I always say that planting spring-flowering bulbs in the fall is one of the easiest family planting activities ever. And, I usually wait until November to plant them.

There are several reasons I wait to plant bulbs until November. First and foremost, there are fewer other activities catching my attention with the weather not as nice. The colorful mums have already been planted, apples picked, and the hectic pace prior to Halloween is over. Second, the bulbs like the cooler temperatures, typically in the 50s and 60s when I plant them. As long as the ground isn’t frozen, you can plant spring-flowering bulbs too.

Third, the act of planting bulbs is somewhat anticlimactic because there is no instant gratification – but planting bulbs is so simple – and the reward in the spring, when the green leaves start to peak from the cold ground, so exciting for the kids and the adults. And who doesn’t love fresh-cut flowers inside the house in the spring?

There are three ways to plant bulbs. First, pick a spot in your entry way or from an often-seen window. Simply dig a trench a few inches deep and scatter a whole bag of mixed bulbs – early to late spring blooming – in the trench. Do a quick check and point as many bulbs root-side down as you can. The rest will find their way. The second option for bulb planting is to dig holes in between existing plantings. I placed a combination of four different deer-resistant varieties side-by-side in each hole to get the maximum result for each hold dug: white daffodil, purple grape hyacinth, white leucojum, and pink wood hyacinth. If you don’t have a yard, do not worry, you can have bulbs too – plant them in a flower pot and keep them on the stoop or balcony. With pansies overtop, the bulbs will sprout right through in the spring.

Along with the bulbs, I’ll find time in the next week or so to sneak in planting three black raspberry shrubs into the vegetable garden for the kids to have their very own “pick your own” experience out back. It’s a great time to call the local nursery to see what may be on sale that you’ve always wanted to have in your garden.

With the leaves largely off the trees – or rapidly blowing away – November is a wonderful time to find yourself enjoying “past leaf peak” time outside with your family, planting bulbs, and cultivating some more happiness for the spring.

Rebecca P. Cohen is Founder and President of Rebecca Plants LLC, a gardening and outdoor lifestyle company that inspires families to be outside and improve their well being. Mark your calendars for Thursday, November 19th at 10:30EST for Rebecca’s next radio show, Get Out of the House, where callers will share favorite multigenerational ways to get outside for the holidays. http://www.rebeccaplants.com.

Copyright 2009 Rebecca Plants LLC

Native Texas Plants from Buchanan's Plants in Houston

I love to see how people garden all over the world, and the plants or ways of gardening that connect us all. Donna Buchanan of Buchanan’s Plants in the Heights in Houston put together the most beautiful basket of Texas plants that attract butterflies for my appearance today on Great Day Houston (Friday 9am-10am CST). Yellow Milkweed, Red Turk’s Cap (the red attracts hummingbirds too), Salvia Leucantha (or Farinacea), and New Gold Lantana. The four plants were presented in a square moss-covered basket, which was absolutely gorgeous. If you live in Houston, you must go to Buchanan’s Plants and ask to see the combination that Donna put together for the show. And if you have kids, the combination Donna selected is the perfect starter kit for your kids’ first butterfly garden. Don Geraci, the wonderful producer at Great Day Houston, said the monarchs are going through Texas now, just as they were in Virginia two weeks ago.  It’s perfect planting time in Texas, and still warm enough in Virginia to plant too (you’ll see, next week I’ll finally get to planting my spring-flowering bulbs: it’s not too late!).

Milkweed, Asclepias Tuberosa, is native to North America and is the host plant for monarch butterfly caterpillars.  Last fall, the milkweed plants that we purchased for our home in Virginia had monarch butterfly eggs all over them, and this kids watched 12 caterpillars grow from teeny tiny to huge, build their chrysalis, and hatch into monarch butterflies.  I am hopeful that the purple New York Aster that I planted in my garden will continue to attract beautiful orange monarchs and many other butterflies that we had this season - and that all the kids in the neighborhood absolutely loved watching - and we’ll witness that lifecycle again as a family.

