patient, but looking at the pricetags of mature ready-to-bloom plants can help with that! Echinacea purpurea seeds are available from Eden Brothers and the perfect time to sow is right around your first hard frost.

4. Larkspur

(Image credit: Brytta / Getty Images)

A September or October sowing of larkspur brings larger plants and longer stems of this pretty as pretty can be plant. Consolida regalis flowers in late spring and early summer and, in cooler zones, can carry on flowering all the way to fall, and is much loved by hummingbirds. Growing 3-4 feet tall, these elegant spires are prized by florists, and the stems dry well for lasting arrangements, too.

Larkspur ‘Shades of Blue’, available from Botanical Interests, is a favorite as it has multiple blue hues and, though it’s an annual, self-seeds easily. One word of caution: all parts of this plant are toxic if eaten.

5. Calendula

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Sow calendula seeds in September or October, around a month before your first expected frost, and you can look forward to strong plants and earlier blooms in spring. Not all calendula are orange, and you can find varieties in shades from cream through yellow and bronze and even pink, like these Surprise calendula seeds from Amazon.

This is a hard-working, low-maintenance plant that’s indispensable in the garden. As well as looking pretty, flowers acts as a trap crop to lure pests from vegetable plants, stems last well in a vase and the petals are edible and can be used to make skincare products.

6. Butterfly Weed

(Image credit: AlpamayoPhoto / Getty Images)

Not a weed at all but a rather lovely plant with vivid orange flowers that draw butterflies from all around, and particularly Monarchs. Butterly weed is another plant that needs a period of cold stratification so let winter do the work for you, then enjoy flowers all through summer and the following fall.

Asclepias tuberosa is a perennial in zones 3-10 so it’ll be back, year after year. Butterfly weed seed is available from Eden Brothers and, for best results, wait until the soil cools down in November before sowing.

7. Coreopsis

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Coreopsis lanceolata is one of the few perennials that will flower the first year from sowing, especially if you give it a head start with a fall sowing. This North American native is beloved by pollinators, so you’ll be adding lots of life to your garden as well as these cheery yellow tickseed blooms.

Lance-leaved coreopsis seed is available from Eden Brothers and the best time to sow is late fall around the first hard frost. Freeze-thaw action over winter will lead to good germination as soon as the ground warms up in early spring.

Tips for a Successful Fall Sowing

• All these seeds can be direct-sown where they are to grow.
• Rake the soil to create a fine texture (called a tilth) and sow seeds according to the instructions on the packet. Some seeds need light to germinate, some need dark, so you'll get far better results if you stick to the sowing guidelines.
• Sow a little more than you want as some seed will inevitably get eaten.
• It can be tricky to know what's a weed and what's a seedling, so sow a pinch of seed in a pot with a label, too. That way, you can easily identify your seedlings.

Okay, I have a confession. I've spent the last few weeks rewatching the original Practical Magic. But, in my defense, it's in preparation for the sequel, and I spent most of the time staring at the garden rather than paying attention to the plot, so it was "work."

I know the Owens sisters' house gets most of the attention – and understandably so – but it's the landscape that keeps pulling me back. The rambling cottage borders, the climbing roses, the weathered paths and, of course, that dreamy glass conservatory create the kind of garden that feels as though it's been growing for generations. It's a little wild, a little whimsical and impossibly romantic.

The best part is that, unlike some movie sets, this isn't a fantasy created entirely with CGI. The Victorian house was built specifically for the 1998 film on San Juan Island in Washington, complete with elaborate gardens designed to look as though the Owens family had been tending them for decades.

How to Get the Practical Magic Cottage Garden Look

While the set no longer exists, its influence certainly does. And, with Practical Magic 2 reigniting interest in the Owens sisters' world, it's no surprise that gardeners are once again looking to recreate that enchanting blend of cottage planting and Victorian conservatory style.

The good news? You don't need a cliffside mansion or a Hollywood budget. I spoke to garden designers to find out exactly which plants, materials and design tricks capture the Owens sisters' signature look.

1. Aim For Organized Chaos

The whole reason the Owens conservatory works so well is that it looks like it grew like that rather than being designed. Plants are layered at every height, including trailing vines at the ceiling, mid-height botanical clutter all over the shelves, and pots on the floor. There is no empty surface, and that’s completely on purpose. However, it never feels oppressive because the color palette is mostly green.

To get close to this look at home, whether you’re working with a full conservatory, a greenhouse, or just a large porch, the principle is the same: Work in layers (preferably 3) and resist the urge to tidy (especially if you’re a naturally organized person). Hang some dried bundles of herbs from the ceiling, cluster some mismatched pots on the shelves without spacing them out evenly, and let ivy or another climbing plant make its way across the wall.

Shop the Look:

CitronellaKing 3 Creeping Rosemary in 2.5” Nursery Cubes

Terrain Terracotta Pie Crust Rim Planter, Straight Side

Nature Hills Nursery Confederate Jasmine

Terrain Rattan Urn Planter

Burpee Culinary Classics Garden Collection

Terrain Ruffle Three-Tier Folding Iron Plant Stand

To really capture this look, you’ll need to find plants that grow abundantly with almost no attention. For example, ferns, trailing pothos, climbing jasmine, rosemary, lavender, and any other variety of herbs that will cascade over the edges of a pot if they’re left alone.

In the Practical Magic movie, the conservatory is supposed to be an apothecary space, so herbs are obviously important. It’s best not to go for fake ones on this, as the smell of rosemary or jasmine is doing some heavy lifting when it comes to the atmosphere.

2. Steer Clear Of Formal

(Image credit: Gardens by Design / Shutterstock)

The outdoor garden in Practical Magic is technically a cottage garden, but one that leans more towards the untamed end of the spectrum. It's romantic rather than formal, which means no perfectly clipped hedges or geometric beds, but simply a ton of flowers that feel as if they chose to be there all by themselves.

The plant list almost writes itself. Roses, because obviously (try your birth month rose for something different). Lavender along pathways. Foxgloves for height. Hollyhocks against walls or fences. Catmint to soften any hard edges. Climbing roses or wisteria on anything that will hold them. The real key here is density: this is not a garden where you want visible soil. Every inch has something growing in it, and plants are allowed to flop, sprawl and self-seed as they please.

Shop Roses:

Mister Lincoln Hybrid Tea Rose

Sunbelt® Polar Express

Paint the Town Shrub Rose

Aesthetically, the white picket fence is giving this “chaos” a clear frame. It keeps the garden looking romantic rather than tipping over into looking neglected. If you don’t have a fence, a low box hedge or even a stone path edging achieves the same containment effect.

The Zippity Roger Rabbit fence kit (available on Amazon) requires no digging, no concrete, and no maintenance. You get 6 feet of classic white picket fence in one box, which is all you need to frame a small cottage border.

3. And Don't Forget The The Practical Details

(Image credit: Future)

A few specific elements from the original set that you can actually buy or build:

Bell jars and domes:

They're all over the Owens' house, including on counters, on benches, in the garden. A simple glass dome over a small terrarium or a single herb plant immediately reads as apothecary-chic and costs very little.

