Tulips are unique flowers that are in a class of their own. They somehow herald the coming of spring and grace us with their gorgeous flowers. There is nothing more refreshing than watching those beautiful tulips pop up after a cold hard winter. Tulip bulbs are easy to plant and maintained but you must plant them now to get them to bloom in your flower garden at springtime. Considered perennials because once you plant them they come back every year, tulips are a great investment for your flower garden. (photo courtesy: Breck’s)

Spring flowering tulips need to be planted now in November. Hopefully you already have the bulbs and if you don’t hurry up and get them as most companies that sell tulips require several weeks for delivery. If your tulip bulbs are purchased from a local gardening place, be sure to inspect them carefully. Make sure that bulbs are not dried out and free of mold. Tulip bulbs should be firm to the touch but not dried. Check for spots or anything that may indicate that the tulip bulbs are infected with fungus. Also, grab those bigger bulbs. The bigger the tulip bulbs are the bigger the flower you will get.

Most companies that sell tulip bulbs usually provide good information and advice for planting your tulip bulbs. But keep in mind that the planting depth for your area depends on where you live. A rule of thumb to follow is that if the ground where you live does not freeze for extended periods of time, you can plant your tulip bulbs about an inch shallower that the depth suggested by most companies. Get your tulip bulbs from a reputable company like Breck’s and you can’t go wrong if you follow their instructions. (photo courtesy: Breck’s)

An important thing to remember before planting tulip bulbs is that you must have good fertile soil. If your soil is not good your bulbs, or any other plant for that matter, will not do well. Nutrient rich soil is the key to healthy plants that will give you gorgeous flowers in your flower garden. Read the instructions that are included when you purchase your tulip bulbs and find out what the best location is for planting your bulbs. Some tulip bulbs can be planted in areas of full sun while others like a shady area or maybe part sun.

Decide how you want your flower garden to look when the bulbs are in full bloom. Proper spacing is essential so just follow the instructions given by the company where you purchased your bulbs. If you want a really dramatic look, plant your tulip bulbs closer together in bunches and mixed colors. Your flower garden will surely be the envy of all your neighbors and the talk of the town! Again, in order to have healthy tulip flowers, you must plant good quality bulbs. So do buy from a reputable company like Breck’s. They have been in business for many years and the bulbs come from Holland which is known as the tulip capital of the world.

Here are some other flower gardening sites that I found for you to browse. Thanks for visiting Best Flower Gardening!

In the Garden Getting Ready for Winter - NYTimes.com
Browse subject: Flower gardening | The Online Books Page
Gardening - Gardening Guides: Gardening with Children - Flowers
Chelsea Flower Show: Definition from Answers.com
AOL.com Video - Create the Perfect Flower Pot
Planting the Brightest Bulbs - WSJ.com

Technorati Tags: Flowering Bulbs, Perennials, spring bulbs, tulip bulbs

It is the fall season and some gardens are looking somewhat bare now that all the colorful annuals are basically gone. It doesn’t have to be this way if you planted some late blooming flowers in the summer. Yes, the fall is a good time to do lots of chores like pruning roses and trimming your perennials. But your flower garden can still look beautiful for months to come. There are lots of flowers that bloom late summer to fall that you can plant in the summer and enjoy them through the fall season.

For starters, do some research on late blooming flowers and chances are that you will find many varieties. If you like lots of color in your flower garden, choose plants like Zephyranthes Robustus (also known as grandiflora) with gorgeous clear pink flowers. They bloom late summer through fall bearing pink flowers that resemble a lily. The growth is just about ten inches tall and these can be planted on rock gardens or you can mix them with your ground cover plants. The leaves are deep glossy green and the flowers grow straight up giving your flower garden a stunning look. Zephyranthes Robustus likes full sun and medium wet soil. (photo courtesy: wikipedia.com)

Another late blooming flower for you flower garden is Salvia Uliginosa which is considered a herbaceous perennial. Be careful where you plant this one as it can grow up to six feet tall. You can plant this one as a background flower in your garden. This is a pretty plant with lots of thin stems and yellow-green leaves with serrated edges. The flowers are bright blue with a white line in the throat that points toward the nectar and the pollen. Salvia Uliginosa starts blooming in the summer and bears lots of flowers well into the fall.

And of course, let’s not forget about the old time favorite Chrysanthemums that are known as true fall flowers. The gorgeous mum like flowers will add beauty and color to your flower garden. Although Chrysanthemums are sometimes called the golden flower, they come in white, pink and red also. You can plant them in your flower garden or in large containers that you can place in a patio or any other place that you want to brighten up. Chrysanthemums are herbaceous perennial plants with deeply lobed leaves and large flower heads and are easy to grow. Mix all the colors in one container for a stunning look in your flower garden. (photo courtesy: wikipedia.com)

While it is actually too late to plant those summer flowers that bloom into the fall, you can still have a colorful flower garden by just getting Chrysanthemums in different colors. There are other blooming flowers that can add beauty to your garden in the fall and Chrysanthemums is just one of them that will last for months to come. And your garden does not have to look dead in the fall.

Here are some other flower gardening sites that I found for you to browse. Thanks for visiting Best Flower Gardening!