If you are in or near Houston, mark your calendar for Saturday, November 14th from 10am-4pm to attend Flat Out Fun Day on the Prairie. While in Houston, I met the Katy Prairie Conservancy staff and picked up a flyer for the event, which looks like so much outside fun for the whole family, and a great way to see those native flowers and the wildlife they attract in action.  I also learned about the mission of Scenic Houston and its connection to inspiring many cities to work with the natural environment in responsible and attractive urban development.

So back the butterflies, birds, toads, frogs, turtles, and lizards that are so easy to attract in our planting space and that impact us and our kids in countless ways. I’ve been doing outdoor lessons at the local elementary school, most recently for kindergarten and second grade. Yesterday, with the second graders, they spent their writing time sitting in the school garden and journaled about what they saw, and the garden didn’t disappoint. The kids were excited to see an orange monarch butterfly and a toad around their tiny pond.  The sight of kids lying on their stomachs with their clipboards, intently watching the toad and writing about it, was pretty inspiring.  And, I saw what each child wrote and the way they experienced being outside.  It was a 30 minute lesson - that’s it - taking their writing time outside - that’s it.  Suggest to your child’s teacher that their class do their writing time outside too, or even do their reading time outside.

Just as I do in my daily routine, think to yourself, “Can that be done outside?” It’s amazing how much can be done outside - yesterday, we even invited the neighbors’ kids over and they all did their homework on blankets in the grass, after which they played outside.

Rebecca P. Cohen is a gardening coach and a mom who believes time outside transforms our lives for the better. For her free list of 50 Outdoor Activities for Busy Families or Outdoor Classrooms: The Basics, visit http://www.rebeccaplants.com/outdoorliving.asp.  Mark your calendars for Thursday, October 29th at 10:30a.m.EST for Rebecca’s radio show, Get Out of the House, on Diva Toolbox Radio.

Plant daffodil, tulip, and muscari bulbs now in fall for spring blooms

To garden, according to my Mac dictionary, is “to cultivate or work in a garden”…that sounds quite boring.  To me, gardening is so much more. Stillness. Slow, enjoyable exercise (and you don’t know you’re exercising).  After I had my first child, my tiny patch of yard in front of my townhouse became my playground while my son napped to discover the right perennial combinations that would bloom all season long.  After my second child and in a new garden, the most fail-proof perennials over a decade of gardening made it into my Bloom Calendar.

Stone checkerboard and seats in a fort

Now, the garden becomes a place for time with my kids.  They’ve created their secret garden with transplanted perennials, and grown their first vegetable and herb garden, the easiest of which made it into the Growing Vegetables Guide. I have dreamt up and installed a fire pit, stone checkerboard, and game lawn for a 365 day garden, an outdoor space that can be used all year long.  But, more about dreaming in a minute.

Mums in November

Gardening is time for you and your family in a nurturing space.  There is no prerequisite amount of time you have to be there.  The garden has time for you when you have a few minutes. When I pulled out a yoga dvd for the first time a year ago, I said to myself, “wait a minute; this is what I do in the garden.  But with gardening, I can be outside and look around at beauty instead of my TV screen.” Since then, of course, I’ve found a teacher who will do yoga outside at the drop of the hat and makes it much harder for me than I would ever think to do myself (thanks Peg Mulqueen)!

Before our neighbors moved in next door, my husband told me that our new neighbor was a gardener.  I was excited, of course.  When I met my neighbor’s husband, I told him I was excited to have a gardener next door.  “You’ll see,” he said.  “When she has free time, that’s *all* she does.” Sure enough, every moment of spare time.  It’s amazing to witness.  A mom with a pre-teen son, she has her own reasons for wanting to do it (I’ll be sure to ask her since I’m writing about it).  Even with a hurt foot anticipating surgery, she is outside cultivating her space.  And I’ve watched her transform her backyard in the ten months since she moved in, inch by inch, bit by bit.  All on her own.  I get the benefit of seeing her beautiful yard.  And she gets to enjoy her many spots to sit and enjoy her flowers and bird feeders throughout her yard, placed so she has beautiful views from the inside too.