A set of glass domes like these Pumtus bell jars (available on Amazon) with wooden bases can be placed over a small succulent, a bundle of dried flowers, or a candle on a shelf.

Mismatched terracotta:

The conservatory is full of pots that clearly weren't bought as a set. Source terracotta in different sizes and ages from anywhere you can find them: garden centers, secondhand stores, and markets; the more varied, the better.

Candles and lanterns:

The Owens aesthetic is fundamentally about warm light. Hurricane lanterns in the garden and candles in the conservatory do more than fairy lights to get the mood right.

REFSAVER Glass Dome With Base

Winter Poetry Wavy Rim Ceramic Planter

DAYBETTER Outdoor Solar Lantern

Dried herbs:

Hang bundles of rosemary, lavender, and sage upside down from ceiling hooks or a wooden beam. They dry beautifully, smell even better, and cost almost nothing (not to mention are perfect for herb burning rituals).

A couple of these diplambr ceiling hooks (available on Amazon) screwed into a beam or ceiling joist is all you need to start hanging bundles. They come with all the hardware included and hold up to 35lbs, so they'll handle rosemary, lavender, and sage with ease.

The thing Practical Magic gives you, more than any specific plant list or design rules, is permission to let things get a bit out of hand (especially if you usually have a perfect-looking, highly organized garden).

“Keep rosemary by your garden gate….plant lavender for luck,” as they say in the movie. It's genuinely good horticultural advice, as it happens.

I like to schedule two haircuts a year: the first in spring and the second in fall. Cutting plants back can rejuvenate and stimulate growth. That works in spring but, as a matter of pruning basics, autumn is not a good time to do extensive pruning.

New growth from hard fall pruning won't have much time to get established before frosts set in. Damaged plants will struggle next year, too.

However, there are some plants that profit from light trims in autumn. These are the ones I head to, pruners in hand, in September.

6 Plants to Prune in September

I’m ready, willing, and eager to prune plants in my garden over Labor Day weekend. Which ones should be on my list?

1. Blackberries

(Image credit: Oleg Opryshko / Getty Images)

Botanical name

Rubus spp.

Hardiness

USDA hardiness zones 5-9

Blackberry canes are the woody stems of blackberry plants. The root system and crown of the plant live for many years, while individual canes grow for two seasons. They are called primocanes in year one, then bear fruit as floricanes in year two. Then they die.

Prune blackberries and other bush fruit in September. (This category includes almost every similar plant in the berry patch, including summer-fruiting raspberries, black currents, gooseberries and red currents.) Use sharp pruners to take out the fruited stems. You can easily sharpen your pruners with a Corona carbide sharpening tool from Home Depot. And always be sure to sterilize them with rubbing alcohol before and after use to reduce the spread of disease between plants.

Essentially, you want to cut down these floricanes (second-year fruiting canes) at ground level in September. Take care not to leave stubs. Don’t trim or cut the green canes (primocanes).

2. Peonies

(Image credit: Mulevich / Shutterstock)

Botanical name

Paeonia officinalis

Hardiness

USDA hardiness zones 3-9

Is your September garden overcrowded with tall and messy perennials? Now’s the time to clean up the perennial bed, starting with peonies. Peonies are long-lived perennial plants with large, lush, gorgeous flowers.

In September, remove all the dead plant material and debris, including dead flower stems and basal foliage. The dead stems are often hollow, so trim them back low at an angle to prevent them from filling up with water and rotting. If new growth has already formed at the base of the clump, make the pruning cut just above it.

3. Rosemary

(Image credit: ARTFULLY PHOTOGRAPHER / Shutterstock)

Botanical name

Salvia rosmarinus

Hardiness

USDA hardiness zones 8-10

Don’t worry about annual herbs like basil or cilantro. They are dead by September or will die back soon. If they are wilted already, you can just add them to the compost. But September is a good time to take the snippers to rosemary in the perennial herb garden. These evergreen plants have aromatic needles and indigo blue summer flowers.

Rosemary and other herbs that grow in the Mediterranean region in Europe will die if they are pruned in winter. These shrubs – including rosemary, lavender, oregano and thyme – should all get trimmed in September.

But don’t head over to the perennial herb garden with the idea of chopping rosemary, or any of these herbs, to the soil. The idea is a light pruning to tidy them up, snip off browning spent stems, deadhead their withered tips and reshape them.

4. Yew Trees and Hedges

(Image credit: Marina Denisenko / Getty Images)

Botanical name

Taxus spp.

Hardiness

USDA hardiness zones 2-10

In landscaping, yew is a top choice as a foundation plant in front of homes. It is also commonly used in hedging. While many hedge shrubs won’t tolerate late pruning, yew shrubs are hardy and tough enough to sail through a September clip. Lots of homeowners prefer to clip their hedges once, and only once, every year. If this is you, think September.

One of the tricky parts about clipping a yew hedge is keeping the top level. Here’s one tried and true trick: install a guide line. What does this mean? Figure out how much lower you want your hedge to be, then push stakes down into the ground at regular intervals. Tie twine to the canes at the level you want the hedge to end up, then use that twine line as a guide as you cut.

5. Shasta Daisy

(Image credit: Thanachod Suya / Shutterstock)

Botanical name

Leucanthemum x superbum

Hardiness

USDA hardiness zones 5-9

Shasta daisy plants bring joy to the garden. Their bright white petals with sunny yellow centers just make you happy. Shasta daisies don’t need frequent pruning. Don’t hesitate to deadhead, however, since you are likely to get more blooms and a flowering period that is longer.

But no matter what you do, these prolific bloomers will ultimately cease producing more of the cheerful, daisy-like flowers as the growing season comes to an end. September is usually the time.

After flowering is definitively done for the season, the plant is ready for its fall haircut. Trim back stems to just above the leaves at the base of the plant. Then remove all debris from the garden bed. This cleans up the garden and can also help this perennial return stronger the following year.

6. Garden Phlox

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Botanical name

Phlox paniculata

Hardiness

USDA hardiness zones 3-9

If your garden phlox plants look bedraggled toward the end of summer, or if you are dealing with phlox mildew every year, pruning can help. Pruning phlox before winter can stop powdery mildew from infecting your plant and it can increase blooms as well the following spring.

Garden phlox blooms start blooming later in the season than creeping phlox. This type of phlox reaches its peak blooming period toward early autumn. September is a good time for pruning. Cut off the top third of tall phlox stems. This will increase air circulation and make fungal diseases less likely. After the first killing frost, chop off the plant at ground level.

Do NOT Prune in September

(Image credit: Masako Ishida / Getty Images)

Ready for a “definitely don’t prune” list? There are a few categories of plants that should never be trimmed back in fall.

• Do not prune spring-blooming plants in September, since they have set their flowers already and pruning would limit or eliminate spring blossoms.
• Do not cut back plants with strong winter seedheads. The birds overwintering in your garden have other plans for those seeds.
• Do not cut back that queen of the garden: roses. These are among the flowering plants most likely to produce new shoots once trimmed, new shoots that will suffer from winter cold and may endanger the entire bush.
• Do not prune fruit trees like apple trees, cherry trees or pear trees. It’s a much better idea to wait until winter and prune while these trees are dormant. Fall pruning, again, can result in new shoots vulnerable to winter weather.

