What to do in your yard this fall (and what to leave alone)

Ask any nursery person when to plant perennials in Utah and they will say fall, every time. The soil is still warm, the air is cool, and roots grow all through October and November while the plant sleeps above ground. Come spring, a fall-planted perennial is a season ahead of one planted in May.

Do plant: perennials, shrubs, trees, and spring bulbs. Do water deeply through October — a dry winter is hard on new roots. Do take photos of any lawn you plan to remove, because rebate programs ask for before pictures.

Do not cut everything down. Coneflower and rudbeckia seed heads feed finches, and hollow stems shelter native bees over winter. Leave the standing stems, clear only what is diseased, and tidy up in April instead.

And do not fertilize perennials now. You want roots going down, not soft new growth that a hard freeze will burn.