Fall can be a time for profits, planting

When people turn their calendars from August to September, they think fall. Growers and retailers want to sell more plants during fall. However, growers are a little nervous about being left with unsold plants. By working together, growers and retailers can benefit and make fall profitable.

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Seasonal color palette

Color is an important factor when thinking about fall. Oranges, reds, golds, browns, blacks and dark greens are ingrained in consumers’ minds for fall colors. Like it or not, people grow accustomed to certain colors for certain times of the year. Pink, lavender, white, pale blue and light yellow are a difficult sale in fall.

Here in New England, selling plants other than chrysanthemums and asters in fall can be a challenge. First, our fall growing season is short, and price-conscious consumers perceive annuals to be short-lived. Secondly, the naturally intense vibrant autumn colors of trees and shrubs can overshadow smaller herbaceous plants.

Fall plant selections

Since so many plants are introduced each year, it is important for growers to inform retail customers about them and how they can be marketed.

Annuals. Phlox, nemesia, diascia, calibrachoa, osteospermum, snapdragons, verbena and pansies are cold-tolerant annuals that will withstand frost. They are great in combinations with perennial heuchera and grasses or sedges. As retailers become familiar with cold-tolerant plants for fall, that knowledge will be applied to early-spring sales as well.

Chrysanthemums. Garden mums continue to be New England’s No. 1 fall crop. They are offered at every chain store, garden center and roadside stand. Mums are popular because they can hold their own when surrounded by color and actually complement nature’s pallet. On the downside, mums have saturated the market, driving down the price.

During the 2006 New England Greenhouse Conference, Kristin Graham at D.S. Cole Growers in Loudon, N.H., provided some great suggestions on fall profitability that included colors, textures and combinations. Graham suggested increasing mum sales by offering different sizes and combining them with other fall material. Using already popular mums and asters in combinations will help to sell other plants for fall and make patio pots stand out among the natural fall colors.

Asters. While mums are available in every color except blue, asters are available in white, red, pink, lavender and blue. Blue and purple asters are the most popular, Graham said. Two well-known series are Viking and Victoria. Viking has set the standard for a number of years with single flowers and yellow centers. It flowers early to midseason. Victoria is a new hardy series that has double flowers. It flowers 10-14 days after Viking and lasts longer, so it is a great series to extend sales.

Hibiscus. Hibiscus moscheutos Luna series from PanAmerican Seed is another late-season sales extender. Plants have large flowers in red, deep burgundy red or blush, white with light pink rim and dark red eye. They are hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone 5. They stay compact and grow 24-36 inches tall with nice branching. Plants flower through the heat of August and into cool September.

Other plants with large, showy flowers include Rudbeckia gloriosa daisies (perennial) and Helianthus annuus. Both are easy to grow, very colorful and irresistible. Retailers should consider grouping them as an endcap for a very showy display.

Sedum. In addition to Sedum ‘Autumn Joy,’ growers might consider adding a few varieties. Sedum spectabile ‘Stardust’ has silvery-pink flowers over light-green leaves. ‘Frosty Morn’ is a variegated, upright sedum with white to pink flowers and variegated gray-green leaves edged in ivory.

Boltonia. This perennial from the Aster family is known by gardeners for its easy culture. They grow 4-5 feet tall, which makes them unmanageable for container production.

‘Jim Crockett,’ a new compact variety from Ball FloraPlant, was developed by the late University of Massachusetts horticulture professor Thomas Boyle and named in honor of Jim Crockett, former host of “The Victory Garden.” It is only 20 inches tall and is covered in 2-inch, mauve-violet daisies from July until late September.

Pansies. If you have stopped growing fall pansies because they were not profitable, it may be time to try again. The creative marketing efforts of Icicle pansies from Fernlea as “hardy” pansies have paved the way for Snow Angels from Ball and Snowman pansies from Pleasant View Gardens. Growers have reported that fall pansy sales increased last year compared to previous years. The most requested colors were yellow, orange and blue, Graham said.

Groundcovers. Graham suggested Stepables. D.S. Cole’s two top sellers are moss and thyme.

Grasses. Annual grasses and sedges and perennial grasses are perfect for container combinations and landscaping. Graham suggested these for fall. For annual grasses, try Pennisetum ‘Rubrum,’ Pennisetum glaucum or purple millet. Annual sedges include Carex ‘Bronzita,’ C. ‘Red Rooster’ and C. ‘Amazon Mist,’ which hold up well in drought and frost.

The perennial grass Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’ turns from true blue green to red tones in late summer, eventually turning burgundy with rosy, airy panicles. It is a fast grower to 4 feet tall.

Vegetables. Ornamental vegetables also feed a niche market. Ornamental cabbage and kale are two underused plants that provide color that increases with cold weather and lasts well after fall foliage has dropped from trees.

Try some novelty varieties with more upright forms, serrated leaf textures and earlier color. Peacock kale is available in White and Red and has deeply serrated and feathery leaves. ‘Red Bor’ kale has extremely curled leaf margins and colors up early for better sales.

Swiss chard ‘Bright Lights,’ an All-America Selections winner, produces multicolored stems in red, pink, yellow and orange. Try mixing this plant with ornamentals or herbs.

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- Tina Smith