Expert advice to bring color to any late fall garden. #k5evening
SEATTLE — Gardening expert Ciscoe Morris says November is a time when gardens typically die back and get somewhat ugly, but he’s got 4 plants that are late-autumn miracle workers in the garden.
“They’re going to make your garden shine!,” he said.
The first one is Nandina.
“It’s also called heavenly bamboo,” Ciscoe said. “This one’s called firepower. And this comes out chartreuse in the spring, the in November the leaves turn to crimson, it will look like it’s on fire.”
The next plant is a shrub that makes a golden glow in the garden.
“This is Mexican mock orange, choicia. This plant grows in Texas, Arizona, down into Mexico. I love it because it smells just like an orange,” Ciscoe said. “If you crunch a leaf they smell like orange blossoms.”
Ciscoe adds that the plant tags on these usually say to not put these plants in full sun. His advice? Ignore that advice. “If it burns up a little in the spring, just cut it’ll come back with even more bright gold growth.”
“And how can you have a winter landscape without some dwarf conifers? This is a real favorite of mine. It’s a little Hinoki cypress, it’s called verdoni, and it’s famous for having this golden growth, and it’s not going to get 120 feet tall!”
Ciscoe’s final fall must-have flowers through the season.
“Just because it’s November doesn’t mean you can’t have flowers,” he said. “Look at this spectacular Mrs. Popple hardy fuchsia! This will keep blooming until it gets hit by a really hard freeze. Almost always it’s got flowers until after Thanksgiving!”
Ciscoe says the only problem with this fuchsia is it attracts so many hummingbirds you need a helmet to protect yourself from them. Or in his case, since he’s from Wisconsin, a cheese-head will do.
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