Garden Chores...Fall or Spring?

 Every gardener knows there are always chores to do in the garden...trimming, weeding and mulching to name just a few. There is always something to keep us busy, and if you're like me you love every minute of it!  Here are just a few of my gardening chores. 

Some of my fall chores include:

 Pulling all of the old leaves off of my daylilies. This keeps "critters" out of the clumps.

 Trim off all old Blanket Flower foliage. Blanket Flowers grow very well in my garden and I have several types. As you can see they are evergreen.

 All Siberian Iris get a "crew cut".

 I cut down the old foliage off the Black Eyed Susans and the Coneflowers. However, I do leave some of the seed heads for the birds.

 The Shasta Daisies are cut back.

 The Asters are cut down to the ground. This one "English Countryside" is already growing back. In fact, it has spread so much that I will be digging out side clumps and sharing them with gardening friends in spring.

And of course the Iris. Believe it or not I removed all the dead leaves in fall. It is important to do this twice a year to help prevent diseases and pests. After the spring clean-up I will cut the leaves in a fan shape. I never remember how many Iris and Daylilies I have until I start trimming them....I have a lot of them!!

Some plants I don't trim until spring because I think they provide winter interest.

These include:

 Gaura

Bee Balm

Some plants I don't trim until spring because the old growth helps protect the crowns of the new growth. These include:

 Mums

 Catmint...This one already has quite a bit of new growth.

 Salvia

 Another Salvia...(I have several different types). You can see the new growth on this one.

Russian Sage. This will be cut down to about three inches in spring.

Spring chores include:

 Giving the Crepe Myrtles a nice trim and removing the spent flowers. Since they bloom on new wood this will increase the summer's flower production.

Trimming the Butterfly Bushes to about two - three feet. This will promote strong new growth for good flowering.

These are just a few of my chores. Once spring arrives I will begin spending 5-6 hours a day, 5-7 days a week in my garden. Have a mentioned that I LOVE gardening! 

Happy Gardening!

Words and Photos Property of Christy's Cottage Wildlife Garden.

 

I REALLY Do Have Flowers In My Garden!

Starting a blog in winter can be a challenge because I don't have any pretty flowers to show you. However I was so excited to start my blog and to "meet" others who are as passionate about gardening as I am, that I couldn't wait until spring. On this post I thought I'd show you some pictures of my garden taken in 2012. We enlarged our gardens this past fall and have plans to increase them again in spring, so I will have so much to show you this year! I did not put a caption under the pictures, so if you have a question about anything you see, please ask me and I'll be happy to answer you!! I hope you enjoy!!

I am so looking forward to spring so I can share more of my garden with you.

Happy Gardening!

Words and Photos Property of Christy's Cottage Wildlife Garden