• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • Garden design
  • Container gardening
  • Food to grow
  • Gardens to visit
  • Events for gardeners
Garden Making

Garden Making

Inspiring ideas and information for great home gardens

Home » Time for fall cleanup chores

Time for fall cleanup chores

By Judith Adam Filed Under: October in the Garden

‘Red Jade’ weeping crabapple is often grafted onto another rootstock. (Photo by Brendan Adam-Zwelling)
‘Red Jade’ weeping crabapple is often grafted onto another rootstock. (Photo by Brendan Adam-Zwelling)

I’m a procrastinator when it comes to cleaning chores, indoors or out. However, I’d rather clean garden beds and borders than clean the kitchen floor. Consequently, I’m about to begin working through the planting beds, already knowing what I’ll find. It’s time for fall cleanup chores in the garden.

My planting beds are no different from yours – perennials need to be cut down, summer annuals removed, and frost-tender tubers such as dahlias and cannas lifted. I have a simple method for cleaning out summer annuals. Instead of pulling them out, I use a sharp blade to cut off their tops for quick disposal (or contribution to a compost pile), and allow the root system to remain behind. Over winter, frost will degrade the thread-like roots of annual plants like impatiens and coleus, contributing valuable organic material to the soil. Even the thicker roots of some annuals can be left in place to finish degrading through the next growing season.

With perennials, I’m always on the watch for spent flowerheads and seed pods that can be allowed to stand in the snow. The dried flowers of astilbe are one of my favourites, along with the split-open, lantern-shaped hosta seed cases and the tall brown centre cones of rudbeckia. Sometimes tall fluffy caps of snow build up on top of these, and they also provide seeds for finches and chickadees.

The clearing away of plant debris often reveals suckers around the crowns of grafted plants, and these need to be removed. Suckers are shoots emerging from the vigorous underground rootstock system, and they’ve been growing all summer, concealed by the foliage of nearby perennials. A grafted plant is one in which the plant above ground has been surgically attached to the root system of another plant, usually to increase the plant’s vigour and hardiness. Plants in my garden with grafted rootstocks include a corkscrew hazel, Japanese tree peonies, a laburnum and a ‘Red Jade’ weeping crabapple.

You’ll know a sucker when you see it, because it usually has a different appearance from the plant above ground. The suckers rising from rootstock under the corkscrew hazel have similar leaves, but the wood is straight and lacks the characteristic bends and contortions. Suckers rising from below a Japanese tree peony have similar leaves, but are shaped differently.

It’s important to cut these suckers out, because if left in place, they’ll swiftly overwhelm the plant above ground. Usually secateurs are all you’ll need to quickly cut the suckers back to where they spring from the crown, or you may have to dig a few inches down to find their source on the roots. Occasionally, I need loppers to remove thicker shoots rising from the rootstock under my ‘Red Jade’ crabapple.

I must admit, it would be better if I would check midsummer for these suckers and remove them when they’re smaller and haven’t been stealing energy from the plants all summer. But as I said, I’m a procrastinator when it comes to cleaning, and that’s what I’ll be doing this week.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Share this article

Published: October 23, 2012 | Updated: October 9, 2018

About Judith Adam

Judith Adam is a horticulturist, landscape designer and author of several best-selling gardening books, including Landscape Planning. She lives in Toronto.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Garden Making website

explore

  • Books for gardeners
  • Containers in your garden
  • Events for gardeners
  • Food to grow
  • Garden design
  • Gardens to visit
  • Growing from seed
  • How to
  • Plant ideas
  • Prizes for readers
  • Tips for gardeners

Members

  • Member login
  • Register for free membership
  • Manage your email preferences
  • Add your event listing
  • View events you’ve submitted
  • Backup form to submit event

Events for gardeners

May 25
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Peterborough Horticultural Society Monthly Members’ Meeting

Organizer: Peterborough Horticultural Society
416-846-0778
May 27
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Selkirk Annual Plant Sale

Organizer: Selkirk & District Horticultural Society
(204) 738-2368
May 28
8:00 am - 12:00 pm

Bronte Annual Plant Sale

Organizer: Bronte Horticultural Society
May 28
8:00 am - 11:00 am

Fergus & District Horticultural Society Plant Sale

Organizer: Fergus Horticultural Society
519-820-6337
May 28
8:00 am - 2:00 pm

Mount Forest Plant Sale

Organizer: Mount Forest Horticultural Society
519-509-6246
View Calendar

Get email updates

Join 9,703 gardeners who get our email updates. We do not share emails.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Copyright © 2022 Inspiring Media Inc. | GARDEN MAKING is a registered trademark | About | Service | Terms of use | Privacy policy