September and October are a strange months for our northern California gardens. Most summer annuals are beginning to lose steam after their usual explosion of color the months prior. Roses are usually taking a breather prior to one final flush in the fall and vegetable gardens are looking pretty well cleaned out. I find this time of the garden year an opportunity to take note of my successful plantings for future seasons as well as to begin to prepare for winter flowers, vegetables and spring bulbs.

Bulbs are arriving in your nursery and now is the time to either purchase them locally or receive them from mail-order catalogs. The most important thing to remember with bulbs is to keep them cool and dry before they go into the ground. Tulip and hyacinths for example, will perform their best only if given a pre-planting chill in your refrigerator for at least three months prior to planting. I order all of my bulbs from Van Engelen Inc and ask them to pre-chill the bulbs and to ship later than usual. When the bulbs arrive I clean out the old refrigerator in the garage and store the boxes of bulbs in there until it is time to plant. Be sure there are no apples or other fruits in that particular refrigerator as the methane gas released will interfere with the bulb’s blooming in the spring. I do my tulip planting the weekend of Thanksgiving, as by this time the soil has cooled off enough for the bulbs to growth healthy roots before the rainy months arrive. Favorite tulips which have done well for me: Monte Carlo, Angelique, Pink Impression (my absolute favorite!), President Kennedy, Red Emperor. If you live in gopher country, realize tulip bulbs are like caviar to the little varmints, so you have two choices: protect the entire planting bed with buried chicken wire or plant your tulips in pots. I prefer large pots so that they can be moved to display the flowers when they are in full bloom and then discarded once done. Do I try to rebloom tulips? No. Bulb size diminishes after each bloom, so the display is only half as spectacular the next year. Same with hyacinths.

For those who want bulbs which multiply each year and don’t need as much fussing over, daffodils are your flower. Daffodils can be left in the ground, are not eaten by gophers or deer. They only ask that the soil they are in remain relatively dry over the summer as too much water will cause the bulbs to rot. Some favorites of mine: Ice Follies, Salome, Spellbinder, Early Sensation, and Lemon Glow. The bulb world is a large one, so keep trying new varieties and species. A garden isn’t complete without freesias, crocus, anemones, ranunculus, lilies, and amaryllis to name a few other favorites.

Late September is when I clean out the summer flower beds, add compost and replant the beds with my winter veggies and flowers. If you wait too long to plant winter color, they will not root into the soil because the soil is too cold. If you push the envelope and plant while the soil is still warm you will be rewarded by flowers blooming clear through the winter months. Some of my favorites: stock, primroses of all kinds, pansies and violas, cyclamen, cineraria, and Iceland poppies. For the vegetable lovers: leaf lettuces, peas, cabbage, and kale are easy in the winter.

For bulbs, check out VanEnglen’s website and do it now as the clock is ticking for fall bulbs planting. For seeds, check out Burpee, Renee’s Garden, Park’s Gardens, and White Flower Farm.