My perennial entry in June

My friend, garden writer and designer Starla J. King, whom you know from her fabulous, daily Savoring Summer blog for my website, can garden all day. That’s what she does for people; that is her gift.  I’m sure she’ll tell you exactly why she wants to do that (thanks Starla!).

Me?  I want to put a shovel in every person’s hand, give you tips and tricks to make gardening easier, and cheer you on while you transform your space. You don’t have to garden every day or for hours to enjoy the benefits. Not that you’d never need help of professionals for the stuff that you don’t want to do or don’t have the expertise for, but getting started requires simple stuff that you *can* do.  For example, start to dream how you want to feel when you drive up to your home.  You put enough thought into the interior of your home.  Think of how much happier you’d feel every day if you walked up your entry way or out to your back yard and into the space of your dreams.  Ask your kids what would be in their dream garden or yard or balcony too.

Part of my 365 Day Garden in fall

So here is the dreaming part: tell me - tell all of us - what does the space of your dreams look like?  This is the most fun.  Because as soon as you start dreaming it, you’ll find that perfect patio set you’ve been looking for, bite the bullet and get a portable fire pit, sprout herbs on your windowsill or finally have the energy to make that perennial bed in your entry way that welcomes you home with flowers that you can bring inside (and comes back for you every year).  And I even have help for you to know how to lay out any part of your landscape - get tips that professionals use in my Landscape Design Guide. Oh yes, and if you are inspired to do so, you can begin planting now in fall.  As long as you can easily get a shovel into the ground, you’re good.

Go on, describe to us the garden of your dreams.  That nurturing space that welcomes you home and where you could sit for hours (you know, if you had that long).  Even if you don’t live in the space now that you want, envision your dream and describe it anyway.  And if you *do* have that garden of your dreams, tell us about it here, why you love working in it, and inspire all of us!

Rebecca

A row of peas and mesclun

Last week, I gushed with excitement about the orange monarch butterflies on my purple New York aster; I’m still in awe: there are seven orange monarchs now in my yard.  I forgot to mention that I planted my aster only one year ago.  We moved to a new house, and a started a new garden.  But only one year later, the one-time investment of planting aster will have butterflies coming back year after year. Which is why I love planting perennials.  (See my Bloom Calendar for more high impact, long-blooming and easy to care for perennials.  The calendar also notes which flowers are deer resistant; the deer haven’t touched my aster).

Staying on the topic of easy, since that’s what Rebecca Plants is about - simple outdoor ideas that improve your well being - I can highlight this week’s excitement from my yard that I will recommend to you: plant mesclun mix seeds.  My five year-old, upon coming home Monday evening said, “Mom, let’s check on the seeds!” And wouldn’t you know it, we had enough for salad for the week. Three weeks ago, we sprinkled a row of mesclun mix seeds.  We’ve had enough rain that I only had to hand water them once. If you don’t have a vegetable bed, pull out a pot and some potting mix and get a pack of seeds.  As long as your seeds are in a sunny spot, you can extend your season for any greens with a ‘floating row cover,’ that lets the sun and moisture through, but helps protect the greens from the cold (and probably little bunnies). You can find floating row covers at garden centers or internet gardening supply sites.  I’ve seen the row covers secured with only bricks, which is simple enough and keeps the row cover from flying away in the wind.

