As signs remind us at our local nurseries and big box stores, “Fall Is For Planting”, meaning “We’ve Got A Ton Of Unsold Inventory To Move”. For many of us, a big fall planting push after all our spring and summer labors is unappealing. We’d rather just shuffle through unraked leaves or stay inside to drink beer and watch football on TV.
But there is a way to beef up our gardens without sweat and aching backs. The response to Rusty’s previous post on how to achieve a spectacular effortless garden (inspired by a wave of AI garden fakery deluging Facebook) was so overwhelming, we’re back to provide you with more of what it takes to achieve landscaping success that will have your neighbors squirming with envy.
This time of year, it seems that everyone is running out and buying potted chrysanthemums to haphazardly splotch down wherever there’s space. A wit (?) has termed this practice “mummification”. True, most modern-day mums are frail creatures that will croak over the winter, which just means people will go out and buy more the following year. To really get a bang for your buck and spread cheer through what can be a dank and gloomy time of year, brighten up your home with our ‘Pompom Kaleidoscope’® mums, with individual flowers up to three feet across!
‘Pompom Kaleidoscope’® mums are guaranteed to survive zone 1 winters and come back year after year, whether or not you want them to.
Fall is always a big time for pansies, which prolong the growing season until the inevitable crash after a few hard freezes. Long treasured as the utterly adorable “flowers with a face”, pansies do resemble little faces with cat-like whiskers if you squint hard enough and have a Disney-esque turn of mind. We’ve taken this cute resemblance a step further, offering ‘Feline Frolic’ pansies, a must for container planting.
‘Feline Frolic’® pansies are guaranteed to be evergreen and bloom all winter. They may provoke hissing and attacks from your house cats, so introduce them gradually.
Garden center cash registers ring up boffo sales every fall of ornamental cabbages and kale, dutifully planted but decorative for only a limited time before they begin to rot and stink. Instead, why not buy a dozen or two pots of Cruciferous Champion® ornamental cabbage? This wildly attractive new hybrid lights up any landscape, makes a great meal if you’re desperate, and best of all reseeds freely, drastically reducing lawn mowing chores!
If you find all that color a bit…overwhelming, there’s another option that may appeal to more subtle tastes. Our ‘Dark Desires’® cabbage and kale combo is perfect in a stylish planter, offering classic good looks and low maintenance.
Once upon a time, we were dumbfounded to see a big display of potted crotons (Codiaeum variegatum) down at the local big box store under a banner reading “Fall Is For Planting”.
Now, crotons are tropical plants hailing from places like India and Malaysia, known for being zapped by the lightest frost and also committing slow but inevitable suicide indoors under all but the most optimal growing conditions. So why would they be pushing pricey crotons in September? While you ponder the answer to that question, fear not. Rusty has the answer to ultra-sensitive, mopey crotons: the incredibly hardy tree croton, Codiaeum ‘Arctic Splendor’®.
‘Arctic Splendor’® adds tropical flair even through snowstorms and biting cold down to 0F. Who needs to live in Florida when you can enjoy such colorful displays in the frost belt?
We are increasingly urged to plant goldenrods (Solidago species and hybrids) in our gardens, despite the things infesting roadsides and vacant lots in huge numbers. True, they don’t cause allergies, but all seem to bloom in yellow. Bo-oring! What you want is Rusty’s High-Test 3-D™ goldenrod, flowering in mixed colors and bountiful enough in habit to shield your home from prying eyes. Your neighbors will be entranced, though an envious HOA board might stage a brief protest. Just ignore ‘em.
Moving on to the edible realm and building on the success of our Snack Tree® (which bears potato chips, cheese doodles and beef jerky), we’ve come up with another sure-fire crowd pleaser - the Chocolate Tree™!
As you can see, The Chocolate Tree™’s crop can get a bit gooey in hot weather, so we recommend wearing gloves or harvesting fruit in the cool of the morning. Or choose a companion offering, the M&M maple, and avoid messiness altogether.
All too often, fall decorations are trite and repetitive, with nothing to make your home stand out in the neighborhood. Here is an example of what we often see in the Midwest, when someone goes overboard with pumpkins and stone geese.
Pretty dull, wouldn’t you say? If this homeowner had done his fall buying at Rusty’s Garden Accessories Shoppe, he could have had a world of colorful gourds and fantasy figurines. Dare to be noticed!
Since demand is high and stock limited, better act fast to secure these beauties for your garden and Halloween decorations, before it’s too late!
Watch your in-boxes for the 2025 catalog of Rusty’s Unearthly Delights, which will include an array of revolutionary plant wonders, like the All-In-One Supermato®, which not only produces a crop of huge beefsteaks, but also garlic, basil, oregano and even meatballs, drastically simplifying the chore of making spaghetti sauce.
