Buying and planting some plants when they are just about to bloom doesn’t work very well. Hardy chrysanths are a good example. People are captivated by their warm colours late in the season. They are the fillip we all need to carry us into the winter and sometimes almost out the other side.
Asters (and I don’t mean china asters or, as they are known now, Callistephus but michaelmas daisies) do a similar job a bit earlier as do grasses and Japanese anemones. All of these are best bought, propagated or planted now not in the autumn. Plants get battered and damaged when you divide or take cuttings and even as they are turned out of a pot.
This leaves them vulnerable to pathogens – bacteria and fungus which use the damaged areas to invade the plant. Plants need to be growing to defend themselves and these beauties have their minds on one thing only in autumn – not growth but sex and reproduction. Nurserymen will tell you that autumn’s a great time to plant and that the soil in November is warmer than it is in April (which is true).
My experience is that chrysanths, asters, Japanese anemones and grasses planted in the autumn are dead or nearly dead by the spring. The one thing autumn planting does achieve is an improvement in nurserymen’s cashflow. Buy the plant by all means. You might never see such a captivating variety again. But, leave it in its pot.
Tuck the pot close to a wall or among the undergrowth and plant it in late winter as it’s beginning to grow again. Gardeners ought to be able to cope with planning ahead.
