Address Your Autumn Landscape

 

Just because there’s a slight chill in the air doesn’t mean it’s time to start neglecting our yards. In fact, fall can be an excellent time to explore ideas for improving your landscape to be more aesthetically pleasing. To help us figure out ways to add color and brightness to our outdoor spaces this autumn, we reached out to the experts at Ryan Cole Landscape and Design in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. While the recommendations are somewhat specific to our source’s region, they will hopefully serve as inspiration for a conversation to be had with a local gardening expert in your area.

  • Add cool season bedding plants to the landscape. Cole’s recommendations for cool season bedding plants in southeast Louisiana include petunias, dianthus (a very reliable plant that thrives in full sun), pansies (which do better and make the best display when planted very close together in beds or pots), snapdragons (which will create the best show in late winter and early spring), and violas.
  • Overseed your lawn for color through the winter months. For people who reside in the lower south, Cole recommends using the perennial ryegrass, which has advantages over the annual ryegrass because it is a finer blade, grows slower, and is more hardy, and notes that the time to over seed is from early to late November.
  • Select locations for new trees and shrubs. People always think of spring as the prime time for planting, but according to Cole, fall can be a great time to plant trees and shrubs in certain regions. The big advantage to planting in fall, he says, is that plants have a long period to get settled in and begin root growth while temperatures are cool.
  • Speak to your local experts. Clearly, your landscaping options will be dictated by your region’s climate, as well as your yard’s particular attributes, so use the above suggestions as a jumping off point when speaking to the experts at your local nursery or garden center about the best beds, bulbs, etc. for you.

Expert tip from Ryan Cole Landscape and Design in Baton Rouge, LA.