Garden centres are busiest in spring, and that is a marketing calendar rather than a horticultural one. In this climate the best planting window opens in October.
Roots grow when tops do not
Soil here stays warm well into December, long after air temperatures have dropped. A plant installed in autumn spends months putting down roots with no demand from foliage above. By the time summer arrives it has a root system already reaching moisture.
A plant installed in April gets perhaps six weeks before it is trying to establish roots and survive triple-digit heat simultaneously.
Less water, less loss
Autumn plantings need meaningfully less establishment water, and our replacement rate on them is a fraction of spring installations. That is why our plant warranty is easier to offer on autumn work.
What to do when
- October – November: trees, shrubs, perennials, ornamental grasses. The best window of the year.
- December – January: dormant-season tree planting, hard pruning, structural work.
- February: cut grasses back before new growth, divide perennials.
- March – April: warm-season colour, sod, and anything frost-tender.
The exception
Warm-season turf is the one thing that genuinely wants late spring. Bermuda and zoysia laid in October will sit dormant and vulnerable all winter. Everything else — plant it in the autumn.
