I ordered some perennials from High Country Gardens a few weeks ago for a butterfly/hummingbird garden. They sent to me last week based on my zip code for recommended planting time for the reason you stated --to give the root system time to get established.

I planted this past weekend but still have some to get in the ground and there's a possibility of snow in the next few days. I mulched all the plants and even protected some of the tiny plants that were already dormant and looked like a couple of skinny sticks. I covered them with a large plastic cup that I cut off part of the bottom and put over the plant mainly so I wouldn't step on the "little sticks".

Mind you, I am NOT an experienced Colo. gardener by any means and this is my first year ever doing this so I may not be one to take advice from haha.

I'm trying the Cheyenne zoo no-water garden method they've been doing. They recommend fall planting even if some plants are dormant. There's a great website with all the results of how plants fared (or not).

In their experiment they planted Achillea 'Moonshine' & 'Paprika' in the fall with no amendments and no additional water (every plant was soaked or very well watered at planting time) and the roots were covered with a two inch layer of mulch. On their chart they were both marked as thriving and having flowered one year later (you can find that info on pdf file spreadsheets on the link at the bottom). The survival/thrive rates of their plants are surprisingly high.

So, I chose drought tolerant plants with a reputation for being tough once established. I did not amend the soil but rototilled the whole planting bed which is about 30'x30' and made sure the plants were soaked as well as the planting hole with ample water before putting into the ground.

We can compare notes this summer and see how they fared :)

Charlene

Here is a link that might be useful: Cheyenne Mountain Zoo No Water Garden (Colorado Springs)

Oh, here's a snippet about Cheyenne zoo fall planting...

* Plant early or late to allow them to take advantage of natural rainfall and cooler temperatures. This may mean planting earlier or later than is commonly recommended. If you can dig the hole, you can install the plant. It is not uncommon for the ZooÂs horticulture staff to plant between snowfalls in March, April, October and November.

Hope that helps...

Okay, I've emailed them and asked them to go ahead and ship the order. I'll be anxious to see how much of what I am planting comes back in the spring. I ordered a Hydrangea 'Little Honey' yesterday, and still have a Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' that hasn't arrived. Plus, there is a Ninebark 'Coppertina' and three Echinacea 'Harvest Moon' sitting on my porch waiting to be planted. So it could be the end of the month before everything is in the ground. What is the best way to protect them if we get a frost or freeze?

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!

I often wait until now to plant lots of perennial stuff, particularly as my favorite nursery has a 60% off sale on perennials so they don't have to over-winter all those small pots. My overall success rate is the same as spring planting.

Well, I was so encouraged by everyone's feedback, that I moved some plants around today. I think they will be fine. They were only out of the ground a couple of minutes, and I was very careful not to damage their roots.

The Ninebark on the other hand had a rough day. Planted it this morning, then when my DH came home, he said the dirt level was too low. So I unplanted it, dug up a wheelbarrow full of dirt, raised the level, and replanted it. Stepped back and realized it wasn't centered in the hole, and moved it AGAIN! If it makes it, I will be impressed.

Skybird: The Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' is listed as hardy in zones 4 -9, but your right about some of the new varieties. There is one that I love the colors on called 'Snowberry', but it is only hardy to zone 6.

David52: Are you on the front range or western slope? Just wondering where your favorite nursery is.

Even though I planned these new beds for a couple of months before I started planting, it is so hard for me to know where to put everything. I'm growing many of these plants for the first time, and can't be sure if they will grow the size their tags "say" they will, or how they will blend with one another once they are all in bloom.

Do most gardener's move things around, or am I showing my lack of experience?

I've been gardening for many years now, and oh yeah, I still move things around. Also I still plant things where they eventually grow too big and I have to move them or kill them. Also I plant things that I am pleased with at first, then I suddenly realize that they are intent on taking over the whole garden (whether by spreading or reseeding), and then I have to move them or eradicate them too. Oh and I also still buy things in catalogs just because they look so good, without really knowing where I'm going to put them. Finally, a few years ago I started a sort of 'subtropical look' garden, put in a new block wall backdrop and a little pond, planted it all up and so on. Then this year I decided I needed to move the whole garden across the yard.

My wife has been kind enough to point these things out to me over the years...

The Achillea 'Terra Cotta' and 'Walter Funke' went into the ground on Saturday, and looked great the next day. Tonight it is snowing, so that may be the last I see of them until spring : (

The Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush' looked DOA (from Wayside), but I planted it anyway. I don't have much hope for it, but they said they would replace it if it didn't come up in the spring.

The Hydrangea 'Little Honey' should arrive in the next day or two, which should work out fine, as the weekend forecast calls for highs in the mid 50's and lows in the low to mid 30's. I definitely think it is too late to plant anymore perennials here, but this being a shrub, I think it will be okay.

I'm kind of sad to see the gardening season come to an end, but my pocketbook says it's a good thing it's over, LOL.

Coreopsis is fairly tough. If you wet it in well, it should be fine. Ref your post of 10/12, I live on the western slope outside of Cortez. There are two good nurseries around here, Desert Rose specializes in desert plants, and Four Seasons is more of an all-purpose, larger scale operation.

That one opened up 15 or so years ago, and was the first in the area. Everyone thought they'd go bust, its a very low income area and conventional wisdom held that no one would spend money on expensive plants. It's been a gold mine, and people drive for hundreds of miles to buy plants there. Seems folks who had been looking at sagebrush for the past 30 years were ready for a little variety.

david52: I was hoping you were further north. We moved to Silt about 6 months ago, and the only nurseries I've found nearby are very small and don't carry a big selection. Over half of what I planted in our new flower beds came from half a dozen different mail order sites. Some of them I was very pleased with, but a couple I will probably not order from again. It would be nice to have a local source.