Well, there are a lot of things we need to be working on this time of year, with the most important one being getting rid of the summer blooms and replacing them with pansies. Pansies will bloom all winter, even in the snow, and they will stay with you until the hot weather comes next year. I know some of you are thinking how pretty your summer flowers still look, but it won’t take but one or two cold nights and those babies will be ugly. By that time, the color of pansies you want may be limited because the growers are already thinking about poinsettias. So even though it hurts your feelings, close your eyes and start pulling up those summer blooms, and then come visit us to pick out the pansies. Also, I don’t know how many of you have problems with squirrels, but if you put blood meal and Osmocote fertilizer on your flowers, the squirrels will find somewhere else to dig and you’ll have green plants that bloom profusely. And don’t forget, plants still need to be watered in the winter to keep them blooming!
It’s also time to start thinking about planting new bulbs and storing summer bulbs to save them for next year. If you’re thinking it’s probably easier to just buy new plants next year instead of digging up the ones you have, you’re right. I just have a hard time letting anything stay in the ground to die if I know I can save it. The main ones you need to worry about are caladiums, dahlias, black elephant ears and calla lillies. The green elephant ears are okay to leave outside in the ground. The easiest way to save the bulbs is wait for the foliage to start turning brown, pull them up and lay them out to dry and then store in vermiculite in a well-ventilated container. They should keep nicely until spring rolls around and it’s time to plant them again. As for planting new bulbs, now is the time to buy your tulips, daffodills, hyacinth, iris and crocus. You can plant them up until the end of November. Just hope the squirrels aren’t watching, because they will dig them up for you and use them as Christmas presents for their friends! We have a good selection of bulbs in the store now, but they’re going fast, so hurry in and pick some up. You can always keep them in the refrigerator until you’re ready to plant.
Oh yeah, I learned an interesting piece of information the other day. If you have a Carolina Jasmine that did not bloom this year like you thought it should, take a stick and hit the stems of the plant. It will think it’s dying and bloom better next year just to prove you wrong. I know this sounds crazy, but you never know. Crazier things have happened.