The autumn season still pleases us with an abundance of colors, despite the fact that nature is already beginning to prepare for a period of rest, to wither. The variety of colors differ plants of autumn flower beds. They create a festive mood. Especially if planted with fantasy and love.
Classification of Autumn Flowers
Autumn flowers delight not only with a variety of colors, but also with fairly long flowering periods. Most of them bloom in August and can bloom in September, October, and some even in November, until they freeze.
Plants of autumn flower beds can be of the most varied color. Red, orange, yellow, white, pink, purple, blue ... And even colorful.
According to the shape of the flowers and the height of the stem, plants blooming in autumn can also differ significantly.
All these distinguishing features can be skillfully used when breaking down flower beds. For example, competent gardeners skillfully combine plants by color scheme, as well as by flowering period. Plant height also plays a large role in the proper organization of flower beds. Higher plants should not overshadow the lower ones, but denser ones should skillfully tint single instances.
If we talk about the scientific classification, then autumn flowers are divided into annual and perennial. The latter, in turn, are bulbous.
Autumn flower garden plants: names
There are a lot of autumn flowers. But of course, among them there are the most common, usually distinguished by their unpretentiousness in cultivation.
Among the perennial autumn flowers in the gardening areas, chrysanthemums, clematis, roses, gladioli, dahlias, gelenium, "Chinese lanterns", stonecrop, hydrangea, salvia, colchicum, asters predominate. The latter are not only perennial, but also annual.
The annual autumn flowers include alissum, ageratum, marigolds, godetia, dimorphotheque, cosmea, zinnia and others.
Many summer residents prefer to plant perennial autumn flowers: no need to take care of planting every year, with the exception of bulbous perennials. In addition, for the most part perennial plants of autumn flower beds are unpretentious to the soil, care, lighting.
Planting perennial flowers
Perennials can propagate by seeds, bulbs, cuttings and dividing the bush.
The best time to plant them is the beginning of spring, as well as August-September.
Autumn planting, in October-November, has a positive effect on hardening of seeds: they germinate together, the plants develop a good root system, and they are more resistant to disease. By the way, in the autumn they plant not only perennial, but also annual flowers, for example, alissum, Chinese carnation, rudbeckia, Chinese aster and others.
Before planting the plants, it is necessary to dig up the soil well and make mineral and organic fertilizers. Only then prepare the holes or grooves. Sowing seeds in them is not necessary immediately. This is best done when the soil is already slightly frozen. Top seeds should be sprinkled with peat and sand, for this purpose it is possible to use humus in half with sand. Top of the bed is covered with dry foliage.
They are planted most often
Perennial plants of autumn flower beds are most popular: chrysanthemum, aster and gelenium. Let's talk about the first two in more detail.
Chrysanthemum is often called the "Queen of the Autumn." Her flowers are distinguished by a wide variety of shades and shapes. Ordinary terry and semi-double inflorescences are white, yellow, pink, red, cream, lilac flowers.
Garden chrysanthemums, depending on the variety, bloom from late August to late October and even later, until the frost.
It is best to plant chrysanthemums in sunny places and on fertile loose soil. Before flowering, they must be fed with nitrogen fertilizers. Then - switch to phosphoric and potash. In dry weather, chrysanthemums should be watered so that the leaves do not dry out. You can transplant them at any time, only you need to dig out with a large lump of earth.
Perhaps the most common flowers in the fall in the flowerbed are asters. The abundance of their colors is impressive, flowering is quite long.
New Belgian asters can be distinguished . They are tall with a straight stem branching strongly at the end. New England asters, on the contrary, grow in a bush, and when they bloom, they look like a beautiful bouquet. On many flower gardens in the fall you can see small-flowered asters. Pale pink, white and light purple inflorescences of these asters do not fade until the first frost.
Perennial asters are best propagated by dividing the bush. This must be done in the spring. For good growth and flowering, asters need top dressing and watering.
Bulb planting
Special care does not require bulbous plants of autumn flower beds. Many gardeners have heard their names: colchicum, beautiful crocus, gladiolus, begonia, dahlia.
