TREES AND FLOWERS

Layer Your Color

For continuous color from spring through summer, plant bulbs in layers in the same hole (on top of each other).

Dig the hole 15 inches deep and 18 inches wide. After you have removed the soil, mix in a little compost.

Place 2 inches of coarse sand in the hole first for drainage. Add 3 inches of the soil, and plant lilies as your first layer of bulbs because they will bloom last. Cover the bulbs with 2 inches of the soil.

The next layer should be daffodils, hyacinths, or alliums, and cover them with 2 inches of the soil. It is best to plant them in different spots than the lilies if you can, but they will find their way up no matter what.

The next layer should be tulips, covered with 2 inches of soil.

And, the last layer should be irises and/or crocuses because they bloom first in the season, covered with 4 inches of soil.

Add some pansies on the very top so you don't have a large bare spot in the garden.

Since you've done so much work and hope for so much color later, you may want to go one step further and add protection from moles. Before you put anything into the hole, line the bottom and sides with chicken wire. And spread chicken wire across the top before you put in the last layer of soil.

Bloomingbulb.com can help you get ideas on colors, or even on which plants would do well in your area.

Natural Garden

Fields of flowers in the wild do not look like most home gardens. That's because we tend to mix our flowers and our colors. And, you would not normally see one plant here and one plant there all spread out.

Try separating flowers and colors into groups. You may have six yellow daylilies in one group in the back of the garden, ten orange marigolds on the left, eight white azaleas on the right, and twelve purple pansies in the front.

Moonlight Garden

A moonlight garden is one that shows up, even glows, in the light of the moon. Many white flowers and some plants with silver foliage are the best for this garden because they reflect the moonlight. But, there are also some colored flowers that glow in the moonlight. Some others to add are flowers that only bloom at night, and many of these come with a great fragrance. These bring the added bonus of attracting large and beautiful moths that you won't see in the daytime.

DirectGardening.com has a great resource to let you find plants by color just for your zip code, and you can narrow the search even further by height, season, sun, etc.