YARD CARE IN FALL PAYS OFF IN SPRING

There's nothing muted about autumn's charms.

Soon brisk breezes will loosen red, gold and orange leaves, sending them dancing across lawns and smack into laughing children's faces. Already, colorful mums illustrate the season's glory.

For many, autumn brings about a yearning to change gears, perhaps slow the pace a bit. Likewise, come autumn, some folks bundle their lawn-care tools and get ready for a long winter's nap.

But the fact is, fall is the prime time for overall lawn care and beautification.

"Fall is the best time of year to plant trees and shrubs and grass seed. Unfortunately, that's contrary to most people's beliefs," said Joe Touchette, manager of Plants Plus on South Kingshighway.

Touchette explained that steps taken in the fall can greatly boost a lawn's spring and summer beauty, plus make lawn care come next summer much easier.

"When plants that are not well established go into summer, they suffer," he said. Harsh summer heat on young root systems that haven't had time to become well established is a common cause of dismal results, even after lots of effort by the lawn owner.

That's why fall planting provides that extra boost. "If you plant in the fall, they have the fall growing season, then they will basically go dormant, and then have another growing season before summer and heat," Touchette said.

While many folks don't equate fall with fertilizing lawns and other such steps, there is at least one plant that is nothing short of an autumn tradition. That's the mum, of course.

"A lot of people are putting mums into their home gardens now," noted Teresa Meier of the University of Missouri Extension Service. "Be sure to look for a hardy mum if you want it to survive the winter and bloom next fall," she advised.

Mums are available in so many colors that some customers have a hard time choosing, said Glenda Bridges of Traveler's Gazebo Gardens on Sprigg Street.

"Some people pick a color scheme for their yard, while others like a variety of color," she said.

Mums will generally provide striking color throughout the fall. When the season wanes and hard frost has turned the plant brown, it is a good idea to cut the plant to about 11/2 inches above the ground, Bridges said.

She recommends covering the plants with mulch -- whether it is the cuttings, leaves or ground mulch -- to help protect the mum through the winter months.

Come spring, "it's always amazing when you lift everything off," she said.

For Kenny Doberenz, manager of Pioneer Market of Jackson, it is important to find a good, sunny spot to plant mums.

Plus, mums should be watered quite a bit, he said. "They have a small root system," he explained. "Until they get established, they'll have to be watered just like a lawn."

Besides mums, pansies are popular plants to add fall color. They won't return in the spring, but they will take frost, he said.

When it comes to flowering plants and looking ahead to a beautiful spring, surely nothing compares to bulbs. "October and November are the premiere times to plant bulbs," Doberenz said.

If bulbs are planted too soon and get too much unseasonably warm weather, they may sprout prematurely. Bulbs should be kept in a cool place until they are planted and can be planted "as long as you can get a shovel in the ground, all the way up through Christmas," he said.

"Bulbs need six weeks of cold weather, or they won't bloom -- or they will bloom erratically," he said.

Bone meal or bulb fertilizer will give bulbs a boost that will be noticed next spring.

September is the prime time for boosting a lawn's looks and an important time to fertilize.

Along with fertilizing, this time of year is excellent for applying weed killer and sowing grass seed, Touchette said.

When applying grass seed, the surface of the ground must first be loosened, and then the seed and fertilizer applied, he said. After that, a light application of straw and attention to watering the area a bit each day should do the trick.

Doberenz warns not to wait too late in the season to sow grass seed. "If it's too tender, it may not make it through the winter," he said. If the grass stand is spotty by winter, "you can even throw some grass seed on the snow," Doberenz noted. "Snow will soften the ground and take the grass seed down with it."

Several professionals note that a wide-bladed fescue generally grows well in Southeast Missouri.

When it comes to trees, fall and winter are absolutely the best times to plant, Touchette stressed.

"Trees are generally sold balled and burlaped, and planting is best done in the fall or winter when they're going dormant -- they don't go through as much shock," he said.

Shrubs aren't generally as sensitive as trees, most may be safely planted in the fall or the spring, he said.