Tulips
If you bought tulip bulbs early in the season and placed them on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator (not the freezing compartment), they are ready to plant now. Two to three weeks of chilling helps to give larger, longer-stemmed flowers.
There is still time to buy tulip bulbs and refrigerate them properly before planting, but you must act now.
Vegetables for Winter
In the more favored areas of the West Coast, you can plant a winter vegetable garden. You can get a crop or two of spinach, leaf lettuce, and radishes and harvest at least one crop of beets, carrots, and peas.
Just remember it takes more fertilizer to grow vegetable crops in winter than it does in summer.
Wildflowers
If you have an inaccessible bank, slope, or area nearby that would benefit from a bit of color, sow wildflower seed now. Fall is Nature’s time for seeding, and seeds scattered now have the best chance of survival.
Winter rains will start them on their way, and spring rains will bring them into bloom.
Camellias
Plants of camellias can be selected and planted when they are in full bloom. Hybrids developed from Camellia sasanqua are generally the first to bloom, and they have many useful qualities.
First, they can take full sun. However, do not plant them next to a reflective wall as foliage may burn.
Second, sasanquas lend themselves to espaliering better than most other species. Their small leaves give a dainty appearance and are set off by relatively small, primarily single flowers.
Third, their fall bloom is very welcome.
And fourth, they are the only camellias adaptable for use as ground covers.
House Plants
Check on house plants that may be suffering from the accumulation of hard-water salts. The high rate of evaporation during the summer causes fertilizer salts to accumulate.
Immerse plant, pot and all, in a tub of water for 30 minutes to remove excess salts. Leaves turning brown at the edges often indicate the accumulation of salts.
Covering Slopes
Winter rains, washing away the bare soil on slopes, point up the importance of covering the soil with plants.
Select deep-rooted plants such as the native prostrate ceanothus (California lilac), Acacia latifolia, prostrate pyracantha, and Santa Barbara rosemary.
Ajuga lippia and dichondra should not be planted on slopes as they are too difficult to keep watered. Unless the ground can be flooded, these plants do not thrive.
Planting Conifers
This is the best time to plant conifers (cone-bearing evergreens). They are available B&B (balled & burlapped, which means the roots are surrounded with soil and the entire root ball is then covered with burlap or plastic), or they may be bought in containers.
Plants in containers can be set out almost any time of the year, but plantings are most successful in fall.
Dig a hole considerably larger than the extent of the root system. Add organic matter to the soil that will be adjacent to the roots. No fertilizer should be placed in the hole or around the roots. If fall rains fail to materialize, the plants need regular watering.
Unwanted Shoots
When you go about your fall clean-up in the garden, inspect all grafted plants carefully for shoots originating below the graft. Remove any sprouts appearing from the understock by tearing the sprout away from the trunk rather than by cutting.
Examine apples, cherries, peaches, apricots, dwarf citrus, and roses. If shoots from the understock are permitted to grow, they will develop at the expense of the desired portion of the plant.