Walking Through Our Fall Garden: A Zone 6 To-Do List

Welcome to our garden here in zone 6a, upstate New York! It's mid-October, and we just had our first frost a few days ago. That means things are changing fast around here, and we've got quite the fall to-do list ahead of us. So grab your favorite gardening gloves (mentally, of course), and let's walk through what's looking beautiful, what's definitely not looking so hot, and all the projects we're tackling to put the garden to bed for winter.

The First Casualty: Our Coleus Collection

Oh wow, that first frost really did a number on things. Our coleus? Completely done. That vibrant foliage we loved all summer has officially given up. And you know what? That's okay! It's just the natural cycle of the garden telling us it's time to start pulling annuals.

Here's the thing about pulling annuals in the fall—it can be hard, especially when some of them are still looking absolutely gorgeous. Like our Augusta lavender heliotrope? Still stunning! But we know they're not going to make it through our upstate New York winter, so it's better to clean them up now rather than deal with a soggy, frozen mess later.

The Surprising Survivors

You know what annual is really surprising us after this first frost? Our Rockin' Playin' the Blues salvia. It's hardy to zone 7, and every single fall, we're tempted to just leave it in the ground to see if it might make it through. We're zone 6a, so if we had a really snow-covered winter, maybe—just maybe—that snow would insulate it enough to come back.

But here's the truth: we've tried leaving them in the ground before, and they've never re-emerged. Plus, they develop these pretty heavy root balls that, let's be honest, we use as an excuse not to dig them out right away! This spring when we were planting, there were a couple of times where we were like, "Wait, what is this root? Oh, it's from last year."

The Sedum Situation

Speaking of things from last year, our Rockin' Round Pride and Joy sedum has split a little bit. We're wondering if it got too much water this season, or maybe we just need to Chelsea chop it next year. Actually, we're planning to Chelsea chop ALL of our sedums next year because, well, have you seen our Autumn Joy?

The color is definitely joyful—that gorgeous pink-mauve that we love about fall sedums. But the plant itself? Far from joyful. It's flopping all over the place, so Chelsea chopping is officially on next year's spring list.

Why We Deadhead Our Hydrangeas in Fall

We know a lot of people like to leave their hydrangea blooms up for winter interest, but here's what we've learned from experience: we get tremendously wet, heavy snowstorms here in upstate New York. That snow accumulates on these blooms, weighs the branches down, presses them to the ground, and either snaps them completely or they harden off facing downward. Not cute.

So we go through and lightly deadhead all of our hydrangeas in the fall. Then in spring, we'll come back and do the proper pruning. The one exception? Our big-leaf hydrangeas. We don't touch those because we're not risking those precious flower buds.

The Giant Grass Problem

All our giant grasses are coming to the ground this fall. Why? You guessed it—that same heavy snow that would flatten our hydrangeas. We'd rather cut them down now than have them flop into a soggy mess all winter long.

Castor Bean Seed Saving (With Caution!)

Our castor bean has some frost damage, but we're holding out for those really cool, spiky seed pods. We've been waiting for them to dry out so we can collect seeds. We've already cut some and put them in a paper bag to dry further. If that doesn't work, we'll just order more next year.

One important note: castor beans are toxic, so when handling them, always wear gloves. Safety first, friends!

The Magic of October Transformation

Here's something really cool about October in our garden—it has as much transformation as May does. Those are really our bookend months for the growing season. Our final frost date is the second week of May, and our first average frost date is the first week of October. Big changes are coming over the next few weeks, and honestly? We love watching the garden shift.

The Lavender Dilemma

We struggle with lavender because our garden is so moist, and lavender likes it dry with really good drainage. Some people plant it in sand or with rocks at the bottom for extra drainage. Our plan? We're going to leave it over winter and let it be its own mulch, then cut it back as hard as we can in spring and really keep our fingers crossed. We're hoping it comes back strong!

Drip Irrigation Prep

Next on our list is unhooking the drip irrigation from our system on the house. The good news is that we can leave the drip lines in place because there are enough holes for water to seep out as it freezes and thaws. The only pieces that need to come inside are the battery-operated timers and the filtration system stuff—anything that could trap water and expand would need to come in.

Our in-ground lawn irrigation system? That gets blown out by professionals because those lines don't have anywhere for the water to escape.

Fall Color (Or Lack Thereof)

We're not expecting intense fall color this year. After six weeks of drought, a lot of our trees are just dropping leaves and calling it a season. But since our Tupelo tree is on drip irrigation, we're starting to see a little color developing, and this tree gets fiery red, which we're really excited about!

Also fiery red? Our Lowscape Snow Fire aronia. This is one of those native cultivars that everybody needs in their garden. It has a nice upright habit, glossy green leaves, bright white flowers, dark black berries, and then it looks like it's literally on fire in fall. (The birds already ate all the berries though—they didn't waste any time!)

Rose Care for Winter

The third big thing on our to-do list is trimming roses. We're not doing a full prune right now—that happens in spring once we see what the winter dieback looks like. But we are cutting back any horizontal branches that could get crushed down to the ground by snow. Those vertical, upright canes? We'll probably leave those alone.

Making Room for New Plants

We have some big plant arrivals coming next year! Six brand new David Austin roses (yes, we ordered more pink roses—we couldn't help ourselves) and brand new hydrangea varieties from Proven Winners. That means we need space, and we don't have room for things we don't absolutely love.

