Don’t put away your gardening tools yet! Spring planting season may be over, but there are actually many plants that can be added to the garden later in the year. These summer annuals are perfect for replacing short-lived spring annuals. Add these late-season pops of color to keep your garden looking its best this year.

Coleus

Color isn’t all about flowers! Coleus offers stunning foliage in a variety of colors, making it perfect to brighten up your garden late in the season. For best results, plant coleus in partial shade. You can also use it for container plantings. Keep the show going longer by pinching off any flowers that form.

Alternanthera “Purple Knight”

Much like coleus, alternanthera offers stunning foliage. It does best in partial shade to full sun, and can be used as a landscape plant or grown in containers. Late in the season, it’s a great filler for areas of your garden that are looking a little thin.

Pentas

Pentas bloom in shades of pink, white, and lavender. Their flowers are clusters of small trumpet-shaped blooms, with star-shaped openings. Butterflies and hummingbirds absolutely love them, and pentas love hot weather. You can’t beat them as a midsummer fill-in for sunny spots.

Tuberous Begonias

In Maryland, tuberous begonias grow best in containers with relatively good drainage. However, spending a little bit of effort to plant them will yield a big show. Their flowers bloom in almost every color, and they’ll keep growing strong until the first frost. They make wonderful hanging basket plants for porches, and can also be brought indoors to enjoy during the winter. Plant in full sun to partial shade.

Scaevola

Sometimes called “fan flower,” scaevola is a trailing annual plant with purple or white flowers. If your container gardens could use a pep-up, plant scaevola along the edges for long-lasting color. Prefers full sun to partial shade.

Wishbone Flower

Look for Torenia, or “wishbone flower,” as another summer container filler. It’s semi-upright with purple or dark pink flowers and creamy throats. A tough plant with a bit of tropical flair, it will bloom like crazy until frost.

New Guinea Impatiens

We love these garden workhorse flowers. You can basically plant them and forget them! Some varieties have darker leaves, but all have bright, almost tropical-hued flowers. Grow in full sun to partial shade in containers, or as a mass planting in your landscape beds. They’re real showstoppers!

Geraniums

Geraniums offer flowers in a variety of hues, and are great for attracting bees and butterflies to the garden. Plant geraniums in full sun to get the most blooms and water when the soil gets dry. Be careful not to overwater because this will increase the risk of disease. You can bring a pot of geraniums indoors to enjoy for the winter, too. Just make sure it gets bright light.

Don’t let your summer garden become lackluster! Fill blank spaces and add more color and life to your garden with these summer annuals. The beauty they bring is well worth the extra effort. For help finding what would work best in your garden, come into one of our store locations and speak to an expert today.

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Add Life and Color to Your Dormant Garden with Fall Annuals

As the crisp autumn air begins to set in and the long, hot days of summer give way to cooler weather, many gardens may start to look a bit tired and faded. But don’t let the end of summer blooms signal the end of your garden’s beauty! Fall is the perfect time to refresh your outdoor spaces with vibrant, seasonal plants that thrive in cooler weather and bring color back to your garden. Whether you’re in the heart of Maryland, like the picturesque town of Davidsonville, or anywhere with a change in seasons, locally grown fall annuals are waiting to breathe new life into your yard, patio, or container garden.

With a vast array of textures, colors, and plant varieties available, fall gardening allows you to embrace the serenity and charm of the season. Let’s explore some of the most popular fall plants and how they can transform your garden into a colorful oasis that lasts through the autumn and winter months.

Mums: The Quintessential Fall Blooms

No fall garden is complete without the vibrant, cheerful blooms of chrysanthemums, commonly known as mums. These autumnal favorites are a go-to for adding bold color to your garden. With dazzling shades of yellow, red, orange, and even cooler hues like purple and lavender, mums offer plenty of options to suit any design style. Whether you’re going for a traditional autumn palette or mixing in some unexpected tones, mums are sure to create a stunning visual impact.

What many gardeners might not realize is that mums are actually perennials. When planted in the ground, they can come back year after year, rewarding you with their bright blooms again and again. To ensure their survival through the winter, it’s best to plant mums in the ground early in the fall and mulch around the base to protect the roots from harsh frosts. Not only will you enjoy their beauty now, but you’ll also have a jumpstart on next year’s garden!

Cool-Weather Veggies: Extend Your Harvest

Fall isn’t just about ornamental plants; it’s also an excellent time to grow and harvest cool-weather vegetables. Even after the first frost, your garden can continue to provide fresh, nutritious produce. Hardy veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, mustard greens, turnips, and leafy greens thrive in the cooler temperatures of fall.

