Descanso Garden Club

Seasonal Tasks for the Descanso Gardener

October Gardening Tasks

September - Ah, the trees with colorful leaves, the cooler nights, the Autumn equinox where the days are growing shorter and cooler, the gentle breez... Oops, lets start again. Sept 26 - 100 degrees! Sept 25- roof shingles blownoff. The liquidamber tree just beginning to show color, then all the leaves fly away in the wind (at least I didn't have to rake them!). Well, it's still a great month, and here comes October right around the corner!

• Bulbs:

  • Spring bulbs will start filling up the nursery shelves. Order them now at reduced prices and plant from now through December.
  • Divide your irises now. Remember, the big rhizome that bloomed last year won't bloom again, so discard it and replant the offsets. Save some of your named varieties for the plant sale.
  • Bloomed in Sept.: Spider Lilies (Lycoris radiata), Rhodolphiala, 'Nekkid Ladies' (Lycoris squamigera), Amaryllis belladonna. Add these to your wish list for the spring bulb order!

• Perennials:

  • This is a great time to start planting any perennials.  Some choices that do well: Asclepias varieties (for the butterflies); Drought resistant salvias, agastache, penstemons, helianthus maximillian.
  • Clean out flowerbeds and prepare ground for fall planting
  • Plant sweet peas from seeds
  • Divide perennials

• Tender Patio Plants

  • First frosts often start around Halloween if not before. Start bringing in or protecting the tender plants you want to save. Give them a good soak; trim them back and give them protection from cold.
  • Put your Thanksgiving & Christmas cacti into natural light for the next couple months and give a good high-bloom fertilizer

• Flowering Shrubs

  • Don’t let camellias dry out or buds will fall of later
  • Deep water roses. Stop feeding until early spring.

• Vegetables

  • Plant winter vegetables
  • Clean up the vegetable beds. Turn over the soil, add compost and mulch or use the beda to compost kitchen scraps (vegetable matter only) for the next couple of months.