This is the best time of year to plant petunias. They’ll bloom a little now, grow through winter and explode with color in spring. Petunias prefer the cool season and usually are not damaged by our winter weather. It’s the heat of summer that does them in.
October brings welcomed relief from summer’s heat. And it’s a great time to plant a wide range of plants.
Fall is the best time for planting shrubs. Fall planted shrubs have all winter to grow roots and so will be better established when spring and summer heat arrive. Newly planted shrubs will need regular watering. A micro-irrigation system with an emitter over the root ball of each shrub is an efficient way to water. Such systems are inexpensive, easy to install and can mean the difference between success and failure with your new plants.
David Marshall, retired UF/IFAS Extension Agent, and I provide ideas on things to do during October in your landscape and garden in today’s article.
As temperatures cool later this month, plant other cool-season annuals, too. Nemesia, diascia, sweet alyssum, calibrachoa, pansies and violas are among the lower growing flowers that are great for beds and containers. For taller plants, try dianthus, dusty miller, snapdragons and Flambe Yellow chrysocephalum or strawflower. Be sure to plant all these flowers in full sun for best results.
Now is the time to plant cool-season vegetables such as beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, collards, kohlrabi, mustard, bulbing onions, radishes, spinach, strawberries and turnips. Herbs such as parsley, sage, thyme and rosemary can be planted now, too.
Larry Williams is the Extension horticulture agent with the Okaloosa County Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida. Contact Larry at 689-5850 or email [email protected].