These crops not only bring healthy, homegrown food to your table but also lend a lush, green texture to your garden beds. Planting a fall vegetable garden is a rewarding way to make the most of your outdoor space as the days grow shorter. Many of these vegetables can tolerate light frost and will keep producing well into the season, ensuring you can harvest fresh ingredients even when the weather turns chilly.

Ornamental Kale and Cabbage: Colorful Cold Weather Champions

Looking to add bold foliage and vibrant texture to your fall landscape? Ornamental kale and cabbage are excellent choices! These sturdy plants are not only visually striking but are also incredibly hardy, thriving as temperatures drop. Their deep, rich colors actually intensify after the first frost, making them a standout in any garden or container.

While ornamental varieties of kale and cabbage are technically edible, they have been bred for their visual appeal rather than flavor. Their leaves tend to be tougher and more bitter than their culinary cousins, but their stunning appearance more than makes up for that. Whether tucked into borders, used in containers, or planted alongside fall flowers, ornamental kale and cabbage bring unique shapes and hues to the garden, lasting well into winter in milder climates.

Pansies: The Perfect Fall and Winter Blooms

If you’re looking for a versatile, cold-tolerant flower to brighten up your garden, look no further than pansies. These resilient blooms are beloved for their ability to maintain vibrant color throughout the fall and even survive into early winter. Pansies come in a wide range of colors, from soft pastels to bold, jewel tones, making them perfect for both subtle and dramatic garden displays.

Plant pansies in containers, hanging baskets, or directly in garden beds for a splash of long-lasting color. They pair beautifully with other fall favorites, like mums and ornamental kale, creating striking arrangements. One of the best things about pansies is their ability to withstand cooler temperatures, making them an excellent choice for extending the beauty of your garden well into the colder months.

The Joy of Fall Gardening: Less Maintenance, More Reward

One of the many benefits of fall gardening is the reduced need for constant maintenance. Cooler temperatures mean less evaporation, so your plants generally require less watering than in the heat of summer. Fall annuals are often hardier and more resilient, thriving with minimal effort once they are properly planted.

Additionally, fall gardening offers a slower pace that allows you to enjoy the process of creating a beautiful landscape. The pressure of peak summer gardening is gone, and you can focus on selecting plants that will last well into winter and beyond.

Visit Homestead Gardens for Expert Advice and a Wide Selection of Fall Plants

At Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, Maryland, we offer a wide variety of locally grown fall annuals, vegetables, and ornamental plants that are perfect for transforming your outdoor space. Whether you’re refreshing your garden beds, planting containers for your patio, or adding accents to your landscape, our selection has something for every gardener.

Our expert team is always on hand to provide advice and guidance to help you choose the right plants for your space. With a curated selection of high-quality plants and the knowledge to help you succeed, you can create a picture-perfect autumn garden to enjoy for months to come.

Embrace the Beauty of the Season

Fall is the time to reimagine your garden and embrace the changing season with fresh color and texture. With the right plants, your outdoor space can remain vibrant and alive well into the colder months, offering beauty and enjoyment long after summer fades. So don’t let your garden go dormant—visit Homestead Gardens today and discover the endless possibilities for creating a colorful, lively autumn landscape. Happy planting!

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So, how does one become a pro at container gardening? It does not happen overnight, but we’ve got some great tips to share.

Choosing the Right Vessel and Site Selection

1. Choose planters that work for you and your plants. This will range from color scheme, textures, materials, sizes, etc. Bigger pots are easier to maintain, they hold more soil and therefore more water. (Check out our Perfect Pot for Every Plant blog for tips on this!)
2. Drainage holes are critical. Choose pots with drainage holes, or drill some. Keep the holes 1” from the edge and about 2” apart. Tip: Put a paper coffee filter over big holes to keep the soil from coming out.
3. Keep flat pots off the ground. Elevate pots on wheels, sturdy pot feet or bricks for better drainage and air circulation. Trays with wheels make it easier to rearrange and lessen the chance of water damage like rot, fungus and bacteria growth.
4. Place them first. Put pots in place before filling them, or they may be too heavy to move. Use a potting mix that feeds plants and helps control moisture in the soil. You may need specially formulated mixes for some plants, such as palms and citrus. Consider the plants’ needs before placing pots, as some plants need full sun, part sun or shade.
5. Watering schedules differ from plant to plant. Some materials, like terracotta, tend to soak up more water, so be sure to keep an eye on your plants for signs that they are thirsty. You can use a drip irrigation system to make watering easier.