Ashley Tisdale now goes by her married name, Ashley French, and it couldn't be more fitting. From her Malibu beach house to her wellness brand Frenshe, almost everything she shares has a chic European feel.

As is so often the case in French garden design, it's relaxed rather than formal, layered rather than polished – and that effortless aesthetic extends outdoors, too... particularly with regards to her choice of planters. Instead of glossy pots or brightly colored containers, the Disney legend leans into weathered terracotta, aged stone and classic Wuthering Heights-esque urns that instantly make a patio or garden feel as though it's been there for decades.

The catch? Well, authentic French terracotta urns, Versailles planters and antique stone containers can cost hundreds – sometimes even thousands – of dollars. Thankfully, though, you don't actually need the real thing to capture the look. And, once I spoke to designers, I realized it's less about buying an expensive planter and more about understanding the handful of design principles that make French-inspired containers feel so timeless...

1. It's About Age, Not Price

The most important thing about nailing Ashley Tisdale's French planter aesthetic is that it needs to look “old” but not neglected, and getting that balance is key.

Erik Collado Vidal, horticulturalist and CEO of Growbarato.net, explains what gives these containers their character: "A well-made French container has the appearance of sitting next to a stone wall for years," he says, noting that terracotta, stone, zinc, concrete and aged metal are the best materials.

"You do not need a luxurious antique item to create the look. You can treat the container with a little dirt, yogurt and watered-down exterior paint or a rub of dirt and limewash."

(Image credit: Esschert Design)

That yogurt trick is actually genius! The bacteria in yogurt encourages moss and algae to grow, causing a new terracotta pot to age within weeks. A new pot rubbed down with a bit of yogurt and left outside in a damp spot will look 10 years older by the end of the summer.

If you'd rather skip the yogurt experiment (especially if it’s hot outside, yuck!), a pot of Meoded Lime Wash (available on Amazon) brushed on and partially wiped back achieves the same chalky, aged finish in about ten minutes and works on terracotta, concrete and resin.

Jean-Christophe Thery, CEO of MusaArtGallery, makes the same point from a design perspective: "The biggest mistake is over-styling it. French-inspired spaces usually feel best when they look collected over time, not bought in one afternoon."

2. Shape Is Everything

(Image credit: sasimoto)

Not all planters will work for Ashley Tisdale's style, as certain shapes are super French and others just... well, they just aren’t. Erik gives a useful shortlist of the right forms, noting that "there are spherical clay containers, square Versailles-style boxes, tapered pots, low bowls and urns."

The Versailles box? That square, paneled wood planter raised up with decorative corner feet? That is one of the most recognizable French shapes.

Dmytro Tkach, owner of DT Renovation LLC, who regularly incorporates high-end planters into custom deck projects, adds a practical note on material selection. "Authentic unglazed clay terracotta or heavily textured cast stone provides the structural presence and elegance required for a true European garden look. Finishes should feature earthy slip-glazes in warm ochre or deep olive green."

Shop French Planters:

Esschert Design Large French Urn

Worth Worth Garden Large Urn Planter

A terracotta urn is an easy and timeless way to transform your garden instantly.

Esschert Design Cast Iron French Urn Planter

Dmytro also flags something worth knowing if you're placing heavy planters on a deck or elevated surface. "Always calculate the weight of wet soil and heavy stone planters before placing them on elevated outdoor structures to avoid structural sagging," he says, noting that a large cast stone urn filled with wet compost is much heavier than it looks.

If you want the urn silhouette without the weight or the price, this Worth Garden set (available on Amazon) delivers two 22-inch imitation stone urns for the price of one decent real terracotta pot, and at 30% the weight of ceramic, you can actually move them around without putting your back out.

3. Consider The Color Rule

(Image credit: Getty Images)

One of the easiest ways to instantly make a planter arrangement look more French and less garden-center is to edit your color palette like a ruthless American Idol judge.

Erik is clear on this. "Only use 2 or 3 similar tones such as light green, milk, grey, and clay. Too many matching pots, too many colors, or too shiny of a modern finish will create a staged look," he says.

Dmytro agrees from an interior-design angle. "For a budget version, I'd focus on aged-looking neutral planters, lavender, herbs, climbing greenery, and one or two strong visual anchors instead of too many decorative pieces."

Two or three containers in the same tonal family, varied in height, will look better than six matching pots in a row every single time.

4. And Think About What to Plant in Them

(Image credit: Undefined Undefined / Getty Images)

The French kitchen garden and courtyard look has a fairly consistent plant vocabulary, and fortunately most of it is affordable and easy to grow.

Erik's plant list is the most comprehensive: "Lavender, rosemary, thyme, santolina, boxwood, olive, pelargoniums, climbing roses, and soft grasses." All of these do well in containers, most are drought-tolerant once established, and many of them smell absolutely delicious (an underrated reason why French gardens feel so atmospheric).

Dmytro keeps it even simpler: "Lavender, herbs, climbing greenery, and one or two strong visual anchors." A clipped boxwood ball in a worn urn is doing more design work than a dozen different bedding plants in matching plastic pots.

Phenomenal lavender, like this pack of three from Walmart, is worth choosing over a generic variety: it's been specifically bred to resist rot and disease, handles both hot summers and cold winters, and the silvery-green foliage will have you feeling like you just traveled straight to Provence.

Erik sums up the planting approach well. "Look for a casual look of style and form. If you're looking for shape, a cut evergreen plant in a worn urn will do the job. You can add spilling flowers or herbs to add to the informality."

BONUS: Try The Budget Shortcut Nobody Mentions

The single most transformative thing you can do for a budget planter is age it before you plant it. Buy the cheapest terracotta or concrete pot you can find, paint it with watered-down grey or cream exterior paint, leaving patches showing through, then rub it with dirt.

Leave it outside for a few weeks, and the result looks like something that's been sitting in a courtyard in Provence for decades. After that, lavender, a clipped boxwood, and some trailing rosemary will take care of the rest.

If it's good enough for Ashley Tisdale, it's good enough for us! Très bien!

As August comes to an end, a gardener’s thoughts turn to fall flowers. Now is the perfect time to refill containers for color and fragrance into autumn. Spring flowers are just a memory and summer plantings are beginning to look faded.

When you are looking for fall flowers for pots, you can’t just grab the first plants that come to hand. You need fast-blooming, cold-tolerant, long lasting plants that will provide flowers that brighten the backyard as the temperatures cool.

That's why I've put together this shortlist for you of the five best fall-blooming flowers to fill your containers with bright autumn color from now until winter hits.

Fast-Growing Fall Flowers for Pots

It makes sense to try new, exotic plants in the summer garden. The season is so full of growing green tips and blossoms and fruit that you can afford to take a risk on something different. But as summer wanes and fall arrives, you want tried-and-true fall favorites. Here are the top popular container flowers for fall.

