Prime Time for Planting

This month is the best possible time to plant just about anything in Southern California.

“Of course, nurseries like to think that everyday is a great time to plant, if you just water enough,” said Frank Burkard Jr. of Burkard Nurseries in Pasadena, “but October is a special month. No doubt about it.”

It’s also the nurseries’ biggest month, a testament to the fact that Californians are catching on and that the advantages of fall planting are not a secret anymore. Fall is no longer the undiscovered Cinderella of seasons.

Watering is one big reason the timing is right.

With any luck at all, fall and winter’s rains will help with that tedious chore, and even if they don’t come as hoped, it is a lot easier to keep young plants--whether they be ground covers or trees--watered now than in the summer, the season that follows spring, the traditional time to plant and the time to plant if you live elsewhere in the country.

But there is more.

“The soil is still warm from summer and things like Iceland poppies and pansies really take off,” Burkard added. “If you wait to plant spring color in late November or December, it just sits there for three months.”

He’s talking about one kind of fall planting--the planting of small bedding plants such as calendulas, pansies and primroses (see the complete list in the chart on Page 13).

These bedding plants are best started from small packs or flats at this time of the year, or even seed if you feel adventuresome. Although you will find plants already in flower, younger plants that will have the time to develop good root systems before flowering will make bigger and better flowers and flowering will last much longer.

Be sure to keep plants watered almost daily the first week until they send roots out into the surrounding soil, and if a Santa Ana begins to blow don’t be afraid to water every morning and sprinkle them lightly mid-afternoon to help them through.

Dry Santa Ana winds are not as hard on plants as most people think, unless they are exposed to the full brunt of the wind. Even then, they may wilt but will recover.

“There are going to be some exciting new strains of spring flowers this fall. We’ll have black pansies, and pink ones, separate colors of Iceland poppies instead of just a mix, and the best primroses you’ve ever seen. And lots of bulbs, probably 35 to 40 varieties of freesias alone,” Burkard said.

Bulbs are another staple of fall planting, though not all should be planted right away. Two--tulips and hyacinths--should not be planted until December (they need to be chilled in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator for at least six weeks). But, now is the time to buy them, and others.

“The first week of October is the best time to shop for bulbs, when we have the freshest stock and the most to choose from,” Burkard said.

There’s been a change in what bulbs people plant in California.

John Bauman at the Palos Verdes Begonia Farm, a general nursery despite the name, said that freesias, sparaxis and daffodils are now the most popular “because people know that these will return year after year and they don’t have to keep replanting them.

“In my own garden, a few bulbs of daffodils have spread to cover a 3-by-3-foot area, and the sparaxis have made a meadow. Of course, they are in a well-drained soil and I don’t water too much in summer when they’re dormant.”

Daffodils are one bulb to plant right away because they need time to develop a good root system before blooming. Sparaxis and freesias will also grow and multiply easily, and you don’t need to dig a big hole since they are only planted with about an inch of soil covering their tops.

These bulbs, plus those shown in our fall planting chart, are available at most nurseries. At Burkard Nurseries, known for their choice selection of bulbs, you even find some real rarities, which command fancy prices, such as the African Urginea, with bulbs that can weigh as much as 20 pounds, and flowers that grow to 4 or even 6 feet tall.

The bulbs, incidentally, are extremely poisonous--a common name for this plant is “rat poison squill” and are reputed to be a great gopher repellent. Like many bulbs from Africa, this one naturalizes here in California so you don’t need to start fresh every year.

Be sure you know how deep and how far apart to plant each kind of bulb. The nurserymen can help, but it’s handy to have a good guide and the best is the widely available HP Books’ “Bulbs, How to Select, Grow and Enjoy,” by George Harmon Scott, a Southern Californian with years of experience.

Perennials, most of which flower in spring or early summer, can also be planted now, though many gardeners wait until March. The reason is that it’s hard to tell what you’re buying at this time of the year.

“This is the better time to plant because they will be thoroughly established and strong by spring,” Bauman said, “but the plants are going dormant now and look pathetic. We’ll still have lots available for those who know their plants and have a little imagination.”

Burkard agrees: “They won’t look like much but this is when we plant our perennials and we’ll have some 250 different kinds to choose from.”

Other nurseries may have less stock, but they will be carrying perennials for fall planting.

“When customers ask me ‘When is the best time to plant?’ I usually say spring or fall and if they pin me down, I’ll say ‘fall’ for sure,” Bauman said. And he’s not just talking about flowers, but trees and shrubs and ground covers. “It’s the best time to start or redo a whole garden, even the lawn.”

Sod is the best way to start a warm-season lawn (Bermuda, zoysia, St. Augustine) at this time of the year, but it is very easy to sow a lawn of the new tall, turf-type fescues that are becoming the most popular grass in this half of the state.

Trees and shrubs and ground covers will not show immediate signs of growth, but rest assured (research has proved it) that they are making strong root growth underground.

Be sure to stake trees properly to protect them from Santa Ana winds--two sturdy stakes, a foot on either side of the trunk, with the tree tied between them.

“Fall planting works for these permanent parts of the landscape too. The soil is still warm so roots of trees and shrubs and ground covers make immediate growth and with some help from the rain, everything is thoroughly established in time for the big burst of growth that comes in spring,” Bauman said.

THIS WEEKEND YOU CAN PLANT

Almost all perennial flowers. Bulbs of all kinds but tulips and hyacinths must be refrigerated for six weeks before being planted. Among flowers you can plant now are:

African daisies Cyclamen Nicotiana Alyssum Delphinium Pansy and viola Bells of Ireland Dusty Miller Phlox Calendula English daisy Primulas Candytuft Forget-me-nots Ranuculus Canterbury bells Foxglove Blue salvia Chrysanthemum mulitcaule Hollyhock Schizanthus Chrysanthemum paludosum Iceland Poppy Snapdragon Cineraria Larkspur Stock Clarkia and godetia Linaria Sweet peas Columbine Lobelia Sweet William

Vegetables to plant now:

Artichoke Celery Onions Beets Endive Peas Broccoli Fava beans Radish Brussels sprouts Garlic Rhubarb Cabbage Kale Spinach Carrot Kohlrabi Swiss chard Cauliflower Head and leaf lettuce Turnip

Cool-season grasses including annual rye over Bermuda grass lawns, perennial rye, bluegrass, fescue.

All California natives, including wildflowers, from seed.

Most shrubs, trees, ground covers and vines.

Note: This is not the best time of year to plant citrus, subtropical vines or shrubs, deciduous fruit trees such as apples or apricots, roses, or subtropical lawn grasses such as Bermuda or St. Augustine. All of these plants are about to go dormant or may freeze.