After finding the perfect pot, you need to choose the perfect plant(s). We have container combos ready-made for you to grab and go each season. This is easy for the gardener on the go; simply pop out a new assortment each season and get back to doing what you love. Or, for the DIY gardener, create your own container combos.

Containers planted with a single species — rosemary or a bold variegated ornamental grass, for example — can be stunning accents to any landscape. Containers planted with a mix of plants are even more fun to create. The ideal combos depend on choosing the right plants for your container – plants that feature handsome foliage and flowers produced over a long bloom season.

The 3-Step Formula for Gorgeous Containers: A Thriller, a Spiller, and a Filler

1. Start with one focal-point plant (the thriller), such as coleus, geranium, or purple fountain grass. Add a trellis or pillar to a container and you can even use a vine to add height to your container.
2. Add several plants that spill over the edge of the pots (spillers) such as petunias, bacopa, creeping zinnias, or ornamental sweet potatoes.
3. Finally, add plants with smaller leaves and flowers that add color and fill in the arrangement all season long (filler). Good fillers include salvias, verbenas, ornamental peppers, and wax begonias, as well as foliage plants like parsley or licorice plants.
4. You’ll need a total of five or six plants for an 18- or 24-inch container, for example.

Best Plants for Containers

1. Edibles: You can grow almost any vegetable, fruit or herbs in individual containers — from large pots to half barrels. Look for dwarf or petite forms of larger vegetables such as tomatoes, pumpkins, and winter squash. A combination herb container is always fun – try a little Italy with basil, rosemary, thyme, and oregano.
2. Annuals: The classic container plant. Annuals look good all summer long without much fuss. Choose warm-weather annuals that bloom all summer or have foliage that remains attractive. Geraniums, marigolds, wax begonias, coleus, scarlet sage, and flowering tobacco are all good choices. Experiment, and if one plant doesn’t work out, don’t worry about it — just pop it out and try again!
3. Perennials: Containers planted with hardy perennials and shrubs can be grown and enjoyed from year to year. Hostas and daylilies are great container gardening plants, but many other perennials work as well. Try ferns, European wild ginger, sedges, lavender, sedums, and ornamental grasses.
4. Trees and Shrubs: Choosing a tree for a container depends on its size, growing requirements, and location. Smaller species and dwarf varieties are good candidates. Choose trees based on year-round appearance, size, and maintenance requirements. Evergreens and nearly any other dwarf conifer would be an ideal choice as well as boxwood, yew, dwarf camellias, holly, dwarf Alberta spruce, Japanese maple, star magnolia, river birch, crepe myrtle, and many types of fruit trees.

It may be hard to know which containers will work best for your small space garden. We’re here to help. Email us at AskHomestead@homesteadgardens.com, or visit our stores.

And please follow us on social media and share photos of your favorite container plants! Because we love plants as much as you do!

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From containers and hanging baskets to en-masse plantings in the landscape, Proven Winners award-winning Supertunia petunias unique versatility is unmatched. Learn more about the different types of Supertunias, and how they can prove beautiful and valuable on your porch, patio, balcony and landscape.

THE CLASSIC SUPERTUNIA®

You’ll find the greatest range of colors and patterns in Proven Winners’ standard Supertunia line. They are incredibly versatile, mixing easily with their companions in all sorts of container recipes and growing well in mixed borders. Though the plants are similar in size to Supertunia® Mini Vista, their flowers are larger.

SUPERTUNIA VISTA®

To fill large expanses in the landscape quickly, you can’t beat Supertunia Vista petunias. A single plant will easily fill three square feet, making them an affordable choice as a flowering ground cover. If you plant them in a container, make sure to use an extra-large one.

SUPERTUNIA® MINI VISTA

For the edge of the border or as an accent plant in smaller spaces, choose Supertunia Mini Vista. Though their strong vigor is similar to Supertunia Vista petunias, their mature size is significantly smaller. With their dense growth habit, they are magnificent planted on their own in containers.

SUPERTUNIA® TRAILING

You can’t beat Supertunia Trailing as an all-season flowering spiller for hanging baskets and tall, upright containers. Their natural tendency is to grow straight down, cascading at least three feet long by summer. If your goal is to have the longest trailing flowers possible in your window boxes, choose Supertunia Trailing petunias.

Have a question about Proven Winners Supertunias? Homestead Gardens associates are certified Proven Winners experts and can help you choose the perfect plant, learn how to care for it, and get as excited as you when it blooms and grows. Come visit any of our stores!

