What to Plant in Fall for a Beautiful Spring Garden (Zone 5b Guide)

As the summer garden starts to fade, my thoughts are starting to shift to next year. Here in Zone 5b, fall is far from an ending; it’s actually a busy beginning. Now is the perfect time to plant spring-blooming bulbs, garlic, hardy perennials, and even a few shrubs that will reward us when winter finally loosens its grip.

It’s also the season for essential garden prep. We have started cleaning, cutting back, and tuck our beds in so they can rest well through the cold months ahead.

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What to Plant in Fall for Spring Success (Zone 5b)

With the soil still warm and the air turning crisp, fall offers ideal planting conditions, I want to share with you what I tuck into the garden now for beautiful blooms and harvest next year.

Spring-Blooming Bulbs

Here are some of my favorites to plant:

Fall is the time to plant all the beautiful bulbs that will start blooming to let you know that spring is here! I plant them every fall, as I just can’t have enough. I also replace the ones that are no longer blooming, or the squirrels have eaten.

Each plant has different depth level for planting, so check the package directions. Last year, I bought an auger that you attach to a cordless drill. What a game-changer. Buy yours HERE.

I also like to add a little bone meal to the bottom of each hole. This gives the bulb some good nutrition as we go into the winter.

🌱 Pro Tip
When planting bulbs, always make sure the pointed tip faces up. That’s where the stem will emerge. If you’re unsure which end is the top, plant it on its side—nature will still find its way!

Garlic for a Summer Harvest

I’ve been planting garlic for a few years now. While the hardneck varieties of garlic is the preferred type for Zone 5b, I’m going to try softneck and see how it goes. Softneck garlic is great for braiding and I want that in my pantry 🙂 I will have to make sure that my garlic is well insulated with straw and cross my fingers and hope for the best

The cloves were placed 4″ apart and 12″ between rows. You place the flat end down (pointed end up) about 1-1/2” into the soil.

After planting, mulch with straw to prevent heaving during winter weather. One clove produces a whole head of garlic next year. If you want a more detailed how-to, you can find it HERE

Shrubs & Perennials

We plant our hydrangeas in the fall, as they are available in the nurseries now. They are in full bloom, and they add interest to your garden right away. You can plant just about any shrub or perennial in the fall if it’s 4–6 weeks before your first anticipated frost.

Did you know that if you plant a spring flowering plant in fall, it will likely be larger and more floriferous than if it was planted in spring? This is because it had so much more time to establish and didn’t experience transplant shock just before bloom time.

I take advantage of perennial sales at my nursery at this time of year. Sometimes I can get 50% or more off.

Some perennials I look for in the fall:

• Coneflowers
• Peonies
• Hostas
• Daylilies

Look for very healthy looking plants. Even if they are on sale, it’s hard to take the chance that it will live through the winter if it doesn’t have a good start.

Making Sure to Have a Good Start

Here are some things that you want to make sure you do with both shrubs and perennials to give them a good chance to winter over well.

1. Plant at least 4-6 weeks before anticipated first frost
2. Amend your soil with compost or bone meal when planting
3. Water well and regularly before that first frost
4. Mulch well before winter

More Fall Garden Chores

There is still a lot to do in the garden after your vegetables have been harvested and your flowers are dying back.

• Clean-Up the vegetable garden – I pull the spent plants out and put them in my yard compost bin.
• Turn over all the soil and top with fall leaves
• Carefully dig up dahlia tubers after the top growth has died back or a hard frost has killed it.
• I cut back some of my perennials (Day lily, Iris, Shasta Daisy, Bee Balm, Black-Eyed Susan, Phlox and Cone Flowers) basically all the more tender stalked plants. I don’t cut my grasses, hydrangeas, and sedum. It’s fun to maintain some interest in my gardens during the late fall and winter months.

Garden Journal

This is also the time of year when I update my garden journal with my notes for next year. If I wait too long, I will forget!

Something that are going into my notes this year:

1. Create a schedule for feeding the rose bushes on time
2. Come up with a deer deterrent plan; schedule for repellant application
3. List of what needs to be divided and moved in early spring
4. Crop rotation for the 2026 vegetable garden

I’m sharing this quote as my gardens right now are glorious. The blooms on my hydrangeas are turning a beautiful pink/maroon color. My coneflowers are stunning. I have wild garlic in my garden, and it has shot up beautiful white flowers. The phlox is re-blooming and so far the deer haven’t nibbled the buds.

I hope you, like me, are enjoying the cooler, crisp days of fall!

Peace,

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