THE COASTAL GARDENER:Fall is for planting, part 2

Robert Smaus has done more to encourage fall planting in Southern California than any other person. In his groundbreaking book, “52 Weeks in the California Garden,” published 10 years ago, he expertly articulates the benefits of fall planting.

On the first page, Smaus summarizes the fall planting message, “In our climate, fall is spring, at least as far as planting is concerned, and autumn, not spring, should be our busiest time in the garden.”

How prophetic that Smaus’ book, which chronicles the weeks and months of a California gardening year, would begin with fall, rather than spring.

Most gardeners, subjected to an onslaught of gardening information written for climates other than ours, might expect the gardening year to begin in spring. As Smaus told us a decade ago, spring is the result, but fall is the beginning.

As a third-generation gardener rich with local gardening experience, as well as a keen plantsman, Smaus has been professing fall planting for decades. Smaus encouraged fall planting as the Southern California garden editor for Sunset Magazine, as well as during his 25-year stint as the award-winning garden editor of the Los Angeles Times.

In between, Smaus discussed the advantages of fall planting during his tenure as the West Coast host of “The Victory Garden,” the first nationally televised gardening program.

Except for a few subtropical plants like citrus, bananas and plumerias and several seasonal annuals and vegetables, nearly every other plant would prefer to have its roots bedded gently into our local soil in October, or perhaps November. The soil, warmed by our long Mediterranean summer, is especially conducive to quick root growth in the fall.

When planted right now, trees, shrubs, perennials, vines and just about any other plant, will not show a great deal of growth above the ground, but will be rapidly growing below the soil, more than any other time of the year. The shorter days and cooler air temperatures of fall help avoid undue stress to the plant during this establishment period.

As anyone who has dug a hole will know, attention to watering is critical to establishing a new plant. Fortunately, when planted in October and November, winter rains take care of much of the watering regimen for us. Fall planting thereby conserves the most precious resource a gardener has — water, using what is available naturally rather that we are able to provide artificially.

In Orange County, most plants will grow furiously underground when planted in the fall. Root growth is unappreciated by the novice or impatient gardener, but worshipped by the experienced. When spring comes, these plants are so well rooted that they nearly jump out of the ground in their exuberance.

A few months ago Smaus, who gardens in West Los Angeles, was again at our nursery. After visiting with him for a while, we headed out for a slow walk to see what was new and share opinions on the myriad new plants available to Southern California gardeners.

We stopped several times to drop plants onto Smaus’ shopping cart. After loading the plant cache into his car beside a well-worn pair of garden boots, he talked about planting. It was May or June at the time and these plants weren’t going into the ground anytime soon.

As Smaus knows better than anyone, fall is for planting. He’s probably planting those plants now.

To learn more about Bob Smaus and what he is up to today, visit his website at www.bobsgardenpath.com. “52 Weeks in the California Garden” and his other garden books are available at most large nurseries and bookstores and on Amazon.com. He and his wife, Iris, will lead a small group on a marvelous two-week gardening and culinary tour through Southern Italy in June. For more information, go to his website or www.earthbound expeditions.com.

ASK RON

Grasshoppers are driving me crazy. They seem as if they’re everywhere. What can I do?

SARAH

Newport Beach

It seems that grasshoppers are more prolific than ever the past couple of years. Good news and bad news. Fortunately, although grasshoppers are big and very noticeable, they seldom cause any significant garden losses. They chew on a few leaves, but unless feeding on a very young plant, will not generally cause any long-term problems.

Grasshoppers aren’t realistically controlled in a home garden with insecticides. They are too mobile for insecticides like Sevin to be of much use. You would be chasing them around the garden with a hose-end sprayer, likely causing bigger problems with the insecticide chase than the grasshopper would be causing.

Tolerance would be my suggestion.

your toughest gardening questions, and the expert nursery staff at Roger’s Gardens will come up with an answer. Please include your name, phone number and city, and limit queries to 30 words or fewer. E-mail stumpthegardener@ rogersgardens.com, or send to Plant Talk at Roger’s Gardens, 2301 San Joaquin Hills Road, Corona del Mar, CA 92625.