Report From PIA – September 14
Now that it’s September, I look out on the lakeside perennial border and see that I’ve misplaced three groups of plants. I planted the Calamagrostis ‘Avalanche’ in the back, Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’ in the center, and Aster ‘Lady in Black’ in the front. All wrong.
The asters should be in back, the grass in the center and the Agastache in front of those. List for the spring: rearrange these plants.
I prefer to transplant in the springtime. Yes, I know there are many who assert that fall is a good time for dividing and moving perennials, but it’s never made sense to me. At this time of year everything is telling these plants to shut down. The days are rapidly getting shorter and the air and soil temperatures are cooling.
In the spring, however, everything is telling the plants to grow. It seems sensible to me that we transplant in April or May, we are better working with nature’s rhythms.
In gardening, as in life, there isn’t one right way, however, and if you believe that fall is the best time to rearrange perennials, go for it.
I’m thinking that autumn is a great time to evaluate how things are growing in the garden, and how they can be improved upon in the coming year. I hope to take this time to assess what is growing in my life, and to decide if I’ve made any mistakes in planting.
See the tiny bit of tan grass in the back? See the huge 'Lady in Black' aster in the front and the squeezed in Agastache in between. Time to rearrange.
