Steamboat Springs — Early autumn in Steamboat Springs is the time for a gardener to relax and enjoy the sunny days and cool evenings in their gardens.

Plants are at their largest growth, and flower beds require less weeding and less work.

The sun is lower and allows for a dramatic backdrop to the afternoon and evening gardens.

It is a time for reflection.

An excellent opportunity to decide which plants need to be transplanted, divided or replaced for next year.

Record your ideas in a diary to help remember what needs to be done in the spring.

It is also a time to enjoy the last new blast of color from the fall or late summer blooming perennials.

Perennials are non-woody plants that live two or more years under local conditions.

The above-ground parts of these plants are usually killed to the ground by frost in the fall, but the roots or below ground parts live through the winter.

New growth begins again each spring.

Most perennials produce flowers for a specific time period during the growing season. The following plants have either flowers or attractive foliage in the late summer or early fall.

Camille C. Fisher is a Routt County resident and a master gardener through the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension office in Routt County. Questions? Call 879-0825 or email: gardeners@co.routt.co.us