If you planted your mums in the ground, be sure to keep them well-watered. As the marigolds, sunflowers, moon flowers, castor beans, hyacinth bean vine, and sweet peas dry out gather them and save in paper or cardboard or anything but plastic or Styrofoam. Save zinnia and hibiscus seeds the same way, but collect them and save by color. Magic Lilys can be dug up and moved at this time of year. If you have a place to put your container plants where they won’t freeze, you can start cleaning them up and putting them away anytime this month. I like to spray my pots down to clean them off and then spray the plants with a mild insecticide. Cannas, gladiola, and calla lily can overwinter in their containers or can be taken out and dried, or dug up after the earliest frost and dried and then stored in sawdust or wrapped in newspapers or paper bags and kept somewhere where the temperature is not less than 40 degrees.

   

Add everlasting charm to your landscape by naturalizing spring bulbs. These perennials spread quickly in a lawn, under trees, or anywhere in the garden that they can be left undisturbed. A single planting of many of these bulbs can be enjoyed for generations to come. Try daffodils, hyacinth, tulips, etc. For lawn plantings, cut yellowing foliage and stems to ground level before your first spring mow. Fall is not the end of the gardening year, it is the start of next year’s growing season. So, clean up your flower beds and get them ready for next year. Cover those plants that need to be protected, like peonies and roses with a pile of autumn leaves. And start planning for next year.