A Little Frost Doesn’t Mean Gardening Is Over
What you can still plant in October—and why frost is not the same thing as frozen ground.
Every October I start hearing the same thing at the garden center:
“Isn’t it too late to plant?”
Nope! We’re still planting at my house, and you can still be planting too.
Here in Zone 5, a little frost doesn’t mean the ground suddenly gets cold and everything stops growing. Our average first freeze around Rockford, IL is about October 13, but that’s when the temperature reaches 32 degrees. A hard freeze—28 degrees or colder—is different, and that normally comes later.
That’s important when we’re talking about fall planting.
Even though the air is getting colder, the soil is still holding onto the warmth from summer. When we put a hardy tree, shrub or the right perennial in the ground, it may not look like much is happening above the soil, but those roots can still be working below it. Fall is a particularly useful planting window for trees and many woody plants because root growth can continue while soil temperatures remain moderate.
So don’t let one frosty morning make you think your planting season is automatically over.
What I am watching this time of year is the forecast. A light frost might finish off some of our tender annuals and vegetables, but our hardy landscape plants are a completely different story.
This is also the time of year when I’m deciding what stays outside and what I want to save before colder temperatures arrive. If you’re doing the same thing with your summer containers, watch me deconstruct my summer pots and save plants before winter. I take you through what I’m keeping, what I’m cutting back and what I’m doing with those plants next.
In the meantime, I’m still planting, watering everything in really well and giving those roots a chance to settle in before the ground freezes.
As we get later into fall, I do get a little more selective. Trees and many deciduous shrubs are particularly well suited to fall planting. With perennials, I pay more attention to what I’m planting, the weather ahead and how much time those roots will have to get established. Illinois Extension notes that many perennials benefit from earlier fall establishment, so this is one place where the specific plant matters.
And that’s really the distinction I want you to remember:
Frost is not the same thing as frozen ground.
So if you’ve been looking at an empty spot in your garden all summer, don’t automatically assume you have to stare at it until spring. Come out to The Landscape Connection and let us help you figure out what still makes sense to plant now.
There is still gardening to be done—and I’m right there doing it with you.
— Michelle
The Landscape Connection
4472 S. Mulford Rd.
Rockford, IL 61109
(815) 874-8733
