Why do you have to plan perennials in the fall?
Question:I want to order plants for my friend's front beds as a wedding present, but all the mail order places won't send them until the end of September. Why shouldn't we plant them now?
Answers:
You really don't have to wait until Fall.. I have perennial beds all over my property and just put in a new one, along shrubs and holly and everything is doing just fine. I add to my Herb garden constantly too... I live in the NW corner of CT and the weather can be brutal, but everything survives. I DO have to water the heck out of them. We put in a cistern to catch rain to water with, so it's fairly environmentally friendly. But like any new planting, water makes the magic!
It sounds like one of two things: either the place that you want to buy it from doesn't have any and they're growing them to sell in the Fall, or it's just too hot where you live... what are they?
Most areas of the country are hot and dry this time of year. Unless your friends are going to be out there watering their new plants every single day, there is a good chance that they won't make it through the summer. If the perennials are planted during the fall they have a good six to nine months to establish a good root system to survive the next summer.
More often than not, these plants are propagated over the summer and are not ready to ship until fall.. it's not so much a matter of "this is when you plant them", it a matter of the plants not being grown up enough to ship.
Because of cooler temperatures and more plentiful rainfall, fall is better for transplanting than summer.. Survival rates for transplants are much better in spring and fall than the dead of summer..
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