Drama in the fall garden. Perhaps that is what transplanting perennials and fall garden care should be called.

Imagine you are a plant starting to nod off for a long and well deserved winter sleep. You’ve given all your energy to the growth and blooms enjoyed by the resident gardener. Now, all of a sudden, there is a sharp spade stripping off all your hair roots. Then a misdirected jab of the spade sliced into the root system. It’s a shock.

The result of transplant shock can include wilting, and possible damage to the root system. In order to regain a balance, a newly moved plant needs to heal damaged tissue, begin to grow a new root system and form thousands of tiny root hairs at the new root tips, plus shift its plant metabolism. An arduous task even for the healthiest of plants.

Plan aheadBefore you begin to uproot the existing bed prepare the plant and the new planting area. Water the plant the day before transplanting to reduce root breakage. Save as much of the root ball (roots and dirt) as you are able to transport. Depending on your soil, you could end up with a hefty root ball. You may wonder if you should remove some of the dirt.

If you are moving the plant from like soil to like soil, it is fine to move as is. If the new planting area is a totally different soil, soak the root ball briefly in a tub of water and gently massage to remove the bulk of the existing soil. This extra step ensures contact between the roots and the new soil.

The standard advice is that the new hole is wider but not deeper than the root ball. The crown of the plant should be at the same soil level as previously grown. The crown is neither buried, nor sitting high and dry. If you have missed the correct depth dig it up and try again. Water thoroughly. It will be some time before the plant can efficiently take up the water. If possible water often to keep the soil from drying up. Advice on fertilizing is to wait until the plant starts to show growth in the spring.

The major task on the fall list may be dividing an existing perennial bed. The advice most often given is spring-blooming plants are divided in early fall. Summer-blooming plants are divided in midfall or early spring. Fall-blooming plants are divided in early spring.

Should mulching for winter protection be added to the list of tasks to be completed before snow flies? The fence-sitting answer is; it depends. Think of why you purchased that plant.

Gardeners have become more aware of planting materials that require less water. Perennials that are considered water-wise do better without additional mulch. These plants are intolerant of being too wet and will risk root rot or losing their centers.

Schreiner’s Iris Gardens in Salem offers the following iris cultural tip for September-October. Remove and destroy spent iris bloom stalks, and brown foliage each fall. This can reduce the occurrence of leaf spots and borers, and help to avoid over wintering insects and diseases that can cause rot.

Cut back remaining foliage to about 6” above the rhizome (this is not required, and is really up to the individual gardener). Trimming the foliage, however does have its benefits: the garden appears tidier and the surface area on which leaf spot (a fungus) can develop is reduced. Schreiner’s also has an excellent fact sheet for any new iris gardeners available online.

Cut back on cutting backOur views have changed on having the tidiest landscape in the neighborhood. Certain cleaning up must be done, but some things are better left undone.

Pulling up annuals, emptying out containers, cleaning up perennial and vegetable beds and gathering fallen leaves should be done. But the slate doesn’t need to be wiped totally clean.

Taking a more relaxed attitude has its benefits in leaving seed heads and helping to preserve habitat for wildlife through the winter months. In addition for providing seed heads for birds, many butterflies and other insects spend the winter in these plant stalks. By removing them you are throwing away next year’s beneficial insects.

If you must cut back your plants, advice from biologists and ecosystem garden designers is to use the cuttings as mulch on garden beds. When pruning keep an eye out for obvious egg cases attached to stalks and branches.

The big question is what kind of winter will we have, too little snow, too much snow? Let’s hope it will be enough moisture, snow or rain to help re-establish the water tables in our reservoirs.