1. Asters

(Image credit: Sophie McAula / Alamy)

Botanical Name

Aster spp.

Hardiness

USDA Zones 3-8

Adding fall color to your backyard is going to cost you something – so why not spend money on fall-blooming perennials that comes back year after year? Annuals can be like rockstars. They live fast and die quickly. If you want something that comes back each year, asters could be your best answer.

Asters flower in late summer and early fall, when other blooms are fading. They offer happy flowers that look like a blend between mums and daisies – and these flowers seem to bloom forever. There are numerous aster varieties that range in size from tiny to tall in colors from white to blue, pink, and purple. You can get a 4-pack of purple asters now from Home Depot.

Asters are easy to grow and fit well into containers. Late-season pollinators will approve of this choice, too. Use asters in pots appropriate for the aster's mature size. Select a pot that is as wide as your plant’s mature width and about half of its mature height.

Make your asters happy by picking pots that have adequate drain holes and use potting soil that drains well. Place the pot in a site that gets 6 hours a day of direct sun. Check the soil every other day and water when dry.

2. Pansies & Violas

(Image credit: Lili Chirila / 500px / Getty Images)

Botanical Name

Viola spp.

Hardiness

USDA Zones 3-8

It’s hard not to love a pansy flower, with its cute “face” and bright jewel-tone colors. These cool-season plants, often grown as annuals, are just made for autumn temperatures and are ideal for fall containers.

They ride right through light frosts, bouncing back from even single-digit temperatures. If you want pansies to last as long into winter as possible, pick winter pansies (Viola hiemalis). Wait until weather cools a bit before planting. You can pre-order a wide variety of pansies from Burpee to suit any color palette.

Set up your pansies in containers with ample drainage holes. Use moist, humus-rich, well-draining soil and place your pots in a spot with morning sun and afternoon shade. The sun helps them to bloom, but they live longest in cooler weather.

Watering is a little trickier. As soon as you set up your new pansy containers, they need daily water. Don’t worry! Those drooping pansies are not dead even if they are lying on the soil, they just need big drinks. After a couple of weeks, you can cut back watering to once a week or so.

3. Million Bells

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Botanical Name

Calibrachoa x hybrida

Hardiness

USDA Zones 9-11

Million bells grow fast and bloom profusely. No, you may not get a million blooms, but you’ll get too many to count. Many gardeners (including me!) grow this warm-weather perennial as an annual. But the lovely blooms, which look like small petunias, ride out the cooling weather well.

Million bells is a fabulous container plant thanks to its mounding growth habit. In fact, it works so well in pots that it is rare to see it planted in the ground. Flowers come in white, blue, pink, purple, red, yellow, and even bronze. You can find all those colors of calibrachoa and more for sale at the Home Depot.

Again, make sure your containers have drain holes and use rich, well-draining soil. Put them in a location that gets full sun or – if necessary – partial sun. Give these plants enough water to keep the soil evenly moist.

4. Chrysanthemums

(Image credit: JTyler / Getty Images)

Botanical Name

Chrysanthemum x morifolium

Hardiness

USDA Zones 5-9

If there is one plant we associate with autumn, it would be mums. Chrysanthemums are the ultimate fall classic. Known as the “Queen of the Fall,” mums bloom profusely, their jewel-toned flowering magically changing your front porch into a magnificent display of fall color.

While mums can be perennials, those pretty plants available in garden centers in September are best treated as annuals. You can find mums almost anywhere in fall or order these beautiful mums in a decorative pot that come in a variety of colors from the Home Depot.

Chrysanthemum flowers are really gorgeous, available in such a wide range of jewel tones it boggles the mind. Look for shades of white, yellow, pink, lavender, purple, red, bronze, and orange. Each flower isn’t just one flower. It is made up of myriad tiny flowers called florets. Some varieties are tiny, while others are giant.

Plant your fall mums in a container with drain holes. Use well-draining potting soil, too, and give them ample direct sun. Water deeply when a poke of the finger reveals dry soil.

5. Snapdragons

(Image credit: Baona / Shutterstock)

Botanical Name

Antirrhinum majus

Hardiness

USDA Zones 5-9

Don’t let the fact that grandma planted snapdragons deter you. These classic old-fashioned flowers are still popular today – and they’re better than ever. The latest hybrids offer more hues and a wide variety of heights, ranging from teeny to knee high and trailing.

With all these improvements, snapdragons are still happy in cool fall weather and a perfect addition to your fall containers. Want bold pops of color in spring or fall? Think snapdragons!

It’s harder to describe the snapdragon flower than many others, because there are so many different variations. And the available colors are too many to list out, especially when you take into account the showy bicolored and tricolored varieties.

You can buy them as plants, like this 4-pack of pink snapdragons from Home Depot, for fast flowers or you can start your own plants with snapdragon seeds from Burpee.

Put any variety that isn’t too tall in your containers, focusing on dwarf and trailing types. Needless to say, you’ll want a container that drains well filled with high-quality potting mix. Water frequently until they are established, then cut back irrigation to a few times a week.

The words “hummingbird” and “sweet spot” seem made for each other. As bird lovers with yards that can cater to our winged friends, we are custodians for nurturing that sweet spot in vital ways. It’s not just about giving our visiting hummers nectar in abundance, although this is central to the deal. On a profound level, the real sweet spot of hummingbird feeding is an idyllic combination of sanctuary and safety, as well as sustenance. It’s about priming a location where a tiny traveler flying thousands of miles can catch its breath. It’s also a commitment to forge trust as well as treats.

This time of year, depending on where you live, the backyard may already be feeling extra buzzy. Fall migration is in full swing, and millions of tiny feathered acrobats are zipping through on the massive mission south. If you want to attract hummingbirds and help with hummingbird feeding this fall, it’s not just about decorating yards with plants that look good or taste nice: it’s about becoming guardians of fueling stations to best support these intrepid beaky beauties on their migration superhighway. If you can create this sweet spot for hummers, your yard can become a bustling pitstop for one of nature’s most miraculous journeys.

The wonderful news? You don’t need loads of kit or a massive yard to become the most popular diner on the block. With just a handful of key gestures and mindful feeding behaviors, even a small patio or suburban border can easily be transformed to give you a glimpse of this epic adventure. The right hummer hot spot is about serving up the yummiest nectar in the safest ways. These 5 insider secrets give you the winning formula to create the ultimate sweet spot this fall.

What are the Sweet Spot Secrets?

What actually creates a thriving hummingbird sweet spot? Yes, your hummer haven needs the right sugar source in order to fuel those epic journeys, which can often be thousands of miles long, as far as the Gulf of Mexico. To prime them for non-stop flight, they’ll need to be consuming up to double their weight in nectar every single day. But to help with that frantic migration push, you also need to position that sugar source in the absolute best spot in the yard. So the right layout is also critical.

Migrating hummers are on a tight schedule, so your sugary treats need to be conveniently placed, easy to access, and primed for safety. Supporting migrating hummingbirds in the right way combines easy visual cues and smart height ratios, balances bright colors with the right levels of sunlight and natural cover, and observes the natural habits and territory dynamics of these vibrating jewel beauties.