My peppers that I planted in May are still producing fruit, and we had our last tomato just last week.  The old tomato plant, roots and all, made it back into my compost bin.  It’s a neat feeling to know it will recycle down in a few months to help me have nutrient-rich soil for my spring vegetables.  Last winter, I purchased my first compost bin:  a black plastic bin with a lid to keep animals out.  I put any fruit or vegetable kitchen scraps into it along with with coffee grounds, any grass clippings, dry leaves, or clippings from pruning my perennials.  I keep out weeds (my compost book had more specifics of which are ok and which are not, but it’s too confusing), sticks, and any leaves or plants out that look like they’ve had disease (e.g. black spots or mold).  It took several months for me to get compost; I think of it similar to how long it takes last year’s fallen leaves to decompose over months in the woods.  I found that turning my compost every couple of weeks was important, as well as adding water, which I learned from my yoga teacher, writer Peg Mulqueen (http://www.pegmulqueen.com) helped the stuff I put in break down faster.  Here is a quick video of amazing compost inspiration (and yoga, if you want that too!)

So get started with some mesclun and compost.  If you have fabulous fall veggies and/or compost tips that have worked for you, share them here!  If you haven’t started and are still scared or deterred, tell us why. And if you’re inspired, say so, and we’ll cheer you on every step of the way.

Rebecca

To me, a family garden is an outdoor landscape (if even a balcony, windowsill or community park or school garden) that has something for everyone in your family, and a space you take care of together throughout the year: planting, weeding, watering, and planting again, but also a space where you notice what happens as a result of your work together.  This weekend, my family and I enjoyed our outdoor landscape in many ways.

Pot painting

My friend, garden designer and writer, Starla J. King, reminisced on my blog about a pot painting party with her niece, and I decided to give it a go with my boys, ages five and seven.  Having done many family planting parties in pots, a pot painting party sounded like so much fun.  So, I did it – gathering all of the paints and brushes for our “study/craft/kids everything room” with some newspaper, paper towels, a small bucket of water, and a trash bag, and we started painting outside on plastic pots we had in the closet.  My five year-old had taken a week-long art camp this summer and loved it – he has always loved art at school – but I wasn’t affording him much creative space with our art supplies.  So, this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  The weather was great all weekend – so we had a weekend outdoor art studio, painting four or five pots, and even painting a friendship pot for my boys’ friend who is moving in a month, with each of their hand prints and signatures. 

Fall peas and mesclun two weeks after planting

Sunday morning, my husband and the boys’ grandfather played touch football in the cool morning air while I weeded.  I went on a bike ride with my older son, and then a walk with the dog, and the kids were playing soccer with their dad.  Then my five year-old and I planted some cool season vegetables in pots:  scallions, radishes, and spinach and then we checked on the seedlings popping up from the pea, mesclun, and swiss chard seeds that we planted two weeks earlier in the raised garden beds on the side of the house.

Monarch butterfly on New York aster

Next, I offered for my five year-old to decide what to do.  “Let’s play ‘I spy’,” he said.  We sat in Adirondack chairs that I have in the front perennial garden bed, and watched the three purple aster plants bursting with color and countless butterflies, in all sizes and colors.  One of the reasons I love aster, native to North America, is how it fills up your garden bed with green in the spring and summer, and then bursts into show in fall.  In late May or early June, you cut back the foliage by as much as two thirds (mums too by the way), to have a fuller, sturdier base for the blooms.  For the last three days, we’ve even had three orange monarchs enjoying the aster.

Colorful aster and mums with catmint

Just as catmint (nepeta) and salvia are butterfly-loving staples for the full sun and part sun spring and summer garden, aster is a butterfly-loving staple for the fall garden.  All can be planted now.  Have your kids design their spot (meaning, just put them in charge and let them create).  On occasion, I love going to the garden center with my kids after I pick them up in the evening.  During the week, the garden center is not crowded, there is someone to help you, and you could even have a picnic dinner back at home while you create their garden.  Low on time? You could even go buy the plants for your kids during a lunch hour and they can get started right away at home.  If you want to influence where they dig, you can even pick together a ‘secret garden’ spot where you feel more comfortable giving them creative control and it has a cool name.  That’s what I did   If you have some perennials in your yard that are outgrowing their space, you can divide them (literally split them in half with a straight shovel) and not even have to go out and buy new plants.

