Red in spring? We think roses.

Red in fall? How about burning bush and Sango kaku?

Sango who? Welcome to the wonderful world of maples! Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku' is a vigorous upright tree with yellow fall foliage. But in this author's opinion, the red bark is reason to have this tree in your landscape. This tree is often called 'Coral Bark Maple,' because the twigs and branches are a striking coral red in the winter. The bark is smooth and fiery red, making a great photo opportunity-- especially when there is a gentle snowfall on the branches. A perfect tree for a patio planter that is sure to be the topic of conversation.

Burning bush - it's on fire? No, but the name and appearance might lead you to that conclusion. Euonymus alata compacta 'Burning Bush' is a deciduous shrub that gives an impressive fall color. The dark green leaves turn flaming red in the fall. A dense, flat-topped shrub with horizontal branching, Burning Bush (sometimes called Winged Euonymus) can grow to 6 feet tall. This plant is low maintenance, often used in commercial sites where water isn't as available. Plant it as a hedge for a burning effect or against dark evergreens for greatest color impact.

Both the Sango kaku and the burning bush are rewarding plants in the fall, and their value in the spring and summer is to provide texture and leaf color contrasts to the everyday garden.

1. Plant all types of permanent landscape plants other than bare-root and tropicals.
2. Plant trees, shrubs and vines.
3. Choose and plant for permanent fall and winter color.
4. Continue to shop for spring-blooming bulbs.
5. Plant lilies as soon as you get them home.
6. Buy daffodils, grape hyacinths, ranunculus, anemones and Dutch irises; keep them in a cool, dry place until planting time.
7. Purchase hyacinth, tulip, and crocus bulbs and prechill them in the refrigerator.
8. Plant cool-season flowers for winter and spring bloom.
9. Plant cineraria for late winter and early spring bloom.
10. Plant wildflowers.
11. Plant cool-season lawns; this is the best time of year for this job.
12. Overseed Bermuda grass with annual winter ryegrass if desired.
13. Plant cool-season vegetables, year-round vegetables, including carrots and some perennial vegetables.
14. Thin out sweet peas and pinch them back to force branching.
15. Divide, trim, and mulch plants that tend to grow in a clump and that need to be divided, including Kahili ginger, clivia, iris, daylily, moraea, bird of paradise, gazanias, and perennials like Shasta daisies.
16. Cut back zonal and ivy geraniums; finish pruning Martha Washingtons.
17. Divide hardy water lilies.
18. Divide belladonna lilies.
19. Dig up, divide and replant perennials, or mulch them.
20. Cut off runners from strawberries, gather them in bunches, and prechill them for November planting.
21. Feed fuchsias.
22. Continue to treat blue hydrangeas with aluminum sulfate.
23. Stop fertilizing chrysanthemums and enjoy the blooms.
24. Fertilize poinsettias with a complete fertilizer high in bloom ingredients.
25. Feed roses early in October; don't fertilize in November.
26. Water deciduous fruit trees more sparingly in fall.
27. Water roses with up to 1 1/2 inches of water twice a week, unless it rains.
28. Finish pulling out faded annual flowers and cleaning pots and beds for fall.
29. Make a ball-shaped basket of malacoides primroses.
30. Thoroughly clean up the vegetable garden; pull up the last of the summer crops and compost the remains (if you have had fungus or disease problems, skip the composting and get rid of them instead).

It's time to put in the winter vegetable garden or, if you already have begun, to continue the job.

First, pull up and throw out or compost the remains of your summer garden. A thorough cleaning now really pays off in fewer bugs and diseases later.

Dig up the soil deeply with a spade, turning it over, aerating it, and breaking up the clods as you go.

Then use a garden fork to mix in organic amendments such as Gardner & Bloome Planting Mix. Add a good vegetable fertilizer according to package directions; work this into the top 6 inches of soil.

If you're an organic gardener, use instead blood meal, cottonseed meal, bone meal or bagged organic vegetable food (we recommend Dr. Earth Organic 5 Vegetable).

Then use a garden rake to level the ground. Use a hoe to make furrows between rows in heavy soils.

Plant tall crops to the north and short crops to the south. Full sun is best for all winter vegetables.

To fool hyacinths, tulips and crocuses into thinking they've had a cold winter, put the bulbs in the lettuce drawer of your refrigerator (in a brown paper bag, not plastic--it rots them) for 6-8 weeks prior to planting. If your lettuce drawer takes delight, as some do, in regularly freezing lettuce, it's too cold for bulbs; store them on a low back shelf. They must not freeze.

Also beware of fresh fruits that give off ethylene gas, including apples, bananas and pineapples. When these are stored in the same refrigerator with bulbs, make sure they're in airtight bags or containers; if the gas escapes, it can cause flower bulbs to either rot or grow roots and sprout.

After you remove the bulbs from refrigeration, plant them in the ground immediately.