(Image credit: Peter Finch / Getty Images)

They may be capable of extraordinary travels, but the thing is, hummers are territorial creatures. A dominant male can quickly hog a feeder and dive at any weary traveler. But you can outsmart this feeder drama by making sure your hummingbird hangout has factored in ample spacing, strategic sightlines, and thoughtful flight corridors. Offering clear approaches lets incoming birds scout for danger, while nearby leaf cover gives timid hummers a place to retreat when a bully sweeps in.

It’s important to factor in the right nectar-rich hummingbird plants, or a classic manmade feeder, such as the Perky-Pet Pinch-Waist Glass Hummingbird Feeder from Amazon, which offers comfy perching and a built-in ant moat. But these extra secrets help you to max out your hummer retreat for visiting aerial acrobats. And these principles apply across the board, from glittering eastern ruby-throated hummingbirds to feisty western broad tails, Anna’s hummers, and Rufous. So, read on to fine-tune your backyard's feeding sweet spots for all visiting hummers…

Pick Your Feeder

(Image credit: Bob Warner / 500px / Getty Images)

Before introducing the easy 5-point sweet spot plan, make sure you’ve got the right feeder (or feeders) ready for your hummers. The right feeder balances visual appeal, easy cleaning, and smart extras like ant moats. Whether you fancy a heavy-duty workhorse built for numbers, or a hand-blown glass piece that doubles as garden art, these top-rated designs offer built-in perches, leak-resistant ports, and decorative accents that draw traveling hummingbirds straight to your yard.

Everyday Anchor

Perky-Pet Perky-Pet Favored Pinch-Waist Glass Hummingbird Feeder, 16 Oz

This time-tested classic features a translucent pinch-waist glass bottle, built-in ant moat, and 4 comfortable perching pins to give weary travelers a cozy landing pad. The bright red base pops against garden foliage, while the wide-mouth bottle unscrews effortlessly for quick daily scrubbing and refilling.

Window Safe Seat

uncommongoods Charmed Hummingbird Window Feeder

Mounting directly to your windowpane via heavy-duty suction cups, this ultra-clear feeder lets you observe tiny, shimmering feathers from inches away. Positioned safely, it eliminates fatal speed build-up from accidental window taps while providing front-row seats to tiny hungry beaks.

Artisanal Glass

Wayfair Arlmont & Co. Glass Hummingbird Feeder for Outdoor Hanging

Designed for busy fall migration corridors, this generous 24-ounce reservoir ensures you never run dry when hungry swarms pass through town. Equipped with 6 integrated bee guards, a built-in ant moat, and a leak-proof base gasket, it provides a hassle-free dining experience that stays nectar fresh.

1. The Nectar Sweet Spot

(Image credit: BirdImages / Getty Images)

The first and most literal of all the sweet spots involves getting the nectar just right. Choosing the right nectar powder is part of it, but it’s also about preparing it correctly in order to give hummers the ultimate sugar high. Never use red food dyes, honey, molasses, or unrefined sugars. Red dyes introduce unnecessary chemicals, honey fosters nasty fungal infections, and raw or brown sugars contain high iron levels that cause lethal liver toxicity in tiny birds. Go for a dedicated hummingbird nectar feed such as BirdBros Hummingbird Nectar from Amazon. What I like about this feed is that it is completely preservative free and dilutes well in warm water.

The winning recipe is 4 parts water to 1 part refined white sugar (sucrose): this literal sweet spot perfectly replicates the nectar hummingbirds sip in the wild to fuel their mammoth flights. Warm the water to dissolve the sugar completely. Stir in until dissolved, and always let it cool completely before filling feeder reservoirs.

(Image credit: Daniel Ripplinger / DansPhotoArt / Getty Images)

It’s also a good idea to plant nectar-rich tubular perennials nearby. Lush planting plans for hummer treats on their migratory travels will definitely include brightly colored monarda (bee balm) and brilliant red cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis). Alongside your hummer-loving reds and pinks, don’t discount the right tasty blues and purples, though. Intense tubular blooms such as Sacred Roots Nursery Black and Blue Salvia, available from Walmart, make the ideal late season booster for migrating and visiting hummers with their electric-blue sugary bounty.

2. The Sightline Sweet Spot

(Image credit: Daniel Ripplinger / DansPhotoArt / 500px / Getty Images)

Sightlines are critical for hummers in flight, allowing for smooth, happy landings, but also well placed vantage points. It’s about balancing visibility with cover. Positioning your feeding station 10-15 feet (3-4.5m) away from natural shelter creates the ultimate spatial sweet spot for visiting hummingbirds. This sweet spot is close enough for an exhausted traveler to dive into protective branches if a sharp-shinned hawk appears overhead. Yet it is also far enough from dense bushes to stop sneaky cats from launching ambush attacks while hummers sup their surgery fuel.

Understanding how hummingbirds see the world can also help with determining the best sight lines. Thanks to their tetrachromatic vision, hummers can perceive ultraviolet light and hypersaturated tones. Deep red and orange shades glow like neon signs to their super-powered eyes. Setting out high-impact floral beacons like cardinal flowers, coral honeysuckle and monarda create a compelling landing strip.

(Image credit: Corey O'Hara / Getty Images)

Try growing vibrant, nectar-soaked American Beauties Major Wheeler Coral Honeysuckle from Nature Hills Nursery alongside cherry-red, mildew-resistant Pardon My Cerise Bee Balm, available from Plant Addicts to create an unmissable billboard for your hummer’s favorite fuelstop. They will be able to track these vibrant treasures from 50 feet (15m) away. If you’re working with a smaller yard space like a tight patio and tree canopies are limited, don’t worry. You can train a few climbing vines up a simple trellis using twine to establish safe, open-air perching corridors.

3. The Height Sweet Spot

(Image credit: Jen Tepp / Getty Images)

When it comes to hanging your hummingbird feeder, a height of 5-6 feet (1.5-1.8m) is the ultimate sweet spot secret to keeping your feathered acrobats safe and happy! Certain naturally available food sources are already designed to cater to this hummer-friendly height. Flowering plants like agastache (giant hyssop) can reach 5ft (1.5m) tall. But your dedicated nectar feeders will need that special boost in order to attract the greatest number of thirsty birdies.

The math behind this height rule is surprisingly clever. Average domestic house cats can leap up to 5 times their height, meaning an ambitious outdoor kitty can spring nearly 4 feet (1.2m) straight up into the air. Suspending your feeder port right at 5 feet (1.5m) keeps it safely out of jumping range while placing the reservoir at cozy eye level for effortless daily sugar refills. Even better, keeping feeders at this height stops muddy rainwater and crawling garden bugs from bouncing up into the ports during stormy late-summer afternoons.

(Image credit: Tongho58 / Getty Images)

Elevating your feeder correctly also helps outsmart turbulent autumn breezes. A flimsy setup hung on a floppy tree branch will swing around in the wind like a carnival ride, spilling sticky nectar all over the lawn and inviting unwanted yellow jackets to the party. Anchoring your feeding station using a shepherd’s hook reduces this issue. Feed Garden’s 76-inch Shepherd Hooks from Amazon are the perfect height. Once secured into the ground, these sturdy frames ably support multiple feeders at the correct sweet spot height.

