Help for the Home Gardener

Visit the Center for Home Gardening

Stop by the Center for Home Gardening and get your gardening questions answered by our expert staff and Master Gardener volunteers at the Plant Doctor Desk, or check out our houseplant display and other home gardening resources! Be sure to also take a stroll through our 23 outdoor demonstration gardens, which includes a vegetable and fruit garden, cut flower garden, experimental garden, and a newly renovated native prairie garden.  

Plant Doctor Desk (Walk-In) 

• Hours: Open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. (November-March)

Horticulture Answer Service (Phone & E-mail) 

• Hours: Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. 

• Phone #: 314-577-5143 

• E-mail: plantinformation@mobot.org 

Gourds
Cucurbita pepo 'Sugar Loaf'

Ginkgo Fall Color
Ginkgo biloba 'Princeton Sentry'

Ornamental Cabbage
Brassica oleracea 'Pigeon Purple'
 

November Home Gardening Resources

• When Did Your Favorite Thanksgiving Plant Food Get to America
• The Garden and the Great War
• Opting for Ornamental Grasses
• Fall Color in Your Yard

What's In Bloom

November Gardening Tips

• Continue watering trees and shrubs, especially evergreens, until the ground freezes.

• When mums finish flowering, leave the flowers and foliage intact to protect the crown of the the plant and encourage better survival over the winter. Mulching will contribute added protection as well.

• A final application of fertilizer can be applied to cool-season lawns.

• Tulips can be planted until the ground freezes. Once the ground freezes, apply mulch to spring bulb beds.

• To prevent diseases from overwintering in the garden, clean up and dispose of diseased plant material. Compost all other plant material.

• By the end of November or early December, paperwhite narcissus and amaryllis bulbs can be forced indoors. No chilling period is required. Simply pot up the bulbs and water sparingly until growth begins. They should bloom in 4-6 weeks.

Plastic Pot Recycling Update 2022

We regret to report that the Plastic Pot Recycling program has been cancelled. Garden centers that have had pot recycling collection trailers in the past are no longer accepting garden plastics. Please see the Plastic Pot Recycling: Update and Perspective blog entry for more information about the program's cancellation. Additional questions about pot recycling can be submitted to the Green Resources Info Service at greenresources@mobot.org.