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Early frost warnings may be heard at this time of the year. Make sure that any tender “tropicals” like hibiscus, gardenia or mandevilla vine plants that are still outdoors and are intended to ride out the winter indoors, are brought inside soon. Make sure that they are first treated with houseplant-safe pesticides to prevent bringing pests indoors and you are using a product that is safe for both your plants and your interior environment.

Why to Hold Off on Pruning

The pruning back of plants in the fall should be deferred to spring. Horticulturists will advise the fall is not best time to expose reduced-foliage plants when one does not know what kind of winter lies ahead. Also, plants that are evergreen, both conifers and broadleafed trees and shrubs, retain their green foliage through winter for a purpose. The plants continue to use their green needles and leaves to conduct photosynthesis through this period when deciduous plants are dormant.

Deciphering the New Fertilizing Law

If you are applying a fertilizer to a lawn in Maryland this fall, you must do it before November 15th. The Fertilizer Use Act of 2011 was signed into law by Governor O’Malley in January of that year. Its implementation date was delayed two year and law went into affect on October 1, 2013. A provision of this law states that no fertilizer may be applied to lawns in Maryland during the period November 15 to March 1st. This law only applies to the application of fertilizer to lawns, and does not apply to the application of fertilizer to plants in other areas of the landscape. The moratorium on fertilizing lawns during this time of the year is that lawn will not be taking up fertilizers since their growth and nutrient needs will be at a minimum. Unused fertilizer nutrients that are not taken up are likely to find their way from the lawn to the local watershed arteries and eventually into the Chesapeake Bay.

Why Right NOW is Ideal for Planting

Finally, the rains have stopped and the forecast is for mostly sunny for the next few weeks!  The ground is now soft to dig and it is a great time to plant pansies and other fall annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs and lawns.  The planting weather will be great, since the soil will be warm enough to start seeds and encourage root growth on all newly-planted nursery stock.  If you still need to plant or reseed a lawn, this should be your last chance if you want the seed to come up next year. Fall is still a great time to be in the garden!

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Is it really fall without mums on your patio and in your garden? Mums, or Chrysanthemums, are perfect to set in a pot on the front porch next to a few pumpkins to welcome visitors. They’re also perfect for tucking into empty places in your fall garden. Their soft jewel-tones provide a simple and affordable way to dress up your landscape. Did you know that there’s actually more than one kind of mum? Here’s everything you need to know about mums and how to choose which ones are right for your garden.

Annual Mums

There are two types of mums: garden mums, which are treated as annuals and hardy perennial mums. Garden mums are the big, colorful annuals sold in pots each fall across the United States.
When selecting garden mums, look for full, healthy plants that still have some tightly closed buds. This ensures you’ll get blooms for a longer period. Additionally, mums do best and often look better when repotted out of their plastic nursery pot and into a larger container that can hold more water. You can also help your mums thrive by providing them with full sun, keeping them consistently moist, and deadheading them (removing spent flowers as they finish blooming). Use annual mums for temporary color in your garden or on your porch, and compost them when they’re finished blooming.

Perennial Mums

Perennial mums, on the other hand, should be planted directly into your garden bed in the spring. Though they sometimes have smaller flowers, they’ll provide autumn color to your garden year after year. However, they do require more maintenance throughout the summer. Water well throughout the growing season. Like annual mums, you’ll get the best blooms if they’re planted in full sun, but they will tolerate partial shade. This encourages them to grow fuller and bushier, and flower later into the season.
Like annual mums, perennial mums benefit from deadheading. Removing the old flowers will encourage them to keep blooming. After they’re done for the season, mulch to protect them during the winter. Mums may be trimmed back in the fall, but you should wait until the foliage has turned brown and still leave about six inches of plant standing.

When the leaves start to fall and the air gets crisp, Chrysanthemums are the highlight of the garden. Whether you opt for annuals, perennials, or a combination of the two, they’re a quintessential item for your fall yard and patio.

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It’s been a wet one hasn’t it! Record rainfall levels and days upon days of lingering results. Since spring we have battled powdery mildew and fungus levels to beat the band, phytophthora (root rot), wilt, stunting, chlorosis, soil pH disruption, any number of nutrient deficiencies, and rates of infectious diseases that we haven’t seen in years such as the tomato blight and potato disease — none of which had a silver bullet to cure since it was fixed and offended weekly.

That’s the bitter of it. The sweet of it “Well done you for your perseverance!” So many of you have visited us in Diagnostics this year to fetter out what the offenders were in your garden. We were happiest to see all the demands for soil test kits and requests for advice on nutrients, So many of you already knew that the secret was already in your sacred soil.

