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Posted on Tue, Sep 14, 2010 : 9:04 a.m.

Fall gardening tips: storing perennials, preparing for winter, planting trees and shrubs

By Monica Milla

MillaMums.jpg

Monica Mila | Contributor

Fall is a great time to divide plants, plant bulbs, trees and shrubs and otherwise get the garden ready for winter. I've gathered some cool information, tips and even videos for you.

If you like growing bulbs but hate sharing them with wildlife, check out this cool list of deer-resistant bulbs from HGTV!

If you're looking to store tender perennials over the winter, check out this article from Horticulture magazine about storing cannas and elephant ears. I'll cover storing dahlias in a later article.

For general info on dividing all kinds of perennials, check out 10 Tips on Dividing Perennials at Fine Gardening magazine, which has photos and a video.

For info on dividing iris, check out this article from Organic Gardening (OG) magazine.

Also from OG, check out a list of fall gardening chores for September and October.

For some tips on fall lawn care, this OG article covers it all in a nutshell (Note: The article is written for the whole U.S. Follow the instructions for "cool weather grasses.")

To learn more about bringing your house plants inside for winter, check out these tips from MSU Extension or this info from University of Vermont Extension.

To get your roses ready for winter, check out fall rose care tips (you may need to scroll down a bit to see the article) from Horticulture magazine and a winter preparation for roses in Michigan from rose expert Nancy Lindley.

Fall is also a great time to plant trees and shrubs, which I'll cover in detail in my column next Tuesday, Sept. 21.

If you have a favorite fall gardening tip, share it under Comment Now!

Monica Milla, the Garden Faerie, is a master gardener volunteer, garden speaker, garden coach and author of "Fun with Winter Seed Sowing."

Comments

Monica Milla

Tue, Sep 21, 2010 : 2:20 p.m.

Marvin & Cash, I've ordered bulbs from Old House Gardens and they even donated some to the historic garden I planted at Cobblestone Farm. I also like Downtown Home & Garden. Another more inexpensive place for bulbs is Coleman's Farm Market--I know for the sure one on MI Ave. has individual bulbs in boxes (like DH&G), and I'm *assuming* the one on Ridge Road does, too. Sarah, thanks. I'm all about orange!

Sarah Rigg

Tue, Sep 14, 2010 : 2:30 p.m.

Gorgeous, gorgeous photo! And thanks for the tips.

Cash

Tue, Sep 14, 2010 : 11:57 a.m.

Marvin Face, Good point! Also Downtown Home and Garden has an amazing assortment of fall bulbs and a lot more. We have some gardening treasures in this area.

Marvin Face

Tue, Sep 14, 2010 : 11:26 a.m.

Good stuff. Looking for some advice from a national treasure right here in Ann Arbor? Look no further than Old House Gardens: http://www.oldhousegardens.com/ They have fantastic newsletters and advice online for all kinds of perennials/bulbs (storing, planting, dividing, overwintering, etc). And they're located on 3rd Street here in A2.