Gardening This Weekend: September 5, 2024

You’ve gotta love the recent exposure to gently cooler temperatures much of Texas experienced. Hopefully there is even better weather on the horizon.

PLANT
• Mums, Mexican mint marigolds, fall asters, 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 Petra and other crotons and ornamental grasses for extra color and texture.
• Wildflower seeds. Nature leaves seeds on the ground all summer after the plants mature in May and June. The seeds germinate in early fall. On the other hand, we have to buy seeds, so we wait for early fall to plant them (now) into lightly tilled soil away from turf areas.

PRUNE
• Continue mowing lawn regularly to keep grass low and vigorous. Don’t be swayed by the myth that “mowing high” promotes better winter hardiness – it does not!
• Perennials to remove seedheads and browning foliage. Do not trim off any green foliage.
• 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. These weeds are all seeding abundantly across Texas currently.

FERTILIZE
• Water-soluble, high-nitrogen food to annual flowers and patio containers for a burst of new growth in fall’s better weather.
• Lawn with all-nitrogen food with 30 to 40 percent 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.

ON THE LOOKOUT
• Pre-emergent granules must be applied soon (hopefully by September 10) to prevent germination of annual bluegrass, rescuegrass, and ryegrass. Safe on any lawngrass if it’s been planted for 6 or more months. Do not use if you intend to overseed with rye or in areas where you will be sowing wildflower seeds.
• Be on lookout for 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 shrubs. Watch carefully for snakes in piles of fallen leaves.
• 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.