As fall arrives in Western Washington, it’s time to revise and reimagine your garden

The first week of September is the time to revise, redesign and reimagine your garden. The change of the season should inspire a fresh look at what you grow and how you grow it.

Here are some fall favorites for changing out the season.

Harvest food for a feast

You don’t have to wait until November to celebrate the bounty of the garden. Even if you grow tomatoes on the balcony and basil on the windowsill, this is the time to make that caprese salad and use those fresh herbs. Savor summer by savoring the fresh tastes of your homegrown food, and call it a party on the patio.

Refresh with cool season color

The petunias may be leggy and the geraniums flagging, but a quick fix to your porch pots and container gardens is as easy as swapping out just one or two plants. You don’t need to an entire replanting.

Local nurseries are showing off cool season plants such as winter pansies and burgundy heucheras now. Add some black mondo grass and you have rich fall color in your pots to welcome the autumn days.

Redesign what bugs you

Think about what you did not enjoy about your outdoor space this summer. Did the afternoon sun keep you off the patio? Get thee to a nursery and invest in some shade trees, or order a patio umbrella or shade banner.

Did that walk to the door become claustrophobic because of overgrown shrubs? Fall is the time to transplant or replace the wrong plant in the wrong place.

Brown lawn got you down? Consider a groundcover or gravel with containers. Fall is for planting.

Create a fall pocket garden

Grouping together fall color is the first step to creating a theme garden that celebrates autumn. Maybe you have Japanese maple already showing off in the landscape. Add a trio of lower growing shrubs such as nandina, then highlight the area with low growing burgundy ajuga as a groundcover. Add color accents with a display of pumpkins on crates or straw bales. Small spaces filled with a color theme make a big impact.

Rediscover and redesign your garden this autumn while you celebrate the change in the season.

Meet Marianne

Marianne Binetti will be at Windmills Gardens in Sumner at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, for a class that will refresh your landscape. Sign up for “Revise, Redesign and Revisit Your Garden” by contacting Windmill Gardens at 253-254-7532 or windmillgardens.com . The garden center is at 16009 60th St E, Sumner.

Want to visit Marianne Binetti’s garden and take home some plants? You (and your guests) may be the lucky winner at a webinar that benefits Thurston County Master Gardeners. Visit https://www.mgftc.org/events/fall-fundraiser/ to sign up and then join her online at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept 12. The topic is “Dirt Cheap Garden Magic” with ideas for recycling and upcycling in the garden.

Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of several books. Reach her at binettigarden.com.