Now is the Time to Order Spring Bulbs

The last thing I want to do at the end of the summer is weed my garden. There is plenty of time for that when it gets cold. But, winter is coming and now is the time to think about those long days inside. Think bask to late February last year. We are all longing for spring and something to say that life would get better!. My early spring bulbs provided me with a taste of spring from you window. The sight of flowers in bloom just as the snow began to melt was wonderful.

So there is one thing that needs to be done now. It is time to your order spring bulbs. Not that you should plant them now because everyone is ordering now for fall planting and choices are becoming more and more limited by the day. Most avid gardeners have already ordered their bulbs in early August when the fall catalogs first arrived. My large order, inexpensive catalog has already sold out of several bulbs including winter aconite, one of my favorite early blooming bulbs.

My favorite early spring (February and March blooming bulbs in upstate New York) includes winter aconite, a lovely small large flowered yellow bulb. My other favorite reliable three bulbs for early spring are, wind anemones which last several weeks and do well in shade as well as sun, snow drops which come up as soon as snow melts in late February and continue to bloom through snow and frost. Some years I still have snowdrops spread out across my lawn and in my woods until late March. My third favorite is squill which has spread through my lawn and provide lovely pale blue and pink flowers which often go out and pick for the house.

The best things about these reliable small early bulbs is one- they are easy to plant, just dig a 2-3 inch hole and drop them in and stamp on the hole, two - rabbits, squirrels, or chipmunks don’t eat them, and 3 - they spread on their own over time. To plant them I go around my lawn and wherever there is a small opening in the grass I just stab the soil with my trowel drop in a bulb, and stamp on the dirt. They also look beautiful at the inside edge of beds or at the edge of the lawn near bushes. I can plant 50 bulbs in 20 minutes. So it won’t take you long to plant all you order. Remember they spread over time. So just put a few in any spot where you want to have early flowers and move on. Remember to plant a few where you can enjoy them from your window!!

Early fall is the Best Time to Plan Next Year's Garden

My garden is its fullest and most colorful at this time of year. My reblooming yellow and orange and red daylilies are putting on their last display just as the goldenrod is in full bloom. Yes I know goldenrod is a weed. But it is a beautiful weed that contrasts nicely with the wild purple asters and lavender pink physostegia virginia I have planted in several beds. The overgrown catmint -Nepeta- is still in bloom in the maze and blends nicely with the last of the Queen Ann’s Lace flowers. The Artemisia wormwood is overgrown and beautiful.

I go around the garden with several midsized white plastic plant labels and a black magic marker. On each label I write - Sedum looks too big for the space - phlox have begun to crowd out the daylilies - physostegia has overgrown its site - I need to find more Artemisia. I just mark what is wrong and stick the marker next to the problem. That way, when I am ready to clean up the garden for the winter or even early next spring I can deal with the moving issues. I usually transplant my plants in the spring rather than in the fall as they do better if moved in the spring. If you just want to get rid of the extra plants then dig them up s when you finally get to your fall cleanup. Note: it is easier to give away plants to friends in the spring.

My last advice is don’t spend too much time with this! It is only those things that strike you as you look at your garden that you need to do! If you don’t notice it, no one else will either.

Can all this rain be good for my garden?

Sitting here looking out at my garden and artificial pond, I am very nervous. I have good drainage as my garden is sited on top of 100 feet of gravel. However, this has been a very wet summer and my manmade pond is full to the rim. If it overflows it should drain into the ground. However, if you live on clay or rock your garden beds wont drain.

What can you do about this? Well, first wait for the rain to stop. If, several hours after the rain, your plants look drowned, dig or scrape a very small channel to an area of your property that is lower than your flower beds. The water will run off by the next day and your plants should recover..

Spring is a great time to add color to your garden

Supermarkets and garden centers have a wide variety of cheap flats of annual flowers this time of year. A few can add color to your garden for the entire season. Some annuals, like sweet alyssum only bloom in the spring. But, others such as zinnias, giant blue salvia, cosmos and marigolds bloom until frost. Just remember to cut some for your house of remove the dead flowerheads. It shouldn’t take more than ten minutes every week or two.

