Thursday, November 26, 2015

Thanksgiving Chrysanthemums

Happy Thanksgiving!  
Here are my Chrysanthemums blooming this month.  Most of these are available from King's Mums. Since I pinch for many blooms for the garden, I don't get the huge blooms that are in the catalog. 
Saga No Yuki is a Brush type

2 bouquets I'm taking to 2 houses today

Yellow Vesuvio was the first to bloom for me. 
My Favorite Mum is spider variety Fleur de Lis


Evening Glow

A Spider that I got from a client along time ago. 
Wisp Of Pink is a Brush & Thistle type

Kotoi No Kaori, an adorable Gnome variety
This might be Nijin Bigo

Yoko Ono

Ali is a Brush & Thistle type



Tag missing

Lily Gallon

Woolman's Century
Seeing them altogether, I see what colors I'm missing.  I need red and purple and of course more orange.  I like the big unusual flowers.   I've found that you can't fund these in local nurseries.  I will be ordering more Mums next Spring.  

Mums very easy to grow in my garden despite my super sandy soil. In SoCal, cut them back to almost the ground after blooming(you'll see new growth popping out of the ground) and pinch through the summer and stake them.  I usually put three stakes around them and bundle with tie tape.  They make great cut flowers.  I learned at the Mum show this year that if you pinch to make just one big bloom, the flowers will come earlier(early Nov). If you pinch for many blooms they'll come later(middle or end of Nov).  

Happy Gardening!   



Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Autumn 💜 Purple

I've probably posted about this plant before. But it's blooming so beautifully now I must again! This is Hypoestes aristata. I think it's looking so good this year is because I cut it three times; a big whack after blooming, another trim in spring and another in summer. That's why it has such a nice shape. If I didn't do those prunings it would be super rangy leaning all over.  I do have two of these plants.  The other is to the left.  But I couldn't get both in the pic. 


This is a plant like Chrysanthemums and some Salvias where you cut them down almost to the ground after blooming. When you do that can see new growth coming out from the ground. That tells you that it's ok to whack it.

How is your autumn garden?