Did you know hummingbirds drop vertically straight downward when startled? Their wings beat in a figure-8 motion at a dizzying 80 times per second, so having clear space under their feeding perches lets them execute lightning-fast getaways.

4. The Shade Sweet Spot

(Image credit: Rebecca Harding / Getty Images)

Protecting your sugar water from relentless direct sun is critical for preserving hummer health during late-summer heatwaves. So finding a cool, shady sweet spot is essential for hitting that sweet spot. Even September sunshine can cook sugar water, so it can ferment in a flash. Warm nectar quickly breeds nasty black mold and dangerous fungal spores like Candida albicans, which can create painful tongue swelling, making it impossible for hungry hummers to eat.

(Image credit: Ali Majdfar / Getty Images)

Hanging your feeder in dappled, leafy shade keeps your feeder treats crisp and fresh for up to 48 hours. As a bonus, this saves you from having to dump and scrub your feeder every afternoon. As well as hanging your feeder under a light shade, add a few shade-tolerant plants like hummer-friendly fuchsia to supplement your hummer sugar stash. If natural tree shade is sparse in your yard, you can install protectors, umbrellas or domes over your feeders. The Kingsyard Weather Dome from Amazon makes a useful shade protector, it can help to protect from rain, and can even help to keep squirrels away.

5. The Window Safety Sweet Spot

(Image credit: Thomas Winz / Getty Images)

Last but not least, basic window safety needs to be factored into every hummer feeding sweet spot. To keep them safe near windows, follow the "3-foot or 30-foot" window rule for the ultimate gesture of birdie goodwill. According to avian conservation science, feeders should be installed either less than 3 feet (1m) from a windowpane or more than 30 feet (9m) away. If a startled hummer takes off from a feeder hung within 3 feet (1m) of your window, it can’t build up enough flying speed to hurt itself if it taps the glass. The dangerous zone is that middle 3-to-30-foot stretch, where birds can rev up to top speed before realizing the glass isn't open air.

(Image credit: Mark Chivers / Getty Images)

Why do glass windows trick our feathered friends in the first place, you might well ask? Hummingbirds have super-fast reaction times, but their high-tech eyes see reflections of leaves and clouds in window glass as a clear, open sky escape route. Whether you live in a suburban home or an apartment with a cozy balcony, you can easily build an ultra-safe viewing setup. Apartment and deck owners can use sturdy clamps and shepherd’s hook feeder poles placed within the safety sweet spot.

To help break up dangerous reflections, try UV-reflecting markers or decals. For bargain decals with excellent adhesive clout, buy Mesinurs Anti-Collision Bird Stickers from Amazon. These will ensure your feathered visitors refuel safely outside your window.

Shop Hummer Care Extras

(Image credit: DaveAlan / Getty Images)

Elevate your backyard sweet spot from a simple pitstop into a 5-star sanctuary with these specialized care accessories. From pest barriers to crystal-clear optics for spotter watching, these extras keep your station clean, safe, and endlessly enjoyable.

Ant Defense

homedepot Perky Pet Ant Guard for Hummingbird Feeder

This clever gismo is so easy to use, and so effective for keeping feeders clear of one of their biggest foes: ants. Simply fill this reservoir cup with water and hook your feeder underneath. Ants can’t cross the water barrier, which means you can keep your nectar pure and pest-free.

Resting Perch

uncommongoods Copper Heart Swing

Hummingbirds spend plenty of time perching to conserve energy and digest nectar. Hanging this weather-resistant copper wire heart 10 feet (3m) from your feeder gives traveling hummers a stylish observation station to survey their territory in peace.

Pocket Optics

Nocs Provisions Zoom Tube 8x32 Monocular

If you want to get an even better sighting of your hummers without forking out a fortune on dedicated camera feeders, try a monocular telescope. These bargain pocket optics allow you to admire their gorgeous colors and preening habits in a kind and low-key way.

By tailoring your yard’s setup to meet these five sweet spot fundamentals, you provide your hummers with a safe, comfy and high-efficiency haven during their most demanding journeys of the year. With just a few quick placement tweaks and fresh nectar on tap, your yard will become a popular pitstop on the migration highway. Sit back, keep your optics handy, and enjoy watching your tiny, jewel-toned visitors thrive…

(Image credit: Darren Colello / 500px / Getty Images)

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Lots of us love houseplants but – whisper it! – lots of us are pretty good at failing to keep them alive, so would we be better off with a LEGO plant built of plastic bricks? LEGO kicked off its Botanical Collection in January 2021 with a bonsai tree and has grown it to over 50 sets of bouquets and potted plants. With the current focus on leafy houseplants from golden pothos to baby pilea, maybe it's time for us serial houseplant killers to swap potting soil and stems for tiny construction blocks.

According to the Danish brickmaker, the Botanicals range is 'perfect for the not-so-green-thumbed’. As a regular holder of houseplant funerals, I decided to find out what would be best, a bona fide plant or its brick equivalent.

1. Golden Pothos

BRICKS

LEGO Hanging Golden Pothos #11512

REAL ROOTS

Golden Pothos in Hanging Basket

Pothos is one of the easiest houseplants to keep alive, its waxy heart-shaped leaves on trailing vines only needing the occasional watering. Forget to give it a drink for a week or three and this forgiving plant will bounce back quickly. It tolerates lower-light rooms, and golden pothos is just as resilient as its all-green cousin – growing houseplants just doesn't get any less difficult than this.

Though pothos leaves are toxic to cats and dogs if eaten, this plant is usually displayed hanging so, lovely as the LEGO plant is, I reckon the real thing wins this first round.

2. Peace Lily

BRICKS

Lego Peace Lily #11504

REAL ROOTS

Costa Farms Peace Lily

A little more demanding is the peace lily, needing 2-3 cups of water every week and boy, will you know about it if you forget. With a dramatic flounce and flop of its leaves, this houseplant is a diva when it comes to dry soil, though quickly perks up once moisture is restored.

Peace lilies do have the most beautifully elegant white flowers but if you want to enjoy them, you’ll need to keep it away from cold drafts and give it consistent temperatures between 60 and 70°F and bright, indirect light. Lots of people love the peace lily for its drama-queen persnickety personality but I’m voting for the no-nonsense LEGO version in this second round.

3. Orchid

BRICKS

LEGO Orchid #10311

REAL ROOTS

White Phalaenopsis Orchid

There’s no doubt that orchids are heartstoppingly beautiful with their arching stems of blooms and glossy green leaves, but are they easy to grow? Moth orchids (Phalaenopsis) are the most forgiving and bloom most reliably, and are surprisingly straightforward to look after – as long as you learn the basics.

Pot this tropical plant up in a loose bark mix instead of potting mix, give it moist air by displaying it in a bathroom or standing its pot on a pebble tray of water, and ensure it gets indirect sunlight, and it’ll be just fine. But is it worth the faff? If you’re a dedicated orchid lover, absolutely. But if you’re not, the LEGO orchid brings joy without all the finely-tuned care programme, so bricks win round three.

