Our Next Open Nursery Day – Friday June 27, 10am-5pm – Learn More
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Spring is often considered the ideal planting season for native perennials, as it provides the plants with the longest period to establish, root, and grow within a single season. But, it’s also possible to plant successfully throughout the summer and fall. Well-rooted, potted, native perennial wildflowers and grasses planted in late summer or early fall will be primed to take off earlier the following season.
Many native perennials require more than one year before they really begin to thrive. An old adage says that newly-planted native gardens “first sleep and then creep before they leap.” Anyone who has started a native meadow from seed knows this well. However, vigorous potted plants with healthy root systems can speed this process significantly. Of course, that’s what you’re paying for when you purchase mature potted plants from a nursery, and you should get what you pay for. When planted in late summer or early fall, healthy potted perennials have enough time to establish before winter and, come next spring, they’ll be ready to leap!
Another benefit of planting mature, potted plants in late summer is that many will go to seed after planting, adding to the native seed bank in your garden and feeding wildlife through the winter. Perennials’ first season is typically spent developing a strong root system and growing above ground just enough to support root growth; hence, they are said to sleep. Seedlings compete with other plants for sun, nutrients, and water. Compared to a seed planted outdoors in soil, potted plants are given nearly everything they need to grow strong roots early on in their life. When we “pot up” smaller plants into our one gallon root-prune pouches, we are amazed by how fast they grow.
Take a look at the photos above of Lance-leaf coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) on the day in late June they were potted up and three weeks later in mid-July. These plants are ready to go into the ground!
Another example can be seen below with native grasses planted on the farm in early June. Two months later, despite average daily highs of over 86 degrees, they’ve taken off. We are looking forward to seeing how vigorously they will grow next year.
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