That’s really the take-away from gardening this year; the relationship between you and the health of that bit of earth you call your own is the divining rod between the bitter and the sweet. As a steward of your land, do you know how to work with the clay or the sand, or the extreme combinations them? What plants are drought tolerant and what plants can survive knee deep in water? Is there something that can do all of that? The right plant in the right place has to include the soil type. The right place does not only include an aesthetic or sun level evaluation. Soil type is absolutely a chief factor.

For those of you who don’t have this test, here it is: Click here for test

Study your seed catalogs, look at this year’s Chelsea and Hampton Court Garden Show Winners, look at new plant introductions and make your wish lists. Fresh start for 2019 for all of us, armed with our successes and our failures and the unwavering gardeners hope that we’ll do even better next go round.

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Some herbs, like rosemary, oregano and thyme can winter over outdoors. If you have potted hibiscus or philodendrons, they too can survive the colder months with a little bit of indoor care. Here are some tips from the staff at Homestead Gardens to help your plants transition from the back porch to your living room:

* Plenty of sunlight – Tropicals like hibiscus love light, and the Chesapeake Bay region experiences much less daylight during the winter months than they’re used to. Place your sun-loving plants in a room that receives five to six hours of direct sunlight each day. An alternative is to gradually decrease the light your plant receives on a daily basis. Start to introduce your plant to less light now, by moving it slowly into a more shaded area on the porch.

* Humidity – During the winter months the humidity levels drop, and this can strain house plants and tropicals. Bring a humidifier into the home to add a little moisture to the air. The Homestead Gardens staff also recommends giving your tropicals a shower! Place your palms and hibiscus plants in 10 inch pots directly in the shower. Run tepid water for a few minutes to give them a good soaking. If you have other types house plants, ask a staff member about specific watering needs.

* Check for bugs – Insects may have made your plants home over the summer. Carefully check for any insects or disease of the plant prior to bringing it inside. Larger insects like beetles are easily removed by hand. For aphids or spider mites, use Bonide Systemic Insect Control two weeks prior to bringing your plant inside. And if frost is threatening immediately, use insecticidal soap or horticultural oil, depending on the pest.

Not every plant will survive the transition from summer to winter, but by continuing the loving care you provided your plants during the summer months you may discover they’ll flourish indoors and be ready for decorating your backyard again before you know it.

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Bloom Day

The reason for this belated Bloom Day post is a good one, I hope you’ll agree.  I just returned last night from a really big garden show in Columbus, Ohio, which was great fun and will be covered in blog stories coming soon.

I also have an excuse to offer about my blooms – remember my garden’s new, right?  In its first year. 

The top photo could, I’m sure, be duplicated in almost anyone’s garden here in Maryland, because what Marylander doesn’t grow Black-eyed Susans?  State flower, ya.  They’re growing against a background of the 11 ‘Emerald Green’ Arborvitae which will soon be blocking the view of a parking lot from my house and front garden.  

I also see Purple Coneflower blooming in my garden, though not enough to photograph.  (I’m hoping they self-seed profusely!)

Of course I grow Petunias in my beds, not just in containers – because the perennial beds haven’t filled in yet.  GREAT use of annuals, imho.

My visitors and I have been admiring the Heuchera above all season but now that it’s blooming – wow.  It’s one of the dozens of purple-leaved Heucheras now available to us.

I still love the old-fashioned big-leaf Hydrangeas, but have also made room for an oakleaf hydrangea in my new garden.  That drooping pinkish flower above will slowly turn color and look pretty into the winter.  (Though like everyone, I’m having a hard time this week imagining cold weather ever returning.)

Here’s another annual I’m using lots of this year to fill up my flower beds – Lobelia, in blue, purple and blue/white.  On the right is a flower that rarely gets  noticed, thought right now it’s creating quite a show in my garden.  Good old hostas!

Clockwise from upper left are Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’, the annual ‘Purple Queen Setcreasea, ‘Velocity Blue’ Salvia (an annual), and the bloom of an ‘Apricot Drift’ rose.

More blooms that fight for attention in mid-summer are the tiny but profuse ones of the Glossy Abelia shown above.  This shrub grows fast, has gorgeous shiny leaves, and flowers that are covered with pollinating bees – nice bees that don’t sting.

Additional Plants

And although the meme here is all about blooms, here’s my shout-out to the most colorful annual I’ve ever grown – the reliable and increasingly sun-tolerant Coleus, shown here in three mixed containers.   This plant says to visitors, “Don’t both about blooms; my leaves are fabulous all season.”  I’ve done just a bit of pinching and been very happy with the resulting bushiness. 

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