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Fall Gardening Focuses on Bulbs and Blooms

© Michael Vyskocil

Planting Bulbs for Spring Blooms

Small bulbs can yield a spectacular display when you least expect it, even before the snow melts. Plant spring-flowering bulbs now to transform your yard into a colorful carpet.

Crocus are some of the first bulbs to bloom in the spring, and may even show up before the snow has completely melted off the lawn. Chionodoxa, or Glory-of-the-Snow, at right, add subtle hues with delicate pastel-colored flowers. As with grape hyacinths, right, and scilla, Glory-of-the-Snow will multiply naturally, so your spring show may be more spectacular as the years go by.

Planting small flowers in a large area will require lots of bulbs to make a colorful statement. But don't plant them in straight rows or scatter them too far apart. About 6 inches apart in all directions will create a more intense show of color. Plant each bulb about 3 to 4 inches deep, growing tip up, just after it rains or after you have watered the lawn so the soil will be easier to cut into. Using a sharp-tipped trowel will make it even easier to create a small opening in the grass.

Another way to get a naturalized look and a sea of color is to plant small bulbs under deciduous shrubs. Scilla, or Siberian Squill, can be planted in masses to create a bright blue drift under a shrub border early in the season, before the shrubs have leafed out. Scilla bulbs should be placed about 4 inches apart. Over the years, they will spread and fill the area with tiny blue flowers.

Or, try the early risers striped squill, or Puschkinia. The blooms are bluish-white, with a delicate blue stripe running the length of each petal. It, too, will multiply and fill an area with a mass of color. If you have an open border, mass miniature 'Tom Thumb' daffodils and blue scilla. This eye-catching combination is spectacular for a long time.

After flowers fade on spring-blooming bulbs, don't cut the foliage off too soon. Mow the lawn at a height of 3 to 3-1/2 inches so you don't remove much of the bulb foliage. Leave the foliage until it turns yellow and brown; this will help the plants build up food reserves in the bulb for next year's floral display.

The Colorful Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemums add mounds of color and blend beautifully with the natural colors of fall. But not all mums are suitable for the garden.

Florist's mums add instant color, but their colorful blooms don't last long and will die with the first frost. Garden mums, however, are hardy to Zone 5 and will still bloom after a few light freezes in the fall.

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