4. Poinsettia

BRICKS

LEGO Poinsettia #10370

REAL ROOTS

Live Red White Poinsettia

Not just for Christmas, poinsettia makes a cheery houseplant from fall to spring, when it drops its leaves and you prune the stems. So although it’s not much more than a stick over summer, if you remember to occasionally water it and then in autumn, stimulate new growth by giving the plant a daily dose of 14-16 of darkness, it returns for another flamboyant show.

Other than that, poinsettia is a cinch to look after but what makes having the real deal is the ornamental varieties which offer dreamy white, pink or white-speckled bracts as well as plain red. Sorry LEGO poinsettia, you can’t compete!

5. Mini Houseplants

BRICKS

lego LEGO Tiny Plants #10329

REAL ROOTS

12 Costa Farms 4" Assorted Tiny Houseplants

Baby houseplants are irresistible, whether they’re made of plastic bricks or real-life petite stems and leaves. LEGO’s offering of nine mini arid, tropical and carnivorous plants gives great variety from pitcher plants to cacti and anthurium, and I’m awarding extra points for the terracotta-esque pots and that some bricks are made of plant-based plastic, sourced from sugar cane.

Even though nurturing baby houseplants brings huge satisfaction, and this set are all low-maintenance varieties that require minimal care, there will inevitably be one sad compost-heap funeral of the most needy. Consequently, round 5 puts the bijou bricks on the podium.

6. Bonsai Tree

BRICKS

LEGO Japanese Red Maple Bonsai Tree #10348

REAL ROOTS

Grow Your Own Bonsai Tree From Seed Starter Kit

While the baby houseplants were cute, the charm of a petite tree is off the scale, whether that’s brick-built in hours or trained over decades. While the LEGO Japanese Red Maple Bonsai Tree impresses with that sculptural trunk and fiery leaves, the temptation of growing your own bonsai tree from seed is too strong for any gardener to resist.

Goodness knows if it will take a century or more to grow your own real-life red maple in bonsai form to the same proportions of the LEGO tree, but it sure will be fun trying. Round 6 goes to the real-deal one-day tree, rather than the tree that gets made in one day.

7. Chinese Money Plant

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lego LEGO Happy Plants #10349

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Hirt's Gardens Chinese Money Plant

Smiling pots and an even cheerier pricetag make the LEGO Pilea peperomioides and dracaena virtually irresistible, but the same can be said for the plant itself. The Chinese money plant is one of the most low-maintenance houseplants you can grow, it’s pretty drought tolerant and the round coin-shaped leaves are wonderfully quirky. All you need to remember is to rotate the pot every few weeks to stop the plant leaning as it grows quickly.

Sealing the deal, though, is the plant’s habit of producing baby plantlets around its base, earning it the nickname of friendship plant as you can gift these. Its LEGO partner in crime, dracaena (available from Plant Addicts) is just as unkillable in real life, handing round 7 to the actual houseplants.

The Final Verdict

And there you have it! It was a close competition but real houseplants pipped the LEGO Botanicals to the post in the closing seconds. I like the idea of mixing brick-built pot plants with shelf displays of real leaves though, and the sight of those handsome LEGO plants might just remind me to water my houseplants more regularly.

Can your bird feeder really tell you if a storm is coming? Well, I've always had a soft spot for old wives' tales about the weather. Some, it turns out, have a surprising amount of truth behind them; the bumper crops of acorns and other tree seeds that come before a hard winter, for example, are a real phenomenon – what scientists call a mast year.

Others are a little harder to take seriously. We're told that cows lie down when rain is coming, for example, but I've seen them standing, sitting, eating and facing in what appear to be every possible direction – and I can't say their behavior has ever given me much confidence about tomorrow's forecast.

When it comes to birds, though, I'm biased. My granddad taught me their names and their calls, and somewhere along the way I became the sort of person who knows her birth month bird and the superstition about what the first bird I see each morning means for the day ahead. So, sure, I've always wanted to believe that birds can sense when bad weather is coming... but can they actually?

Can Your Bird Feeder Tell You if a Storm Is Coming?

For those of us who keep bird feeders in our gardens, it would certainly be an added boon (on top of the sheer joy of watching our feathered friends flit to and fro) if the birds gathering around the feeder could give us a clue that a winter storm is on its way.

To find out for sure, then, I decided to do some digging. And, as it turns out, there's some fascinating science behind the old story.

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So, can your bird feeder really tell you if a storm is coming? Well, scientists have found evidence that birds can detect changes in atmospheric pressure – which is especially intriguing, as falling pressure often occurs ahead of a storm.

In fact, a 2013 study white-crowned sparrows increased their food intake when researchers reproduced the kind of pressure drop associated with an approaching snowstorm. There was no storm outside for the birds to see; the change in atmospheric pressure alone was enough to affect their behavior.

Their decision to eat more makes sense; after all, for a small songbird, winter weather is no joke, as snow and ice can cover up seeds and insects. Strong winds, too, can make flying and foraging more difficult. And when temperatures plunge, birds have to burn more energy simply to keep themselves warm.

(Image credit: Chrys35 / Getty Images)

If the atmosphere gives a bird an early warning that conditions are about to get worse, then, there is an obvious advantage to eating while food is still relatively easy to find; it's basically the feathery equivalent of filling the cupboards before a blizzard.

No wonder, then, that my feeder always seems much busier than usual before a spell of nasty winter weather. And, if you already feed birds, it's worth paying attention to the pattern your own feathered friends follow so you can figure out a) if your regulars are suddenly spending more time at the feeder, b) whether birds are visiting more frequently, and c) if several species are becoming unusually active at once.

There is, though, a few caveats to keep in mind: birds also feed more when it's cold, as they respond to changes in natural food availability. Short winter days, too, can also change how much time they have to forage. And let's not forget that predators and competition can alter feeder activity too.

(Image credit: Miodrag Zlatarov / Shutterstock)

All that being said, it's nice that the science gives us a reason to take the old folklore seriously – even if only partly. The fact that birds really can respond to atmospheric pressure changes, and that researchers have found evidence that some species increase their food intake before conditions deteriorate. means that your bird feeder could at least help you figure out if a storm is coming.

There's something wonderful about watching a chickadee dart into your garden, grab a sunflower seed and disappear – and knowing that, in its own small way, it may be paying attention to changes in the atmosphere that you can't feel at all.

Still, that doesn't mean your cardinal can replace the National Weather Service. If your feeder is suddenly hopping with activity, by all means take notice. Then check the barometer, look at the sky and (yes, sorry!) check the forecast.

Hey, if you wouldn't trust your human friend to predict the weather accurately without an app, I'd suggest you don't pile your fate into the little claws of your feathered friends, either! It is, though, a good excuse to feed them a little more as we edge into autumn and winter, though...

Vibrant color-changing autumn leaves are one of the great joys of life, and the 2026 fall foliage forecast predicts exactly which areas will peak, when. Experts foresee that this summer’s drought, above-average temperatures and wildfires will impact heavily on the fall display, making this a year of sharp contrasts, and the fall foliage forecast more handy than ever.

