can i plant shrubs? perennials?

I think so. I like the plant shrubs and perennials in the fall. November is probably not too late for you. October would be better, though. I like getting them in the ground before the serious freezes of winter hit.

with Dave, and I'll add:

Once the late season rains start and the soil is moist but not wet, I usually start planting perennials first; smallest root-balls before the larger ones. The smaller ones usually need the most time to settle in. Once those are all in, I start planting shrubs and trees.

If your area doesn't receive a lot of snowfall that sticks around, mulching these new transplants would probably be a good idea; especially through the late winter thaw-and-refreeze cycles.

to ATP!

Hi crazygardener. If we have another fall and winter like we had last year, you can definitely plant in November. I think you could count the hard freezes we had on one hand. Well, perhaps a few more than that. However, that can't be counted on this fall and winter as they say our winter will be colder this year. I would definitely try to get them in by the end of October. You can generally plant as long as you can dig the soil here, but I don't always trust that depending on the types of shrubs and perennials you are going to plant. Definitely mulch.

While I don't know Memphis weather I've been waiting all summer to plant out some perennials I potted up earlier this year. Fall's the time of more frequent rain and good root growth. Are you finding lots of good buys at the nurseries? Broad leaf evergreens like Rhododendron might make me pause unless they had nice solid root balls. Lots of water and maybe an anti-desiccant spray the first winter would go a long way to insuring success though.

Fortunately, we've had good rains all year here in most of TN and hopefully they will continue. It has been wonderful not to have to water by hand hardly any this year. The usual dry months of July and August didn't materialize. Of course, the weather is changing in a lot of places. This year has been excellent for planting.

I agree with all of the above. It has been a number of years since I lived in TN. But the weather was very mild until quite late and I was not as far south as Memphis. Even here where I am now one can plant that somethings like shrubs and trees that late though like Dave said October is really best. I have a beautiful river birch that we planted very late October a few years ago and it has done very well.


Happy Planting!!!

with all of the above also. We are not too far south of you and our local nursery guru says that fall is the best time to plant shrubs because they have more time to settle in. A good layer of mulch is also suggested.