The main difference between bulb perennials is that the bulbs of some of them should be dug up and stored in a cool place after the first frost. They must be planted in the ground in early spring. These plants include begonias, gladiolus and dahlias.
But colchicum, or colchicum, is planted in July-August, to a depth of about 10 centimeters, but a penumbra is also suitable in a sunny place. It will bloom next fall. The same should be done with autumn crocuses.
Before planting any bulbs, you should carefully inspect and select good, without damage, large bulbs. Then they must be etched in any of the solutions: potassium permanganate or karbofos.
The soil must be fertilized with minerals. Superphosphate, potassium phosphate, and ammonium nitrate are best. Additionally humus. By planting onion plants in the spring, you can be calm all season - they do not need any care.
The story of the autumn flower garden plant
Our choice fell on the dahlia. In terms of the splendor of flowering and its duration, dahlias, perhaps, have no equal. A large number of varieties were bred, differing in color and shape of flowers and leaves, the height of the bushes.
Dahlias love sunny places protected from the wind, and the soil is loose, fertile.
They need to be planted when the earth has warmed up well (late May-early June). Pits for planting tubers should be prepared in advance, dig them to the depth of the bayonet shovel. At the bottom of the pits poured rotted manure, superphosphate, complex fertilizer, ash and lime (the last in a handful). All mixed with sand. Tubers are planted to a depth of 10 cm (previously large ones are divided into several parts), covered with soil and well watered.
Taking into account that the dahlia stalks grow quite high, you should immediately install pegs near the pit with planted tubers, so that you can then attach the stems to them.
Dahlia care consists of infrequent watering and top dressing. And by the end of summer and all autumn, these flowers will delight you with lush flowering and brightness of colors.
Transplanting autumn perennials
Perennial plants of autumn flower beds need to be transplanted periodically, conducting the separation of the bushes. If they grow strongly, they will lack nutrients in the soil, as well as moisture and light.
Transplanting perennial flowers is best done during a period of quiet growth. First a place is prepared: the earth is dug up and mixed with fertilizers. Then prepare the wells, which are watered with water. Before digging up a plant, it must also be watered. A shovel is stuck into the ground carefully and at a certain distance from the stems so that the roots are not damaged. A plant gets along with a lump of earth and is immediately placed in a hole if separation is not required. Sprinkled with earth, which is compacted. Then the plant is watered with water.
When transplanting tall perennials into the hole, you immediately need to drive a peg in order to attach the growing stems of the plant to it.
Pruning autumn flowers
The story of the autumn flower garden plant will not be complete if you do not remember the preparation of these plants for the winter and their pruning.
Perennial flower plants should be cut for the winter. Because in the spring, old shoots will interfere with the young. Cut dried stems should not be to the ground, but leaving some of them with leaves for the accumulation of nutrients that will be needed next year. After pruning flower plants, the ground near them must be loosened and fertilized in the form of humus or compost.
Perennial shrub flowers, for example roses, are cut for the winter. First of all, damaged as well as immature shoots are removed. Roses leave a lignified part of the stems. But leaves and buds are also removed from them, as well as vegetation from under the bushes. This is done so that harmful insects that can contribute to the development of diseases or the spread of infection are not bred there.
However, some autumn plants, such as clematis, are pruned in early spring.
Shelter of flowers for the winter
Autumn flower garden: plants, varieties and care. It seems that all this has already been said. But it’s also worth talking about sheltering flowers for the winter.
After trimming the plant and harvesting old leaves, it is necessary to mulch the earth around it with compost, and cover it with lapnik from above. By the way, in the spring, spruce branches must be removed immediately so that it does not interfere with the plant's shoot production.
Shelters for the winter require roses, clematis, phlox, clove Shabo and some other flowers.
For example, autumn crocuses do not require shelter for the winter. Long-term asters, stonecrops, goldenrod are also frost-resistant. However, flower beds where they grow can be mulched by using peat mixed with humus or compost.
Finally, some flower plants, as mentioned above, are dug up and stored in a cool place for the winter.
After a successful wintering, perennial plants will let out young shoots, they will gain strength over the summer, and in the fall they will again delight everyone with their multi-colored colors. On this, our story about which plants bloom in autumn is over.