40% OFF Annuals *Excluding Asters and Mums. 

Hanging Baskets Reg. $24.99 Sale $9.99. * Includes Geraniums.

50% OFF Pre Planted Containers.

40% OFF Fertilome Potting Soil.

Smith & Hawken® ‘Pacifica’ Collection. Five piece Teak Dining Set on Sale at $999. Regularly priced at $2400. (Only 4 sets remain!). 

30% OFF Fruit Trees. 

25% OFF Lilacs.

Pansies, planted now, will stay in bloom until the ground freezes. Mulch them for winter protection and these hardy pansies will be back in flower when the warm days of spring return. They are great companions for spring bulbs.

Planting garden mums, asters, flowering kale, and pansies as you remove annuals from beds and borders gives you a spectacular show of color immediately, and for many weeks to come. Put some in pots as well.

Flowering kale is an interesting plant to use in fall.  The colorful leaves really stand out as the weather cools.

25% OFF Bagged Soil Mender® Blend and Soil Mender® Mulch. Offer good through 9/13/07 or while supplies last. Not to be combined with any other offers or discounts.

Fall Planting: A Cool Idea
By Cindy Bellinger

Even though fall is officially a few weeks away, autumn is definitely here. It's in the air. And that's why planting most flowers, shrubs and trees in the fall is such a good idea. The air is cooler, which lessens transplant shock.

There are other reasons for planting this time of year, too.

• Root Growth

After the tops of plants have stopped active growth, all the energy of a plant returns to the roots. 80% of root growth occurs during late summer, and continues slowly through late fall. As long as the soil isn't frozen, roots will continue growing into winter. Root growth increases the store of nutrients a plant needs to overwinter.

• Cool Soil

As night time temperatures dip to the lower 50s and high 40s, the soil begins cooling down. This makes for a more inviting place for roots.

Fall planting can continue through mid-October, which gives roots another two months to gather nutrients. If established during the fall, plants have a better chance of making it through heat spells the following summer. Their root systems are firmly in place.

Following is a good core group of plants that take well to fall planting. Next year they'll color your garden from late spring through late summer.

• Achillea "Moonshine" (Moonshine Yarrow)
• Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage)
• Salvia nemerosa (May Night)
• Lavandula (Lavender)
• Agastache rupestris (Licorice Mint Hyssop)
• Teucrium aroanium (Gray Creeping Germander)
• Santolina chamaecyparissus (Gray Santolina)
• Penstemon pinifolius (Pineleaf Beardtongue)
• Penstemon cardinalis (Cardinal Beardtongue)

Caution
Not all plants do well planted in the fall--ones that are borderline in hardiness. The following should not be planted in the fall.

Trees and shrubs include: Rose of Sharon, Crape Myrtle, Photinia, Nandina, Mahonia, hybrid roses, Mimosa, Japanese Pagoda, Ginko biloba and birches

Perennials include: Agastache, Salvia greggii, Verbenas, Zauschneria arizonica and cacti.

In the following weeks there will be more notes about fall gardening and why it's the perfect time of year to tend your garden.

More Rabbit Notes
Master Gardener, Bob Hatton of Amarillo, Texas writes: My cottage garden is home to several rabbits--young and old and year 'round. And if they're hungry enough, they'll eat most anything. But usually I grow the following without damage:

• Roses (they'll nibble my miniature ones in early spring, but haven't killed any)
• Abelia, Monarda (Bee balm)
• Rumex sanguineus (Bloody Sorrel)
• Campanula rotundifolia (Bluebells)
• Ilex cornuta (Burford holly)
• Berlandiera lyrata (Chocolate flower)
• Clematis 'Madame Julia Correvon'
• Heuchera sanguinea (Coral Bells)
• Petroselinum (Curly leaf parsley)
• various Dianthus, Catananche coerulea (Hibiscus)
• Liatris spicata (Gayfeather)
• Teucrium chamaedris (Germander)
• Eupatorium coelestinum (Hardy ageratum)
• Centranthus ruber (Jupiter's Beard)
• Ruellia brittoniana (Mexican Petunia)
• Scabiosa columbaria (Pincushion flower)
• Ajania pacifica (Silver and gold chrysanthemum)
• Cerastium tomentosum columnae (Snow in Summer)
• Verbena goodingii (Verbena)

Read My Little Garden Patch - gardening column by Cindy Bellinger.