November Yard and Garden To-Do List: Perennials and Bulbs

Fall gardening chores tend to have a “bedtime” theme – before your plants begin their long winter’s nap, they need to be tended and tucked cozily into their beds. Fall gardening is also an exercise in delayed gratification – new plants will barely put down roots before going dormant, cleaned and amended beds won’t show their gratitude until spring, and bulbs disappear underground, making you wonder if they’ll ever reappear.

Home Maintenance and Repair guru Danny Lipford of Today’s Homeowner says you shouldn’t despair – instead, use this season to clean up, organize, and take stock of your lawn and garden.  In November, most of the country experiences the first frost or freeze, and with it, the onset of winter dormancy, and you can even continue many of the gardening chores of September and October as long as your soil isn’t frozen.

Lipford’s tips for taking care of your perennials and bulbs this month:

• In colder climates, dig up chrysanthemums after they finish blooming if you want to keep them over the winter.
• After the leaves turn yellow, you can divide and transplant fall-blooming bulbs such as autumn crocus, colchicum, and sternbergia.
• Continue planting winter and spring-flowering bulbs.
• Check on your stored tender bulbs to make sure they’re in a cool, dry place. Make sure you have them labeled so you’ll know what they are.
• If the ground isn’t frozen, you can continue to plant perennials. Look for discounted perennials at the garden center!
• In frost-free areas, you can keep on planting bulbs that don’t require a winter’s chill, such as anemone, amaryllis, calla lilies, freesia, lilies, and garlic.

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Photo Credit: Anastacia Petrova / Shutterstock.com