This weekend, I even taught my kids how to prune the aster.  Pull off the faded blooms (the ones that are shriveled up and brown); it helps new flowers grow.

Fall-blooming aster and fountain grass

As a family, we’ve seen so many cool things year-round in our yard like skinks (a lizard with a black upper body and electric blue tail), praying mantis, grasshoppers, and frogs.  Why?  Because we have done simple things in our yard that attract these beneficial creatures, giving them food, water, shelter, and places to raise their young.  For example, a small water feature and native plants: perennials like aster, trees like

Virginia sweetspire

evergreen foster holly, and shrubs like deciduous Virginia sweetspire that have beautiful fall color.  You can even certify your back yard as a wildlife habitat with the National Wildlife Federation and they have more information on how to get started.  Also search the internet for your local native plant society for more suggestions.  Even without doing more research, you can do one thing:  go to the nursery and start with fabulous, butterfly-attracting aster.

Rebecca P. Cohen is a gardening coach and a mom who believes time outside transforms our lives for the better.  For her trio of quick-reference guides to the longest-blooming perennials, easiest vegetables, and best tips for designing your landscape, visit http://www.rebeccaplants.com/gardening.asp

This article of mine was first published last fall by Root & Sprout (http://www.rootandsprout.com).  The topic is still relevant for many of us, and so I wanted to share it with you again. Enjoy!

******************

Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly weed)

It was the first day of school for my first-grade son.  “I don’t know where I’m going” said a little boy, perhaps in kindergarten.  “Do you know who my teacher is?” said another little girl.  I found teachers to help these students in the sea of children that surrounded me, most knowing where they were going, following one in front of the other on a green line throughout the school.  My son missed the actual first day due to a high fever Labor Day weekend.  I was escorting him to his classroom.

Ten minutes before, I was outside with my son and other children, waiting for the bell to ring.  We bumped into our neighbors and waited together.  “Tell Shelby and Katelyn how many monarch butterfly caterpillars we have found,” encouraging my son to forget about his first-day nervousness.  “Like, 15!” he replied.  The girls asked how we found so many, and I explained we are planting butterfly weed plants (asclepias tuberosa), which the caterpillars like to eat.  We have found caterpillars everyday for the last week, and only brought them into a large butterfly house (lent by a neighbor) to protect them from being jostled while we plant hundreds of mostly-native plants for our new garden.  “We even have a chrysalis!” he said.  One morning, we noticed the caterpillar hanging, shrinking, and turning black at the top of the butterfly house.  We were slightly afraid that our attempts to give the caterpillars fresh butterfly weed three times a day weren’t working.  But, we left the house for a while, and by afternoon the caterpillar was in a smooth green cocoon.  It was amazing.  As we brought more and more caterpillars into the butterfly house each day, I worried how they would react to one another with so many and of varying sizes.  Would I have enough butterfly weed for them to eat?

“Look what I can do!” said Shelby.  She crossed her hands, interlocking her thumbs and waiving her fingers to form a butterfly.  We all started to do it, and as I was starting to say, “You know what is fun, to find your shadow and make butterfly shadows,” I noticed that the sun was to our backs, and my hands formed a perfect flittering butterfly shadow on the ground.  The kids followed suit, and we had a magical memory standing outside the school.

We found my son’s classroom and he quickly kissed me goodbye and turned to enter the classroom.  I knew he was nervous, but I seemed to be the one having a hard time letting go.  “I’ll be walking to get him from school,” I told the teacher, so she would know where to send him when the kids are dismissed for the day.  Walking from the classroom through the school to leave, I was in awe with so many children buzzing with purpose to their classrooms.  In the halls, I remarked to a smiling teacher helping to direct traffic, “It’s like a busy village of children.”

