As the days grow shorter and the season winds down, we’re excited to bring you our latest edition of plant highlights for September! These posts have become a go-to for our readers, offering a mix of valuable tips and a burst of inspiration. This month, we're featuring plants that will add a vibrant touch to your garden, ensuring it stays beautiful as we transition into fall.
Even with summer coming to a close, there's still plenty of time to enhance your landscape. Our featured selections are perfect for giving your outdoor space a fresh look, whether you're an experienced gardener or just getting started.
After soaking in the inspiration from our blog, be sure to stop by the nursery. We’ve got plenty of fresh arrivals ready to suit every gardening style. Don’t miss out—check out our latest blog post and find the perfect plants to keep your garden thriving into the next season!
Dwarf Japanese Garden Juniper
Image source: Bailey Nurseries
Description:
A dwarf evergreen with a mounding, creeping growth habit and beautiful blue-green foliage. A nice accent when planted in a rock garden.
Species Specs
Height: 6-10”
Spread: 3-5’
Shape: Mounding
Exposure: Full Sun
Foliage: Blue-Green
Zone: 4-8
Plant Care:
Select a well-draining site in full sun. The shrub is adaptable to most soil pH ranges and soil types but avoid planting in heavy clay. Water young plants well until established and spread a mulch of pine needles, straw, or bark around the root zone to hold in moisture and prevent weed competitors.
This is one of the easiest plants for which to care. They don't need fertilizer if planted in rich loam but feed once in spring if the plant is in low nutrient soil. Water during extreme drought and keep evenly moist the rest of the year. Junipers respond well to pruning.
Limelight Hydrangea
Image source: Bailey Nurseries
Description:
Now available in tree form. Perfect for smaller gardens. Makes a great vertical accent in borders and decorative containers. Bright, lime-green flowers add a much needed brightness to the late summer landscape. In autumn the blooms display shades of pink, burgundy and green. Excellent vigor and floriferous blooming. Flowers on new wood so it can be pruned in winter or early spring.
Species Specs
Height: 6-8’
Spread: 7-9’
Shape: Upright Rounded
Exposure: Full Sun to Part Shade
Foliage: Medium Green
Zone: 3-8
Plant Care:
These thrive in full sun to partial shade and prefer well-drained soil. Regular watering, especially during dry spells, is crucial to keeping them happy and healthy. An annual dose of slow-release fertilizer in early spring can help promote vigorous growth and stunning blooms.
Pruning is also an important part of limelight hydrangea care. Doing so in late winter or early spring—before new growth begins—will encourage robust blooms and maintain a manageable shape.
Autumn Splendor Horse Chestnut
Image source: Monrovia Nurseries
Description:
A beautiful, medium sized, cold hardy, specimen tree with a dense, rounded crown and glossy, emerald green foliage that provides brilliant maroon-red fall color. Fan-like leaves are comprised of multiple, lance-shaped, toothy leaflets that are resistant to summer leaf scorch. Showy panicles of yellow flower spikes adorn the branch tips in spring. Deciduous.
Species Specs
Height: 20-25’
Spread: 20-25’
Shape: Rounded
Exposure: Full Sun to Part Sun
Foliage: Green
Zone: 4-8
Plant Care:
Provide deep, well-drained soil; adaptable to a variety of soil types. Water deeply, regularly during the first few growing seasons to establish an extensive root system. Once established, reduce frequency; tolerates moderate periodic drought. Fertilize in early spring. Prune to remove dead or damaged branches in winter.
Glossy Black Chokeberry
Image source: Bailey Nurseries
Description:
A beautiful cultivar from the University of British Columbia. Fragrant white flowers bloom in May followed by clusters of large, edible, dark purple-black berries which persist through the season. The leaves are a dark, glossy green all season long and put on an incredible fall color show of red and purple. Does well in full sun to part shade and is tolerant of most soil types. Aronia berries can be eaten fresh, used for baking, jams, juice and wine.
Species Specs
Height: 3-5’
Spread: 2-4’
Shape: Upright
Exposure: Full Sun
Foliage: Glossy Dark Green
Zone: 3-7
Plant Care:
This shrub is highly adaptable and hardy. It can grow well in both moist and dry locations. Ideally the soil pH should be acidic, but it can also grow in alkaline soil. And while it prefers soil that drains well, it is also tolerant of boggy soil.
Other than removing the suckers that the shrub tends to send out, maintenance is very low, as it will mostly take care of itself. Plan to water during dry spells and prune annually to maintain its shape.