Fall has arrived. The weather’s cooling, and it’s a great time to add plants and trees to your garden. Here are a few San Diego gardening tips to keep your yard looking beautiful year-round.
Plant, Plant, Plant
Although we think of spring as planting season, fall is the best time for planting most perennials. Planting now gives roots time to get well established before next summer’s heat. The soil is still warm, but the air is cooling. These are perfect conditions for planting.
Plant winter annuals, native plants and trees, bulbs, and your cool-season vegetable garden now. You do want to hold off on tropical and sub-tropical plants. They will be happier when the weather is warmer.
Mulch
Not only does mulching help keep soil cool during the hotter months, it also keeps weeds down and protects against erosion once winter rains start. Over time, organic mulch will break down and improve your soil. Put 3-4 inches of organic mulch in your beds before the rains get started.
Add Year-Round Color to San Diego Gardens
Gardeners in many parts of the country are preparing their gardens for winter dormancy, but San Diego gardeners can enjoy year-round color in their yards. Cool season annuals like pansies, violas, primroses, snapdragons, delphiniums, sweet peas and calendula come to mind and are great additions to your garden, but you can also find perennials, bulbs and trees that will bloom in fall, winter and early spring.
In my yard, the paperwhites (Narcissus) are already starting to poke through the ground. They’ll start blooming in December. Other bulbs that will bloom for you in winter are Leucojum, Cyclamen, Crocus, Anemone and Muscari.
In addition to annuals and bulbs, there are other winter blooming plants and trees. Succulents like aloes, kalanchoes and Schlumbergera are good options. In my yard, I have chrysanthemums, bird of paradise, rosemary, geraniums, azalea, statice and Tagetes lemonii that all flower in winter. I planted California fuchsia this spring. It hasn’t stopped blooming and is supposed to continue right into winter.
If you’re looking for a winter blooming vine, try Hardenbergia. It’s evergreen and has pinkish-purple flowers from winter to early spring. There are also many large shrubs and trees that will flower during our coldest months. Acacia, coral tree, strawberry tree, Japanese flowering cherry, flowering peach, flowering or evergreen pear are just a few. And don’t forget to plant California poppies.
Do you have winter flowering plants in your garden? If you do, leave a comment below. I’d love to add them to my list and my garden.
San Diego Gardening Tips Source
A lot of information for San Diego Gardening Tips comes from the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County. They are a great resource for all of your gardening needs including planting, pests, vegetables, and water use. They even have a free hotline where you can get your home gardening and pest control problems answered.