Prepping for Fall Flowers

Here we are in the midst of summer, and I'm already thinking about my fall garden. Even more than Spring, I look forward to the autumn pulse of blooms beginning in late August. With the first pop-up lilies (Lycoris), which btw, start as early as around July 4th, and ending with the giant salvias, asters, swamp sunflowers, and first Sasaquas, for some mysterious reason, I've always been fascinated with late-season flowers.

Perhaps it's because spring can be so overwhelming! And fall seems a more gradual transition. I feel like I have more time to process the changes... More time to savor the colors and aromas... And the palette of plants to choose from are among my favorites! Plants like Lycoris (spider lilies), Salvia, Aster, toad lilies (Tricyrtis), oxblood or schoolhouse lilies (Rhodophiala), these are my old friends, and I look forward to their return every year!

So how am I preparing now for what will come later this summer? One thing I always intend to do but rarely get around to it is cut back my asters. If you grow Georgia aster (Symphyotrichum georgianum) or Aromatic Aster (S. oblongifolium), then you will surely know that these plants grow tall, and spindly and often fall over when blooming. This trait isn't necessarily bad. The floppy look can work in many situations, so I try to leave a few clumps in this natural state, but I also like the more compact characteristic of asters that have been trimmed earlier in the year. Cutting back by at least half in June will ensure tighter branching and stronger sturdier stems. This method also works for toad lilies, tall autumn salvias, helianthus, and perennial chrysanthemums. Just don't do it for the woody salvias... I've killed woody salvias and rosemary by cutting them back too harshly! Don't cut into the old woody stems.

This is also a good time to clear away the excess of Spring (like dried bulb leaves, spent perennials, & weeds) and to make room for the fall bulbs like Schoolhouse and Spider lilies. I look forward to this time of the year when I can clean out my beds and make them look"tidy". As the sun begins to bake the ground and things just start looking "tired", you should make friends with your clippers and begin snipping and raking out the excess.

And after you've cleared away the debris, you can begin putting out some mulch to really make it look nice. While most people mulch in fall and winter, I find it easier to mulch in the heat of summer before the late summer floral pulse. Mulching now, particularly around Lycoris and schoolhouse lilies, avoids the tedious work of spreading mulch around delicate flowers and winter foliage.