Gardening This Weekend: September 3, 2020
Scan through this list to see if there aren’t a few tasks that are calling your name.
PLANT
• Wildflower seeds. See related story on bluebonnets this issue.
• Mums, Mexican mint marigolds, Mexican bush salvias, Gregg’s mistflower and other fall-flowering perennials as you find them offered for sale in local nurseries.
• Marigolds, zinnias, celosias and other fall-blooming annuals from quart and gallon containers for patio and entryway color this fall. Add in crotons and ornamental grasses for extra color and texture.
PRUNE
• Perennials to remove seedheads and browning foliage. Do not trim off any green foliage.
• Continue mowing lawn regularly to keep grass low and vigorous.
• Ragweed to remove sources of pollen. (Do not confuse ragweed with its inconspicuous green flowers with the non-allergic goldenrod with its lovely yellow blooms.)
• Johnsongrass, grassburs, dalligrass, KR bluestem and other weed grasses frequently to remove seedheads.
FERTILIZE
• Lawn with all-nitrogen food with significant percentage of that nitrogen in slow-release (encapsulated or coated) form. Turf experts tell us this fall feeding is critical.
• Just about last call to apply iron to chlorotic plants in alkaline soils. Plants most likely to show iron deficiencies include wisterias, azaleas, gardenias and loropetalums. Look for yellow leaves with dark green veins. You’ll see them most prominently on the newest growth first. Apply an iron supplement with sulfur included. Keep iron off masonry and painted surfaces to prevent staining.
• Water-soluble, high-nitrogen food to annual flowers and patio containers for a burst of new growth in fall’s better weather.
ON THE LOOKOUT
• LAST CALL this week to apply pre-emergent herbicides Halts, Dimension or Balan to prevent germination of annual bluegrass (Poa annua), rescuegrass and ryegrass and Gallery to prevent germination of annual broadleafed weeds such as henbit, lawn burweed and chickweed. Remember: With the grassy weeds this is your only chance to deal with them. There is no spray you can use once they are growing. Here is the story we ran two weeks ago.
• Be alert to stinging caterpillars such as puss caterpillars, Hagg moth and Io moth larvae and others as you work in your shrubs and taller flowers. This is the time of year they are most active. Watch for yellowjackets in hidden spots of eaves and snakes in falling leaves and in stacks of firewood, sheet metal and lumber.
• If you have patio pots you plan to bring indoors for winter, start grooming them now so they can regrow and fill in. Check them for insects, and apply insecticides as needed.