Our Tradescantia 'Webmaster' was beautiful early in the season, but it's the kind of plant that you really have to cut to the ground mid-season to let it reflush, and we're not sure it's the perfect plant for this spot. So it's probably coming out to make room for those new arrivals.

Verbena Volunteers Everywhere

The Verbena bonariensis throughout our garden can stay up pretty long into fall, but depending on our energy levels, we'll pull it eventually. Fair warning though—we just scattered about 500 seeds while walking past it. Expect lots of weeding next year!

Container Decisions for Next Year

This fall is also a great time to decide which annuals we loved and which ones we didn't. We've learned that our SuperBell Neon Pink Cashmere completely took over its container—two plants filled the entire thing. That's too much. We won't plant that combination again.

On the flip side, our Picotee Pink Gaura? That's our landscape annual of the year! It's blown us away with its performance, consistency, and prettiness. We don't really care for it in containers, but we love it in the landscape. We'll absolutely have that repeated in the garden next year.

Protecting Our Investments

Our fall containers with roses on standards are going into the garage this winter. We're going to forfeit having winter greens out front, but it's worth it to protect these roses from the harsh winter winds that desiccated so many of our Generous Gardener rose canes last year.

Our Fairy Tale Bride Hydrangeas (hardy to zone 6, and we're 6a) are also going in the garage. We'll just put them on dollies and roll them in—easy peasy!

The Boxwood Rule

Although you might be tempted to prune your boxwoods right now if they're looking a little mangy, don't do it! For any broadleaf evergreens, fall is not a good time for pruning going into winter. Just enjoy them and take care of pruning in the spring. But do keep them well-watered—newly planted boxwoods especially need consistent moisture going into winter because they'll still transpire, and you don't want them drying out.

Hosta Cleanup Timing

We cut back our hostas before they get worse. Once it really freezes, they get slimy and gross and just become this mushy mess on the ground. We'd rather cut them back and clean them out before that happens. Plus, cutting them back in fall helps prevent overwintering any pest issues.

The Great Deer Battle

Here's our least favorite thing on the to-do list: dealing with deer! We have Yard Enforcers (motion-activated sprinklers) in our backyard, which work magnificently. But we can't use them in winter because the hose lines would freeze and break, and we don't have them up front. So starting now, we're back to spraying for deer.

They've already gone after one of our prize Sky View hydrangeas. The good news is that Sky View is a continuous bloomer, so there won't be any issue there, but still—deer are officially in full force.

Protecting Our Roses from Rabbits

Remember this spring when we came out and all our roses had been eaten to the ground by rabbits? They were completely decimated! But you know what? They came back with a vengeance this year. We think they actually enjoyed that super hard prune.

That brings us to another important to-do: double-checking our little wire cages. We wrap all our roses with black chicken wire to protect them from rabbits, and we need to make sure those are all in place before the snow flies.

Weed Control Before Winter

Even in fall, we've got some weeds coming in along the edges (unbelievable, right?). You want to get those out now, not because they're going to die back on the surface, but because they won't necessarily die back underground. Get them taken care of now, and they won't be such a problem in springtime.

Dahlias: Two Weeks and Counting

My gorgeous Dahlia 'Number Six' that I grew from seed last year is still going strong, but in two weeks—we've set a note in the calendar—we'll be digging up those tubers. Two weeks after the first frost, when they start to blacken and get that yucky dahlia look, that's when we'll cut them to the ground, dig up the tubers, do divisions, and we've even promised some friends we'd send them tubers for next year!

Still Blooming: The Fall Surprise

Can we talk about how we have a lilac blooming right now? Our Bloomerang Dwarf Pink Lilac is flowering, and we just had our first frost. It smells amazing! This little shrub has been re-blooming consistently throughout the season, and we're a little shocked (in the best way) that it's still going.

Garden Cleanup Philosophy

We do a lot of our cleanup in fall. Some people say "Don't do it till spring because you want to leave that habitat for things to overwinter in," and that's totally valid—you will overwinter tons of good little things in your garden. But you'll also overwinter tons of bad little things.

We have such a large garden that we don't want to risk it. You know what? Do your cutbacks when it works for you. If you want to wait till spring, wait till spring. If you want to do it in fall, do it in fall. If you want to do a little of both (which is kind of what we do), then do that! Garden according to your schedule and your comfort level.

Transplanting Still to Come

We still have some transplanting to do. We want to switch our Sprinter boxwood with our Delft Blue geraniums so that the boxwood is up front and the geraniums can grow up and over them. It'll be a nice little design shift that we're excited about.

The Final Count

So here's what's on our fall to-do list:

• Pull all the annuals
• Deadhead hydrangeas and roses
• Cut back perennials and grasses
• Unhook drip irrigation and bring timers inside
• Protect roses with wire cages
• Move tender plants to the garage
• Blow out fountains
• Keep boxwoods well-watered
• Dig up dahlia tubers (in two weeks!)
• Start spraying for deer
• Do some transplanting
• General weed cleanup
• And most importantly: start daydreaming about next season!

The garden is looking good even with all this work ahead. Some plants are thriving, others are done for the season, and that's exactly how it should be. October really is one of the most transformative months in the garden, and we're here for every bit of it.

If you want to see how this season started, check out our full May garden tour. It's amazing to see the bookends of the growing season side by side!

Thanks for growing with us!