Extending the Bloom Season

One of the biggest challenges in designing a successful landscape is to achieve color and interest from the first sign of spring to the doldrums of winter. 

The information provided below is a great resource to follow along with our video “How To Extend the Bloom Time of Your Yard & Garden”.  Link available after 12:00 on March 13

  1. ANNUALS or PERENNIALS
    1. Re-bloomers
    2. Mixing spring, summer and fall bloomers
  2. FERTILIZER & DEADHEADING
    1. Deadheading spent blooms, especially on those that tend to re-bloom.
    2. Fertilize annuals every 7-14 days ensures they will bloom until the first freeze. Fertilize perennials around tax day and again memorial day.  For shrubs and trees, it is best to fertilize just a few times per year around April 15,  June 1, and October 1.
  3. USING BULBS
    1. Plan spring bloom in the fall with tulips, daffodils, allium and more.
    2. Also plant summer flowering bulbs such as canna, gladiolus, dahlias after the threat of frost has passed
  4. USING STRUCTURES
    1. Add all season interest using decorative containers, metal structures, arbors, trellises in interesting shapes, wind spinners or specialty shaped benches and garden art.
  5. KNOW YOUR PLANTS
    1. Know your planting zone and the plant’s requirements such as sun, shade, soil drainage, etc…
  6. DESIGN 
    1. Plants should be arranged in a pattern and designed with their mature size, or scale, accounted for.
  7. EARLY SPRING — March/April
    1. Daffodils
    2. Forsythia
    3. Creeping Phlox
    4. Pussy Willow
    5. Hellebores
    6. Candytuft
    7. Rock Cress
    8. Forget-Me-Not
    9. Deutzia
    10. Magnolia
    11. Flowering Cherry
    12. Eastern Redbud
  8. SPRING — May
    1. Lilac
    2. Rhododendrons and Azaleas
    3. Weigela
    4. Viola
    5. Peony
    6. Hybrid Creeping Phlox
    7. Viburnum
    8. Dogwood
    9. Crabapple
    10. Later blooming Magnolia
  9. EARLY SUMMER — End of May to June
    1. Coreopsis
    2. Astilbe
    3. Baptisia
    4. Iris germanica
    5. Geranium
    6. Coral Bells, Foamy Bells, Foamflower (Heuchera, Heucherella, Tiarella)
    7. Dianthus
    8. Lupines
    9. Salvia
    10. Veronica
    11. Clematis
    12. Oakleaf Hydrangea
    13. Japanese Spirea
  10. MID-SUMMER — End of June ot July
    1. Butterfly Bush
    2. Allium
    3. Catmint
    4. Heliopisis
    5. Daylilies
    6. Shasta Daisies
    7. Garden pPhlox
    8. Bee Balm
    9. Lavender
    10. Russian Sage
    11. Perennial Hibiscus
    12. Hydrangeas (all)
    13. Buttonbush
    14. Shrub roses
    15. Franklinia
  11. LATE SUMMER TO FALL — August
    • Rose of Sharon
    • St. Johns Wort
    • Summersweet
    • Black-Eyed Susan
    • Aster
    • Igloo Mum
    • Garden Mum
    • Sedum
    • Ornamental Grass
    • Seven Son Flower Tree
  12. FALL — September to October
    1. Sweet Autumn Clematis
    2. Japanese Anemone
    3. Ornamental Grasses
    4. Montauk Daisy
  13. WINTER — November to February
    1. Witch Hazel
    2. Helleborus
    3. Porch Pots
  14. PLANTS WITH MULTI SEASON INTEREST 
    1. Chokeberry
    2. Seven Son Flower Tree
    3. Serviceberry Tree
    4. Tricolor Beech
  15. PLANTS WITH COLORFUL FOLIAGE
    1. Ornametnal Grasses
      1. Northern sea oats (chasmanthnium)
      2. Panicum virgatum (switch grass)
      3. Calamagrostis (feather reed grass)
      4. Maiden Grass
      5. Fountain Grass
    2. Boxwood
    3. Ferns
    4. Hosta
    5. Coral Bells
    6. Ornamental Elderberries
    7. Japanese Maples
    8. Ligularia
    9. Aralia Sun King
    10. Sedge Grass
    11. Plants with purple foliage
      1. Dark foliaged perennial hibiscus
      2. Ligularia
      3. Penstemon
      4. Ornamental Elderberry
      5. Smoke Bush
      6. Coral bells
      7. Blackhawks Big Blue Stem Grass
  16. PLANTS WITH COLORFUL FRUIT
    1. Winterberry
    2. Beautyberry
    3. Snowberry
    4. Viburnum
    5. Fragaria Berried Treasure
  17. PLANTS WITH COLORFUL BARK OR STEMS
    1. Red Twig or Yellow Twig Dogwood
    2. River Birch
    3. White Birch
    4. Paperbark Maple
    5. Harry Lauders Walking Stick
    6. Coral Bark Maple