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Garden journal entry |
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April flowers |
April 30, 2018. Mums bloom in fall, right? That's not only what my own experience tells me, but also what any gardening magazine or book says. Turns out that conventional wisdom does not apply to Texas mums – they bloom in both spring and fall. That's kind of cool.
For a season in which all manner of plants come into bloom, I haven't posted here much. To be sure, I've added plenty of pictures and observations to my plant portrait pages, but there didn't seem to be any one surprise or insight that warranted a journal post. So it's the lowly mum that breaks the dry spell. Speaking of which – we may need to turn on our timed sprinkler system soon: it's getting hot in Houston, and without rain in the past week, rather dry. |
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| Justin Ayers | Jan 22, 2019 | If you like mums you may want to consider planting the species plants with single, not double, flowers. They are more attractive to butterflies. One species I have had good success with is Chrysanthemum segetum. It's easy to grow from seed and has a long blooming period. The plants have small butterflies and bees on the blooms most of the time, unlike double mums which don't get much action. Research has shown that Chrysanthemum segetum plants produce a lot of nectar, when compared to some other meadow plants. The flowers are yellow and cheerful.
Thanks Justin. I grew Sheffield mums in Pennsylvania, which were single-flowered (but not yellow). Our current ones are standard-issue big-box-store mums, but I'm open to trying some species. |
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