Fall is upon us, and it won't be long before the dogwoods, redbuds and maples begin to show off their fall color. But while you're making plans to admire the colorful fall foliage, why not plant your own?
Fall is the ideal time to plant trees, and the Fall Garden Expo is the ideal place to shop. The 2010 Fall Garden Expo is set for 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 24 and 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Chicopee Woods Agricultural Center, located on Calvary Church Road, Exit 20 off Interstate 985 in Gainesville.
The purpose of the Garden Expo is to provide local residents with a unique opportunity to shop for locally produced garden products direct from the grower, garden center or dealer. You're sure to find some great deals and an outstanding selection.
About 50 vendors are scheduled to be at the Expo selling a variety of items, including specialty plants, natives, annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, fall vegetable plants, hand tools, garden art, rain barrels and compost bins.
The Hall County Master Gardeners tout the Expo as the "complete garden event," and I agree. The Fall Garden Expo also includes interesting gardening demos, hands-on workshops and a children's booth. If you're looking for that hard-to-find plant or the latest in garden trends, a visit to the Fall Garden Expo will be worth the trip.
If you make it out to the Garden Expo, here are a few of my favorite trees and shrubs you might look for that offer outstanding fall color and season-long interest.
If I were putting together a gardening dictionary, the entry for "fall color" would have next to it a picture of the maples, adorned in their autumn colors of red, yellow and orange. In particular, look for the red maple (Acer rubrum) varieties October Glory, Red Sunset and Autumn Blaze.
When we think of dogwoods, we immediately think, "flowering." And indeed, dogwoods put on an impressive display in spring with their flowering. But dogwoods also bear attractive fall leaves. Cornus florida is the native dogwood commonly referred to as "flowering dogwood tree."
Also available is the Japanese, or "kousa" dogwood (Cornus kousa). The white, star-shaped blooms appear later in spring than do the flowers on other dogwoods. Fall foliage is purplish-red. The red berries of kousa dogwood trees persist into winter and are eaten by wild birds.
Few things are more impressive in the fall landscape than a mass planting of Purple Beautyberry (Callicarpa dichotoma). Graceful and rounded with long, slender, arching branches, Purple Beautyberry is a deciduous shrub growing to 3 to 4 feet tall, spreading to 4 feet or greater. This plant is prized for its clusters of shiny lavender berries in fall, which line the stems.
Fall is the perfect time to plant perennials, shrubs and trees. Planting in the fall will allow your new plantings to develop strong roots in the cooler, fall soils.
For a great selection of the best plants in Georgia as well as many other plants and gardening products, visit the Fall Garden Expo next weekend. For more information, click here.
Billy Skaggs is an agricultural agent and Hall County Extension Office coordinator. Phone: 770-531-6988. Fax: 770-531-3994.