Science of Weather: Fall Planting at Oudolf Garden Detroit
Your perennial garden at home may not be as big as the Oudolf Garden Detroit on Belle Isle, but there is a science behind why you should plant your garden in the fall.
"We see the beauty above the ground and we appreciate the designer's ability to combine plants in interesting ways, and inspiring ways, and awesome ways. But what's equally important is what's going on under the soil and where the roots are. Once you put that dormant bulb in the ground, in the cool months the roots will grow, and then when spring comes around, and the soil warms up, it's all ready. It's rooted. It can draw nourishment and water and send up the leaves and then the flower." explains Head Horticulturist Richard Thomas at Oudolf Garden Detroit.
"Most of our natives require going through a cold period and it's called stratification. And the cold—the freezing and the thawing—help to where the seed shall open so the little seedling can form and come up in the spring. There are plants that are really best moved and planted in the early fall and the mid-fall—like peonies."
Thomas continues, "Sometimes the best time is when you have time. We want instant success. We want to plant something and have it flourish and we feel discouraged if it doesn't. That's not the way to deal with plants and that's not our relationship with plants. We have to try again and again and find what will work. And don't be discouraged if the first plant fails."
Now that's the Science of Weather. I'm Meteorologist Karen Carter, Detroit Now News.