Quick and cheap way to get garden ready for winter

Summer and a warm fall seemed to last forever. October was glorious all along the east coast with wonderful color stretching up to three weeks because of all the rain this summer. Now it is November with cold nights that feel like fall. Temperatures have dropped below freezing in all of zone 5 and even in some areas of zone 6. It is time to pull out your annuals and get ready for winter. So set aside about one hour to bag all of your flowering bushes so that they will still have buds in the spring! It is easy, cheap and quick!! Order on line or just buy plant protector bags, shrub protectors plackets or Nuvew plant covers from your garden supply stores. On line they can be found at Gardeners.com , Ace Hardware, Walmart , Harris Seeds and Amazon.com. If your bushes don’t have sturdy wooding stems, just stick a bamboo pole in the middle before dropping on your bag. That way, if it snows a lot this winter your bushes wont break.

August Is the Time to Collect Seeds

Now is the time to begin to collect seeds or spread the seeds of flowers that you have in your garden. Wild Queens Ann Lace is a hardy biennial. It is lovely growing in the middle or back of a garden bed. You can keep it flowering until frost if you continue to cut the flowers just above the next bud. I always let one go to seed early and then when the seeds turn brown on the star-like flower head I collect them and spread them where I want more Queen Ann’s Lace. If you do this two years in a row it will continue to self-sow every year!

Lenten Roses are one of the first signs of spring

If you have Lenten roses, they are just beginning to appear in the Northeast. Winter has been hard in many areas with snow and ice and rain and then more snow and ice. This is very hard on the leaves of the Lenten rose. If they look strong and undamaged, I leave several of them, but if they are mashed and brown and ragged, just cut them off. The flower buds which, should just be breaking through, should be left alone to grow and bloom. They should last until May or later. New leaves will grow later in the spring and provide lovely greenery throughout the summer, fall and winter.

March is a tricky month with cold, snow and ice interspersed with a warming sun and rain and mud. This is the month that even the shiest snow drops will emerge letting you know spring is really around the corner. If you have planted winter aconite in a sunny site they will soon be putting up their heads with lovely bright yellow flowers.

Winter is a good time to look for cheap seeds

Stuck in the house becase oof the snow,ice or rain? Now is a good time to think of spring. American Meadow, and Vermont Wild Flower sell little packets of flower seeds for well under one dollar. If you are just starting a garden, these packets produce flowers the very first year. They have many choices that are perfect for different environments. So you can find flowers that will love your environment from hot and dry to cool, wet, and shady . This salvia, great as a cut flower, blooms in August from seeds planted very early or from small flats available in most garden centers in early spring . It has reseeded itself in my garden.

All Season Gardens

Gardens can be even more beautiful in the winter if you have snow. To make a garden interesting, don’t cut all of your dead plants and flowers down. Leave a few clumps to catch the snow and make small winter sculptures.

quick ways to make winter plants into summer flowers

Most supermarkets have primrose plants for sale. They come in a wide variety of colors from purple to pale yellow or white. Buy a few - they cost from about $3 for two to about $2.50 a plant. Keep them watered and in a cool room. Indirect light on a diningroom table or by a northern or easterly facing window are best. If you keep watering them, just before they dry out, they will flower for up to six weeks. Even after they have stopped flowering, continue to water them. Then plant them out in the spring after frost, but before it gets hot. They may not bloom again that first spring, but they will continue to bloom the following spring and will, if happy, spread and bloom every year after that.

How to find cheap seeds that are easy to grow

There are many seed catalogs but, one of my favorite seed catalogs that has lots of choices and isn’t expensive is Shumway’s. Most of their seed packets of annual flowers only cost $1.85 per packet if you order 6 or more. I order most of my annual flower seed from them for my cutting garden. That way I can have 10 kinds of flowers to cut from late spring through the fall for just over $25.