chrysanthemums

Where do people get this silly idea that hardly anything blooms in autumn? I gave my colchicum presentation this week and one attendee remarked that I inspired her to have color in her fall garden. There's plenty of color in my fall garden, without even looking at the trees. Here's just a sampling of what I see as I stroll around.

Visitors asked about two plants at my Colchicum Open Garden. The first one is readily available at garden centers or online. The second one is a little trickier to find--it helps if you know someone. But visitors were also surprised to see so much in bloom at the end of September. It helps if you know my special plants and (not so) secret techniques. Click over to my blog post and I'll share them with you!

In my mind there are two kinds of fall: "Good" Fall and "Bad" Fall. Good Fall is what we have now. The leaves on the trees are starting to turn color, temperatures have moderated so that you want to work in the garden again, the colchicums have started blooming and the many native autumn-blooming plants are at their peak, summer annuals are still going strong and some perennials are having a second flush of bloom. (Bad Fall is after the leaves drop and it's cold enough that they'd call it winter down South.) In this blog post, I'd like to share some of the best that autumn has to offer.

When I finally grasped the concept of placeholder plants, it changed my life. Well, what I mean is, it reduced my garden maintenance load and I enjoyed my garden more, with less work. Not precisely life-changing, but definitely life-improving. A placeholder plant is a garden-worthy plant that you happen to have a lot of, which [...]

I blame it on the sunshine. If the sun hadn't been shining, I wouldn't have had the overwhelming urge to get outside and DO something. Because, really? February is too early for garden cleanup. But of course, this hasn't been a normal February. A normal February looks like this: So, in a normal February, I [...]

In cold climates like mine, November is a tough month in which to find flowers. I've done my best to extend the season, so I'm not surprised to see autumn crocus or hellebores--or even violas--blooming. But when I walked around my garden the other day, I found five flowers blooming that don't typically bloom in [...]

Life as we know it doesn't end with the first frost. Beauty doesn't stop, either. We have had several light frosts (28.5F/-1.9C was the coldest) but no hard freezes, which means many garden plants are still going strong. (Do you know the difference between a frost and a freeze?) I was able to gather several [...]

Annuals Our growing season is so compressed, that most annuals are only now looking their best. My children like to grow zinnias every year, and the bright colors of Renee's Garden Crayon Color Zinnias really appeal to them. They like both the Cool and the Hot. (As a member of the GWA, I received the [...]

The double colchicums, which are later blooming, are at their peak:Our summer never got really hot for long periods this year, and the pansies kept blooming. These "black" pansies were part of a mix, so I wondered where the rest of them went to. Turns out something's been nibbling them. Leaves are still there, but [...]