Margo’s Garden Center offers tips for fall planting

Fall is the best time to plant anything, according to James and Jessica Upton, owners of Margo’s Garden Center, 6585 N. Telegraph Road.

Planting perennials, shrubs or trees now only allows time for the plants to root, avoid drought and summer heat, but leads to better growing success next spring.

The husband-and-wife team purchased the property for their business in 2019. The land was fully wooded, and several trees needed to be cleared to make room for the extensive garden center.

Several mature trees kept for shading and walking paths were included in the center’s design. The following year, Margo’s Garden Center, named after James’ grandmother, Margaret Mickelson, opened on Mother’s Day.

“James would always go to her home and help her in her extensive garden where Margaret named her garden, ‘Margo’s Gardens,’” Jessica said. “James then found his love of plants and Margo’s Garden Center was born in 2020. James has owned and operated a landscaping business, Midwest Landscaping, Inc., since 2003 and over time has acquired federal government contracts that needed large amounts of plant material. Since we needed a bigger area to service our contracts, we decided it would be beneficial to open a garden center since we were knowledgeable in the material itself and could serve the community as well. The knowledge we know and use to this day is all by experience.”

Sprawled on more than six acres, Margo’s stocks and sells shrubs, trees, perennials, annuals, gardening tools, fertilizers, bulk topsoil, and mulch. In the spring, they also sell tropical and house plants.

For anyone who doesn’t have a green thumb, Jessica suggests starting with flowers and plants that are easy to care for like daylilies, sedum, hostas, shade-loving plants, geraniums, and grasses.