Whether you plan to witness the great fall spectacle in your own backyard or travel to see this foliage phenomenon on a grander scale, the forecast holds useful insight for us gardeners. As well as knowing when to expect peak color, you can use the fall foliage forecast to carry out a quick health check on your garden trees, and discover how well they're coping with this extreme El Niño year of weather.

(Image credit: Getty Images)What is the Fall Foliage Forecast?

First created back in 2013 as a local tool to help visitors to the Smoky Mountains, the concept of forecasting fall foliage has grown to a nationwide predictive, interactive mapping system. Historical temperature and precipitation information is combined with forecasted weather data and details of regional tree types to predict peak times for foliage color across the country. Real-time user submissions refine the predictions mid-season, resulting in a level of accuracy that’s similar to a long-range weather forecast.

Which is the Best Fall Foliage Forecast?

(Image credit: Explore Fall)

You’ll find the original fall foliage forecast on the Smoky Mountains National Park site. However, plenty of companies have taken the idea and run with it, offering a deeper dive for keen leaf peepers.

The Explore Fall Foliage Map (pictured above) is the best fall foliage forecast for gardeners. It gives the very latest picture because it’s updated daily to take into account current weather conditions such as heavy storms or unseasonable high temperatures. A new feature that’s great for gardeners is a local forecast capability where you can place a pin to an exact location to see personalised predictions.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac Fall Foliage Map is more useful for travellers planning fall trips as it relies on historical data to predict foliage patterns and recommend top destinations, area by area. However, because of this long-term data, it’s widely considered to be a very dependable forecast, so it's useful to gardeners as a comparison tool.

The AccuWeather Fall Forecast gives a broader picture but, because it relies on past climate data and future weather predictions, it can be particular helpful to gardeners who want to understand why trees are behaving in the way they are because of factors such as soil moisture and heat stress. Because it’s not aimed at travellers or chasing the tourist dollar, it also predicts where fall colors are likely to be duller, and why this is.

Use all these fall foliage forecasts and you’ll build a clear idea of past, current and expected leaf color patterns for your locality and USDA zone.

Why Do Leaves Change Color in Fall?

Understand what affects fall leaf color and you can confidently make your own predictions for the trees in your garden, as well as figure out the reasons behind what you're seeing in your backyard.

As shorter days take us towards fall, leaves start to reduce photosynthesis and stop producing green chlorophyll, allowing other pigments to be seen.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Carotenoids create orange colors and xanthophylls produce yellow tones. Nearly all tree species carry these pigments, and they’re always present in the leaves, but masked through spring and summer by high levels of green chlorophyll. The trees that bring rich golden fall colors have high levels of carotenoids and xanthophylls and include aspens, birches and hickories.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Some tree species also have anthocyanins that make red and purple tones, and these are produced in fall from sugars trapped in the leaves. Trees that can produce anthocyanins are those with fiery foliage such as red maples, scarlet oaks and sweetgums.

How Does the Weather Affect Leaf Color?

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The weather dictates how vibrant these fall colors will be. For the ultimate show, we need consistent spring moisture that encourages healthy trees able to grow plenty of foliage, and a late season of sunny days that mean leaves produce lots of sugar, combined with cool nights that seals leaf veins to trap that sugar.

What happens in between affects leaf color too. Heat- and drought-stressed trees will conserve water in summer by prematurely shutting down photosynthesis and chlorophyll production – which is why we’re seeing all those orange and yellow tones early this year. Trees that are severely dehydrated will shed their leaves early, their leaves turning a dull green or brown and dropping to the ground, bypassing the usual fall display.

While sunny days can boost the red anthocyanin pigment – scientists believe trees produce it to act as a sunscreen – severe heat- and drought-stress halts its production entirely.

Daylight levels and temperatures also affect when photosynthesis starts to slow, which is why fall colors occur earlier the higher or further north you go.

How the Fall Foliage Forecast Helps Gardeners

Once you understand the factors influencing fall leaf color, you can use this information to not just keep your garden trees healthy, but to get a clearer idea about how climatic conditions are affecting your garden as a whole.

For a start, the color of autumn leaves serve as a quick visual health check to see how well or otherwise your trees are coping with current weather conditions. After this year's extreme heat and drought, that's a really useful indicator of whether or not you need to be giving your trees more support. Comparing your garden trees to the average of what's happening in your local area deepens that understanding and can alert you to stressed trees that require intervention, before the situation becomes critical.

(Image credit: Future Publishing Ltd)

Keeping a journal and noting when you first see fall colors developing on your garden trees, what tones you’re seeing and how they progress, will give you even better insight, and allow you to spot early warning signs. Pressing the first leaf that shows fall colors from key trees in your garden, and marking the collection date beside it, can build into a super-useful almanac that will allow you to care better for your backyard trees going forwards.

Appreciating which tree species carry which pigments and whether they tend to peak early or late in fall also helps you create a garden that looks good all through autumn.

And let’s not forget that enjoying the fall foliage in our gardens as trees begin their natural shift into winter dormancy is just one of the many ways gardening boosts our wellbeing too. I’ll be keeping an eye on that fall foliage forecast and booking the predicted peak color day for my garden off work so I can enjoy it to the full.

Great Garden Trees for Fall Foliage

Small garden stunner

Orange Dream Japanese Maple

This little beauty only reaches 8-10 feet tall and 5-6 feet wide, and will even cope in a container as long as you regularly water. Leaves open a glorious yellow in spring, gain pink edges then transition to an intense golden color in fall, in zones 5-8.

Amazing accent plant

Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry Tree

As well as brilliant fall foliage – and we mean brilliant as in bright! – this tree brings pretty white spring blooms and blueberry-like summer fruit for tasty jellies and jams. Also known as the Juneberry, it grows to 15-25 feet high and wide in zones 4-9.

Color-changing Beauty

Bloomables Flame Thrower Redbud Tree

This new redbud doesn't just display a fiery mix of orange, yellow, red and green foliage in fall. The heartshaped leaves emerge a burgundy red then turn yellow, then green, and has reddish-purple flowers in spring, too. Reaches 15-20 feet in zones 5-9.

What Are the Big Fall Foliage Predictions for 2026?

This year’s rollercoaster of extreme temperature and rainfall patterns will result in a similarly wide range of fall colors across the country.

Fall Foliage Winners

• Northern California is predicted to put on a better-than-usual display as tree canopies have stayed hydrated and calm weather is forecast.
• Expect strong colors in New England and upstate New York, thanks to higher-than-usual late-spring rainfall.
• Colors are expected to be vibrant in the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest following consistent levels of summer moisture.

Fall Foliage Losers

• The aspens of the Rocky mountains aren’t expected to reach their usual rich gold hue this year because a lack of winter snowpack caused an early drought.
• Summer droughts and current overcast skies mean foliage in the Southeast and Lower Mid-Atlantic is predicted to be duller than usual.
• Heat-stressed trees in the drought conditions of the Pacific Northwest are unlikely to put on a good display.