INDIANAPOLIS — The cool mornings are signaling the arrival of fall in central Indiana. That does not mean it's time to come inside, though.
Pat Sullivan from Sullivan Hardware and Garden said there is still plenty of time to enjoy your backyard and patio fire pit before the snow flies.
"It's as good in the fall as it is in the spring and the summer," he said during his weekly home and garden segment on 13Sunrise.
Fall plants, especially mums, are coming into bloom right now and will add color to your landscape through the fall.
And mums can be a perennial plant with proper care.
"The reason we always say, well, yes, there are hardy mums," Sullivan explained, "but, really, to get a mum to come back, you want to get it in the ground as soon as possible. So it's not going to come back, generally, in a pot."
Unfortunately, the best time to plant a mum is in the spring.
"Can you find mums in the spring? No," Sullivan said.
If you plant a mum this fall, Sullivan recommends covering them with mulch once they stop flowering.
"I wouldn't even cut them back," he said. "I would allow the frame to hold the mulch together, then in the spring, uncover it and cut it back."
The only maintenance for a mum that comes back the next season is to pinch off buds when they appear, otherwise "you'll have beautiful fall mums in July," Sullivan said.
Aside from mums, you can plant ornamental peppers and other fall blooming plants and grasses that will also add color to your landscape before winter.
Watch Sullivan's full Sunrise segment in the video player.