Cottage Grove location open

Mon-Fri 9-7
Sat and Sun 9-5

Edgerton location open

Mon-Fri 8:30-5:30
Sat 8:30-5:00
Sun 9-4

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Now is the time to get your mums for fall. Currently blooming are yellow, maroon, purple, pink, white, orange, burgundy, scarlet, bronze, and even tricolor mums! They’re large, beautiful, and ready to make your home look spiffy again. Get an even better deal when you get 3 or more!

Don’t Let Others Mess with Your Mums
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If you want your mum to be happy and beautiful, it’s important to take good care of her. Make sure she has a nice home, visit her regularly, and make sure she’s well watered. Of course we’re talking about the plant, but this applies to caring for your mother, too. By the way, have you called her lately? Anyway, after you call your mom, come on out a pick up a mum. Good care is important, so here are a few tips.

First off, mums need full sun for those vibrant, gorgeous blooms! Keep them evenly moist; not too wet, and definitely not too dry. If they stay in the pot, check regularly for watering needs, but you don’t have to water nearly as often if they are planted in the ground. When you get your mums, they’re already blooming and still feeding from a shot of slow-release fertilizer they received when we plant them, so there’s no need to fertilize. As blooms begin to lose their luster, they can be safely cut off, and doing so will bolster the plant’s remaining blooms.

Fireworks Fountain Grass
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This week, buy one Fireworks Fountain Grass in a jumbo pot and get another one free! These annual grasses have colorful foliage which give the perfect splash of color to any landscape or fall container. The color of the grass varies with sun exposure; more sun makes the foliage darker.

This offer is good through Sept 2^nd and is valid at both locations. Excludes #10 or #12 fountain grasses. Good while supplies last.

Pansies in need of a good home
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If anyone ever calls you a pansy, take it as a complement! Pansies are bright, colorful, and can tough out the cold while other flowers just shrivel up. They are classic beauties and just one of the many fall favorites that are cold-tolerant.

We have pansies, cabbage, kale, snap dragons and swiss chard in #3 pots, cabbage in #8, ornamental pepper plants in jumbo pots, and fountain grasses in #10 and #12 pots. You can mix n’ match them with mums or asters for an endless number of unique combinations. They’ll add instant color to your landscape that will last well into the fall.

Powdery Mildew
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Last week, we had some cooler days and our first taste of fall. Though it doesn’t necessarily mean cool weather is here to stay, it does serve as a reminder that the end of summer is near. This time of year, it’s good to continue monitoring and do a little late summer and fall clean up for disease control.

If you noticed any plants that had problems with disease over the summer, it’s helpful to clean up the surrounding area. That means getting rid of any leaf-litter, dead plant material, and weeds, as these all can potentially harbor disease. This also goes for mulch in the affected area, which should be replaced with fresh mulch. Be sure to dispose of the infected material, but refrain from putting it on your compost pile to avoid risking contamination. Most home compost piles don’t reach the temperature required to kill pathogens.

Black Spot on Rose Leaves
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If you catch it early, we recommend spraying with Bonide Fung-onil or Bonide Copper Fungicide, which are both very effective preventative sprays that cover a wide range of plant diseases including mildew, black spot, rust, and early blight. Fung-onil is more rapidly effective, while copper fungicide takes up to two weeks to set in. But copper fungicide is better for organic gardening. They both can’t reverse the damage already done, but they can prevent further spread.

We have Bonide Fug-onil available in spray or concentrate and Bonide Copper Fungicide available in a spray.

At our annual Art in the Garden event, we bring together talented, local artists to sell their art, crafts, and wares. If you’re an artist looking to share your art, please consider participating as a vendor and click here for information.

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We are currently in the process of redoing our website in order to make it more helpful and user-friendly. We’d like to get your feedback as we continue to tweak it. Please check it out at www.americasbestflowers.com/new, and let us know the good and the bad, by emailing Ed at ed@americasbestflowers.com. You can also check it out on your smartphone!

Please specify in your email if you are viewing it on a computer or smartphone. Thanks!

Q: We have a large rock garden full of oriental lilies, as well as some daylilies.  All of these have stopped blooming.  My husband would like to know when he can cut the flower stalks down.  I know we always let our other perennial flower stems die down on their own.  My husband usually cuts the lilies down.  I think he does it sometime in September.  However, this year he is anxious to cut it down as soon as he can.  I was always told to leave perennials alone after they stopped blooming so that the bulbs would get stronger for next year.  I was also told that if you cut the stems too soon that this wouldn’t happen.  Thanks for the advice.

A: Flower stalks on daylilies can be cut back as soon as they are done blooming, even when the stem is still green. Leave the foliage to feed the roots, preferably until they go dormant in the fall. If they are floppy and unruly, you can trim back green leaves by a third to a half if he is just dying to tidy things up.

You are right that oriental lilies should go dormant before getting cut down. When the stem is brown and dried out, you know the leaves have done their job nourishing the bulb to prepare for next season — maybe even making bulblets to produce more flower stalks in seasons to come. You can cut the stem back by a third after the blooms are done, much as you would if cutting the flowers for a bouquet. That should tidy things up a bit. Then cut down the rest later in fall when it dries out. Cutting the stalk down to the ground when it is still green can severely compromise next year’s performance, or kill the bulb entirely. Don’t do that!

Happy gardening,
    ~Irene

We want you to be successful in your gardening efforts. Please send any questions you have to Irene, at abfirene@gmail.com. She’ll give you solid advice from years of gardening experience.