The Fall Reset

Labor Day weekend has always felt like a good dividing line in the garden.

You certainly don’t have to throw away annuals that still look great. We’ve got plenty of warm weather left, and a good geranium, SunPatiens, Angelonia or other established annual can keep going until frost. But if your planters have been limping along for the last month, this is a pretty good weekend to stop fighting them and start over.

The timing looks especially good this year because we’re finally getting a break from the heat. Cooler September weather opens up a completely different group of plants, and it’s a chance to make your porch or patio look good again without trying to nurse a tired spring hanging basket through another month.

Mums and asters are the obvious choices, but don’t overlook ornamental kale and cabbage, pansies, Swiss chard and other plants that actually get better as temperatures fall. You also don’t have to replace everything. Keep what’s still performing and work fall plants into the openings.

This week we’re going to look at some of those fall plants, but we’re also going to show you something we’re really excited about for next year: some pretty incredible pansies from Japanese breeder Isao Sato. They’ve changed my idea of what a pansy can look like.

This week’s lineup:

· These don’t look like normal pansies — meet Isao Sato’s ruffled Antoinette collection
· What’s growing out of my Echinacea? Spotting aster yellows
· Don’t eat me! Why ornamental kale and cabbage belong in your fall garden