Caring for the Flower Garden

Replace cool-season annuals (such as pansies, nemesia, and diascia) when they fade as temperatures rise. Plant heat-loving annuals (such as angelonia, petunias, or salvia) to keep your garden or containers looking great through fall.

Find great annuals for your garden in Plant Encyclopedia!

 

Though the foliage on your spring bulbs (such as tulips, daffodils, or hyacinths) may be fading, wait to remove it until it's gone fully yellow and pulls easily out of the ground.

If there's still some resistance when you try to pull it ground, your bulbs are probably still gathering energy for next year's display.

Now's still a good time to map out your bulb garden if you haven't done so. Referring back to your diagram this fall can make planting more spring bulbs much easier since you'll know exactly where they're planted.

Get more tips on caring for bulbs.

Try to go through your garden at least once a week and snip the dead, faded flowers from your plant. This process, called deadheading, encourages many plants to continue blooming. It prevents your plants from going to seed (so you won't have a crop of seedlings to pull) and can keep your plants from catching disease.

Learn more about deadheading.