Is it nearly fall? This past summer has been difficult, but I guess they call Columbia “Famously Hot” for a good reason. I am thankful to feel a drop in the humidity and some cooler air in the mornings.
When it’s been too hot to work outdoors in the afternoons during the past couple of weeks, I have been spending some time working on my crop plan for the spring. To enjoy early spring blooms, I will sow seeds in the garden and set out baby plants this fall.
It might seem strange to plant tiny plants in the ground this fall that will have to live in the garden, uncovered and exposed to the elements, all winter before they bloom in the spring, but the flowers I plant in the fall need and love the cold weather. I have made the mistake of planting them out in spring because the seed packets say, “Plant as soon as the soil can be worked.” If they live, they bloom on short, spindly stems. That advice is directed at Northern growers who need to wait until the snow melts and the ground thaws to set out these plants. Our ground can almost always be worked, so if you see those directions, it usually means that it’s best to plant them in fall to overwinter in our climate.
During our winters, the plants grow roots underground to prepare them for rapid growth above ground and flower production before the heat takes them out. Most of them would really prefer to live in England or somewhere with a lovely long cool summer, not in the humid subtropical climate of SC, and so we must set them out in the fall to allow them to grow in our coolest weather.
My grandmothers taught me to sow the seeds of larkspur, poppies, and sweet William in the fall. They just “wouldn’t do,” they said, if we planted them in the spring. There was no further explanation. As a farmer, I have added foxgloves, snapdragons, statice, Queen Anne’s Lace/Ammi, Agrostemma/corn cockle, rudbeckia, bupleurum, Bells of Ireland, orlaya, nigella, yarrow, strawflower, Cerinthe, didiscus, among others, to the list of fall-planted flowers.
Each seed has different requirements about whether it wants to be sown outdoors or inside and transplanted to the garden, and whether it wants to be covered with soil or left uncovered. This is a more complicated process than throwing out some zinnia seeds after the last frost. However, with a little attention to detail, you can create a wonderful spring garden like the one you see below. Everything you see was planted in the fall.
I can’t give you all the details in this column, but the The Gardener’s Workshop website will give you plenty of information. Start with larkspur, snapdragons, and sweet William and continue to learn in future years. Books by Lisa Mason Zeigler such as “Cool Flowers,” will also give you advice.