Walking out of the school, I had tears in my eyes, and for some reason my mind went back to the caterpillars, so many and transforming so quickly.  Would they know what to do in a sea of others just like them?  We’re all transforming everyday; some milestones are more obvious than others.  But with our best foot forward, we somehow find our way. Describing the morning at school to my husband when he anxiously asked, “How did things go?,” he had tears in his eyes too.  “It felt like we were the country mice entering the city for the first time; it seemed so overwhelming” I said.  “Although nervous, he seemed to be fine.” 

At the end of the day, my husband and four year-old went with me to pick my new first grader up from school.  After anxiously waiting for him to appear outside of the school and seeing every one of the neighborhood kids leaving, I went into the office to page him after 15 minutes.  But just then, he walked out the front door, having found his way just fine.  When I asked my son on a scale from one to ten – one being the worst and ten being the best day – how his day went, he smiled and said, “a ten.”  I guess I didn’t need to be worried after all.  And the caterpillars are doing just fine too.

Rebecca P. Cohen is a gardening coach and mom who believes that time outside transforms our lives for the better.  For her free guides, 50 Outdoor Activities for Busy Families and Outdoor Classrooms: The Basics, visit http://www.rebeccaplants.com/outdoorliving.asp 

Welcome to my weekly fall gardening blog!  Here you will find simple ideas that make a big impact.  I believe that anything is easier with the wisdom and experience of others.  And this blog conversation is just that:  for beginners to ask questions and experienced gardeners – yep, you chime in too! - to help the beginners.  No question is too basic:  we are here to help.

Many of you asked about container gardening, whether you are short on space or maybe don’t have a lot of time.  Here are my top 5 tips for sprucing up your space in Fall with plants in containers.

1.  Take stock of your containers.  Yep, bring ‘em all out of your closets.  You probably have more than you think (or at least I sure did).

2.  Use some of your older pots and plant veggies.  Get started with veggie seeds: cool weather vegetables like Swiss Chard, Spinach, Kale, Peas, and Radishes and plant them in containers.  The same tips apply that you saw me offering in my live TV segments in the Spring.  Kids love to help!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adVJ2okGLvQ&feature=channel_page  

Aster and goldenrod

3.  For flowers, put together combinations of 2-3 colors you like. You can purchase annuals like pansies and violas for containers (which are even better with some spring-flowering bulbs buried underneath).  I also like perennials (flowers dormant in winter that return year after year) in containers.  Mums, aster, and goldenrod some of my favorite fall perennials for part to full sun.  ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum is great for dry, sunny conditions.  In shade, try anemone.  For a month-by-month picture guide to the most fail-proof perennials, see my Bloom Calendar: http://www.rebeccaplants.com/gardening.asp

4.  Never underestimate the impact of varying heights.  For example, an ornamental grass, evergreen shrub, or tree is fabulous in a container year-round.  I just picked up azalea and nandina for my patio.  

Nandina with two azalea

The plants will only grow to as large as the pot you put them in.

 5. Drainage is important – have holes in your container and a saucer underneath to catch the water. Water when the soil starts to dry (e.g. every 2-3 days depending on the amount of sun and the plant tag’s recommendations).

You can use these tips at home or spruce up the entrance to your neighborhood school.  For more tips on creating a learning garden at your child’s school, check out my latest free guide, Outdoor Classrooms: The Basics, at http://www.rebeccaplants.com/outdoorliving.asp#classroom

Fall Containers Quick Supplies List

When you hit your favorite nursery or big box garden center, here is a handy list of what you may need:

1 extra large bag potting mix

3-5 packages of vegetable seeds (one type of vegetable per container)

3-5 mums in different colors

1 large ornamental grass

2-3 evergreen shrubs

6-9 containers (depending on how many you have at home!)

Optional:  gardening gloves and a hand shovel

May you find happiness in gardening and involve little ones as much as possible!  Let us know what is working for you this fall and what questions you still have.

Rebecca