a permanent raised bed may be less maintenance in the long run vs container grown. to get 100 figs from a potted tree you'd need a 40 gallon or better pot. after a while the tree will become root bound even in such a large pot. then you are left with the task of pulling the tree out with all it heavy dirt encased around the roots and root pruning the tree. WA is warm enough you won't have to bring your trees inside for winter and the only time it's best to grow figs in containers is when it's too cold for plants to stay out during winter. a 3ft x 3ft raised bed 12 inches high is perfect for fig trees. you can make them out of wood, stone, or anything just laying around the house. For cosmetic purposes many go with cedar or stone. but if you're on a budget, corky, or eco friendly you can try things like sheet metal, rip rap, or logs from around the house. whatever you use make sure it has no bottom so the roots can run freely . Ultimately it's up to you how you grow your fig tree but they often live to be 80-100 years old and do you want to be root pruning your fig trees when you're 80? good luck and I hope you can aquire a picture of the ripe fig. you can always go to figs4fun and search the fig trees they have to obtain a match but again it's hit or miss.

Matt, You question surprised me because I knew that you already knew the standard answer....and you also knew that you have the know-how/experience to succeed with a mid-summer planting. But, if hearing some of us say 'go ahead' makes you feel better, then I'll say it again---go ahead and do it. Joellen, The reason many containerized trees often do not do well and/or have a high failure rate is because they start out with a tiny amount of roots in comparison to topgrowth. I'm a backwards tree and shrub planting person. Most people want to plant the largest tree or shrub they can afford to buy, but I want to plant the absolute smallest ones available. Why? I want root growth that is adequate to support the top growth. When we planted trees around our newly constructed home which was in what was essentially an old cow pasture, we dug up oak seedlings from the woods and transplanted them up around the house. At the time we dug them, most of them had a 12" or bigger root ball and the trees themselves were 4 to 12" tall. In about nine or ten years, most of those trees have grown to be over 15' tall. Some are close to 20'. I'm a big believer that smaller is better when planting trees since it gives you a more evenly balanced tree. Bareroot plants do great if planted in fall or winter so they can establish roots before the summer heat arrives. Dawn

Hi High alt, I definitely second the motion to plant them now! Fall is a GREAT time for planting. The only real negative is the fact that you have to wait all winter to see for sure if they'll come up in spring, but most of them will---and they'll be so-o-o far ahead of where they'd be if you waited till spring that it's worth possibly loosing an occasional plant. Anytime the soil's not frozen the roots will be growing! And with Achillea--which is virtually indestructible--I'd be amazed if they died overwinter. As Charlene says, be sure they're well watered when you put them in, and after that be careful that you don't keep them too wet. There's some Achillea millefolium growing in an isolated area by the Kmart I go to and it is NEVER watered or taken care of in any way (it's a Kmart, after all!), and it just keeps going and going and going..... The only thing I'd be hesitant to plant in fall would be something that's only marginally hardy in our zone. I still have some things in pots I bought earlier this year that I never had time to put in that I hope to get planted yet, and in terms of mulch, I don't plan to do anything once they're planted. I do have bark mulch around all my perennials to make it look nice and help conserve moisture, but I won't be adding anything else that's actually on top of the plants. With some plants--especially ones that like it dry or are in any way a succulent type of plant--the crown can stay too wet if there's not enough air circulation, and they could rot out. If you do decide to mulch over the top, be sure it's something that allows free air circulation. One word of caution--be sure whatever you're planting is thoroughly hardened off if it will be cold for the first few nights after you plant it. Or else wait till we warm again and you know it will be warm for the first several nights before it gets really cold again---that way they'll harden off naturally as the temps drop once it's in the ground. You especially need to be sure you harden off things you get in the mail since you don't know what conditions they've been in before they were shipped. The plants you have sitting outside in pots I'd just leave out there! If they've been out there for over a week now, they've been exposed to some pretty cold temps and should be well enough hardened off to be just fine. If you move them inside, they'll just need to be hardened off all over again. I'm not familiar with Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush." Is that one listed as z5 or colder? Some of the newer Coreopsis's (sp?--Coreopsi!!!) are not reliably hardy. I hope that one is--it sure sounds pretty! Happy gardening, Skybird P.S. Charlene, good luck with your "little sticks!" I LOVE your descriptions!

rick77072 - Plants know what to do and when and have their own schedules pretty much the same as humans. Yes, fall is slow-down-and-go-dormant time for perennials where we garden but that doesn't mean they won't establish root systems simultaneously. They just do it when their top growth isn't screaming for and demanding moisture to produce blooms. It's sort of relax, it's not as hot now so just do what you know to do without the demands for producing blooms. Here in southern New England, fall is milder temperatures + fewer hours of daylight so the plants have a chance to let their roots get a good grip on the soil that will sustain them the following year when they're expected to send up new growth, produce flower stems & blooms, store nutrients for the coming cold season, etc. I'm no expert; I'm just a gardener who did her homework before designing and planting perennials. Judging by what I see each year when my garden beds wake up, it seems apparent I did things right. So far the only things I've ever lost were short-lived perennials and my only regret is I didn't KNOW they were short-lived when I planted them. I did do a shade study before I even stuck a shovel into the soil or scratched a rough design for a garden bed so I'd know where there was full/part sun or full/part shade in my garden. I knew I had healthy, slightly acidic sandy loam because my parents practiced organic gardening for 40 years before I moved here. I just tucked that knowledge under my belt and started planting. I have lots of photos, just don't know how to post them since GW switched over to Houzz. BTW - GardenWeb folks were informational for me as well when I first stumbled across this form about 11 years ago. There's a lot to be learned.