Fresh Fall Bulbs
It is too bad that more gardeners don’t realize the value of fall planting. All too many feel that they must wait until spring. Actually, in most parts of the Midwest where we often have dry summers that start surprisingly early in the spring, fall planting is usually more satisfactory than spring planting.
In the fall the ground is usually in better physical condition to be worked even though it may be a little bit dry. You are not so hampered by rain or wet ground, nor do you have the pressure of the many things that must be done in the spring. In addition to this, the average nursery is not as rushed and has more time to dig and deliver your plants.
Since the plants are going into dormancy you don’t have the worry as you do in the spring that they are going to start growing in the packages if the plants have been shipped by mail, express, or freight. Another often overlooked advantage is the fact that anything that you buy in the fall has been freshly dug and not stored over winter in cold storage.
Although stored trees and shrubs are satisfactory, you will get quicker root action and often quicker growth from those that are freshly dug and replanted immediately. There is always an advantage, of course, in buying close to home where the plants can be dug and taken home in your car and replanted the same day. Let’s hope that you don’t have the habit of saying “I’m tired today, I’ll do it tomorrow.” Every day, every hour, a plant is out of the ground, it will take it that much longer to recover from the shock of transplanting.
A few plants are best planted in the spring. This group includes certain trees such as cherry laurels, redbud, flowering dogwood, white birch, cherry and flowering cherry, peach and flowering peach, and all of the magnolias including the tulip tree and cucumber tree.
For the absolute novice gardener, you of course don’t plant tender bulbs like gladiolus, dahlias, tuberoses, and things of that sort in the fall. On the other hand it is an absolute must that spring blooming bulbs, including tulips, daffodils, squills, crocuses, grape hyacinths, winter aconites, fritillarias, and snow drops be fall planted. Although lilies can be planted in the spring, all of the bulb growers dig them in the fall so they are in far better condition. And since lily bulbs are rather perishable, the sooner you get them into the ground after they have been dug, the better. Granted those mummies you buy from the chain stores in the spring may be alive and growing, you get so much more for your money from fall planted lilies.
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