14 Apr Fall Forward: Tricks for enhancing your landscape with bulbs

Wait, didn’t we just spring forward with the time change? Well, now that it’s officially spring, those lovely spring-blooming are starting to show up with their much anticipated color. And now is the time for forward thinking to fall, when we plant those dazzling spring beauties. Not only do we enjoy them, but the bees, who don’t have a lot of other options for pollen this early in the season, also benefit.

So take a good look around your landscape now and identify areas you’d like to see more color at this time of year. There are a couple ways to keep track of where that spot was by fall when everything looks very different.

1. Take photos and label or mark up. A trick Ilike is to take a picture that includes my finger pointing to the area I want to draw attention to.
2. Put pin flags or other markers in the ground that will stay put till fall that you won’t mind terribly looking at all season. I recommend green pin flags that you can push down low enough (if you find a good spot without too many rocks – I won’t hold my breath on that one!) so the flag blends in with the foliage. If you want to get really fancy, write on the flag the color and height of flowers you’d love to see there.

You can leave the rest to us. We select water-wise, deer-resistant bulbs, many of which naturalize, meaning they proliferate and spread the beauty without any effort on your part. None of that digging-up-bulbs-to-store-in-the-garage business when you leave it to us. Click here to get on our list for bulb planting in fall.

To the glory of the garden,

Eva Montane

Columbine Landscapes