How to Select and Plant Bushes in the Fall

Know your planting and hardiness zone. This is the only way to know which bushes you can plant that are suitable for your climate. Find out about these zones at the National Gardening Association's website at http://www.garden.org/zipzone.

Select the area for planting. Most fall bushes are very resistant to disease but require soil with good drainage. If they are going to get any disease, it will be from the roots standing in water. They also require full sunlight. Full sunlight can be from 6 to 8 hours of sun a day.

Choose your bushes. Bushes will come either in a container, or the root ball will be wrapped in canvas. The container bushes will most likely have smaller leaves and will not be as full and the canvas-wrapped plants. That is because the container plants have always been in the container, so they have restricted room to grow. The canvas-wrapped plants were grown in the ground and then dug up and put in the canvas. The container plants, once planted in your yard, will fill out and grow bigger leaves. They have less damage to their roots since they were never dug up, which means less chance of disease. So, normally the container plants are the better choice. You will still have to look closely and make sure they were watered properly and aren't dry and dying.

Plant your bush. Dig and/or use a tiller and make the hole twice as big as the container. Mix in 1 part compost to 2 parts dirt that you dug out. Release the bush from the container and gently spread the root ball apart a little. Place the bush in the hole so that the top of the root ball is at ground level. Fill in the hole with your dirt mixture and water. In the spring, loosen the dirt at the top and place some mulch around the bush. This will help keep in some of the moisture and deter weeds. If you plant these flowering bushes in early fall, you should see beautiful flowers by season's end.