In the ornamental garden, autumn is an important time to clean up. Remove spent or dead stems from flowering perennials such as salvia.
Passionvine hoppers seem to favour members of the salvia family to lay their eggs on, so removing the old stems will reduce the numbers of the pest next summer.
Evergreen hedges can have a final trim before winter. Avoid trimming spring flowering shrubs. I've left the new growth on our manuka hedge to ensure we get a great display of flowers in spring. Hibiscus can be lightly pruned back after flowering. Pruning too hard before winter may encourage new growth, which will be frost sensitive. New hibiscus foliage tends to go yellowish in winter, giving the illusion it is suffering from nutrient deficiency in response to the cold. But once it grows again in summer they come back to their old selves with lush, dark green foliage.
Spreading a little slow release organic nutrition around perennials, trees and shrubs, such as sheep pellets, rock dust and a little dolomite will ensure that, come spring, the plants will have the nutrients they need. The soil temperatures are warmer now than they are in spring, so soil organisms will still be active to break down organic material and rock minerals into plant-available nutrition.
Using natural rhythms takes time in the garden. It is certainly a better, more sustainable approach than pouring quick-fix fertilisers on your plants in spring and summer.
Get busy
* Stop dead-heading roses so rose hips form. They contribute autumn colour to the garden.
* Trim hedges, sow new lawns, or resow patchy lawn after lightly tilling soil.
* Plant bulbs, sow spring flowering annuals like sweet pea, aquilegia, poppy, calendula, ornamental lupin.
* Cut back spent summer perennials, divide clumping species, replant. Take woody
cuttings now.
* Wait until leaves have all dropped off deciduous shrubs and trees before pruning - mid-winter is best.
* Now is a good time to make compost; add garden clean-up materials. Pull out dry, dead annuals, and layer in the compost. These will ensure compost isn't too wet and gluggy.