Public Gardens of Western Connecticut - NYTimes.com
Chrysanthemum encyclopedia topics | Reference.com
Town of Leesburg : Flower and Garden Festival
How to Plant Seeds and add Color To The Garden with Flowers ...
Flower Gardening--Gardening Tools
Horticulture > Floriculture - Yahoo Directory

Technorati Tags: Chrysanthemums, container plants, fall colors, fall container flowers, fall flowers, Fall Season, flower garden, Gardening, mums

The fall season is upon us and it is time to get busy in the garden. This is the time of year that you can start doing some clean up and begin adding some fall color to your garden. Your flower garden does not have to look dead during the fall season. Yes, it is time to clean up the annuals that were planted for the summer months and trim the perennials. But you can also add color to your flower garden. You can get some chrysanthemums now that are gorgeous and plant them in those bare spots in your garden. Get a couple of small evergreen shrubs and plant them with your chrysanthemums for a stunning look in your garden.

If you don’t want to plant fall season plants in your garden area, plant them in containers. Container flower gardening is easy and gives a dull garden some much needed color during the fall season. All you have to do is place the containers or pots in the bare areas of your garden and you will instantly have color all over your garden. If you are planting directly on the soil, plant in early fall while the soil is still warm and this will help the growth and give you healthy plants. Also, flower containers should be placed in sunny locations and away from strong wind.

If you decide to use containers to plant your flowers, be sure to get the ones that are made of non-porous material to prevent cracking during a cold spell. The size of the containers to get depends on how much space you have in your garden or patio. I normally use containers that are about 14 inches in diameter. Another type of container or pot that you can use in your fall flower garden is the polyethylene which looks like terra cotta and are known to be well-suited for winter planting. Visit your local nursery for a wide variety of containers to use.

When you buy potting soil to use in your containers or pots, be sure it has good drainage and you can add some compost to the soil which will boost the plants with more nutrients. If you plan on keeping your plants through the winter season, then you will need to use a slow release fertilizer that will keep the plants healthy until the spring. In this case, select plants with hardiness rating a bit colder than your temperature zone. A good choice here might be planting some spring flowering bulbs like tulips. Be sure to buy your bulbs from a reputable company like Breck’s for the best quality. If you decide to plant bulbs, be sure to space them closer together than the way you would plant them in an open ground in your garden.

If you plan on leaving the containers outside, be sure to water when the soil is dry as moist soil creates heat which will protect the roots of your plants. During inclement weather conditions, group your containers closer to each other for protection. For added protection, you can wrap the containers with bubble wrap. Keep in mind that some plants or bulbs do require some cold weather so leave them out in the cold for some time before you plan winter protection.

Here are some other flower gardening sites that I found for you to browse. Thanks for visiting Best Flower Gardening!

Shakespeare garden - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
BBC - Gardening - How to be a gardener - The gardening year - Winter
Warm up this winter at indoor flower shows - USATODAY.com
Garden Services (@GardenServices) on Twitter
4-H PLUS Flower Gardening
Flower Garden Advise?!?! Liner or no liner? - Yahoo! Answers

Technorati Tags: Chrysanthemums, container flower gardening, evergreen shrubs, fall clean up, Fall Season, fall season gardening

Keeping those nasty insects out of your flower gardens is a must if you want to maintain a healthy looking garden. There is nothing more annoying than spending lots of time gardening and a few days later finding holes in the leaves your plants. It is truly amazing how quickly pests can damage your plants and kill some of them. There are many products in the market today to get rid of garden pests but some can be quite expensive and not environmentally friendly. But there are some natural insecticides that you can mix at home that will work to get rid of insects and pests.

If you hate caterpillars as much as I do, get rid of them by mixing garlic and hot sauce with water to chase them away. Caterpillars can be very damaging to your plants. Don’t get me wrong, I love butterflies but not the babies so using a natural insecticide will just relocate them to another area. Most natural insecticides act a repellants and not as a way to kill insects. To get rid of spider mites, mix about a quarter of a cup of hydrated lime with water and also add a small drop of soap to help it stick to the plants. Be sure you measure carefully as using too much of the lime could hurt some plants. Soap can be used in different types of mixtures to repel insects, but do be aware that it will wash away with rain or automatic sprinklers.

You can also use horticulture oils that will repel insects by suffocating them. This oil covers insects with an oily film and can damage your crops and gardens as well. Home made sprays on the other hand, can repel those nasty pests and insects and can save you money and also save the environment. The key is to learn how to measure the ingredients carefully so it repels insects and do no harm to your flower gardens. Some gardeners try and use tricks to get rid of insects but tricks are not necessary enough. To get rid of your garden pests and insects you sometimes need to use more than one method to keep them under control.

While insects are not something to be scared about (although those big caterpillars do scare me) you need to be sure that they don’t destroy your flower gardens. What I also recommend is that you teach your children how to safely get rid of insects and what they learn can possibly benefit generations to come. It can’t hurt to encourage them when they are young to take responsibility for maintain gardens and keeping insects away from them. As your children grow older, they will be able to share the insecticide information with their own family.

Who knows? It is possible that your children may pursue a career later in life that deals with gardening, natural insect repellents, farming or even science. Teaching your children   about the safe use of insecticides and more importantly using natural insecticides is a gift that keeps on giving for generations to come. Your responsible actions will help nature to thrive and help the environment and your children will be responsible citizens. And, your children will have gorgeous looking flower gardens!

Here are some other flower gardening sites that I found for you to browse. Thanks for visiting Best Flower Gardening!

Page 2: Grow up! Maximize Space With Vertical Gardening - ABC ...
Grow Your Own Cutting Flowers - Gardening - Your Home - MSN ...
Flower Power: Keeping Them Alive Longer - CBS News
Twitter / Kevin Rozanski: Flower Gardening Tips http ...
Tips for Practical and Successful Flower Gardening - Yahoo! Voices ...
Container Gardening with Flowers

Technorati Tags: flower gardens, gardens insects, insecticides, natural insecticides