By Rusty,

Cooler weather is here and that means growth in your lawn and landscape will slow down.  As fall weather moves into North Central Florida, your Gainesville landscaping growth will start to slow down. Grass will grow more slowly and hopefully the weeds will too! The cooler weather is a great time to get outside and work on some garden projects that are best tackled at this time of year. These chores will help clean up the landscape and get everything neat and tidy so that you can relax the rest of the fall and winter months.

1. DIVIDE BULB PLANTS
In addition to dividing your ornamental grasses; there are other plants that you may wish to divide. Perennials such as liriope, African iris, flax lily, bulbine, and herbs such as rosemary and tarragon are easy to divide. You may want to cut them back to the ground and then divide the clump into smaller sections using a sharp shovel. By dividing and moving plants you may be able to create new planting areas for free by using plants you already have, or consider doing a plant exchange with your friends or neighbors using the plants you have divided or removed.

2. REJUVENATE ORNAMENTAL GRASSES
Do you have ornamental grasses in your landscape? This is a great time of year to prune them back if they are looking bad. If they are still flowering, or getting ready to, make sure you wait until they are done. If they need to be pruned back, the easiest way to do this is to use hedge pruners or large clippers. Cut the grass back to about eight inches high. You may also wish to divide up your grasses at this time of year. After you cut the grass back, use a sharp shovel to divide up the grass. This is a great way to create more plants for the yard or share plants with friends or neighbors.

3. SHIFT PLANTS THAT HAVE OUTGROWN THEIR SPACE
When the heat of summer is on plants in Gainesville grow like crazy! If some of your plants have gotten larger than intended this is a great time to relocate some of your plants. Find a new spot for the plant that has more room than its current location. You want to find a spot that will allow your plant to spread without having to continually prune it during the growing season. If your plants have divided it could be a great time to create new mulched beds or expand existing mulched beds in your yard.

4. MULCH INSTALLATION FOR LANDSCAPE BEDS
A fresh installation of mulch will help keep down weeds, reduce erosion, and keep the soil moist for the health of your Gainesville landscaping plants. If you find that you need to re-mulch pine bark, pine straw, or shredded hardwood mulch are all good options in our area. Pine straw will break down considerably faster than some of the other options so plan on refreshing frequently if you go this route, but it works much better on slopes where muclh tens to wash away due to poor drainage. The addition of mulch will also help create a clean and neat look in your landscape beds.

5. PLANT GAINESVILLE TREES AND SHRUBS

After you have cleaned up, divided, and pruned your way through the landscape, you may find that you want to add more trees and shrubs to your yard. Fall is a great time to plant trees and shrubs in Gainesville, Florida because the cooler weather gives plants a chance to establish before the blistering summer heat returns.

If we can help with your next landscape upgrade, give us a call at (352) 378-5296.