Autumn is here!

360 Sod (Donna Dixson)
by 360 Sod (Donna Dixson)
Today is the first day of autumn! What better way to celebrate than to plant some beautiful fall color that will last you into the spring. This is perfect planting time here in our zone 7b Georgia area. Fall annuals are a snap to plant. You can actually throw down a bag of soil mix on the top of the ground in a nice little mound and plug your little darlins right in. Mix in some slow release fertilizer and cover the whole mound of beauty with some pine bark nuggets and viola voila, instant garden magic.
I am particularly fond of placing snapdragons behind my pansies and viola and I am going to tell you my super secret why. They are my favorite to share with my grandchildren, but you have be careful with showing them how to pull them off and pinching the sides of the bloom to open their cute little blooms to look like a dragon biting at you or the grands will pull all your blooms off! So here is the secret, I don't care if they do pull them all off. I am going to cut them down to about 4-6 inches to hide them behind the pansies through the winter because they really don't look so hot anyway. Then in Spring...more flower magic! They grow up twice as beautiful and strong with a million blooms. ..well maybe a few more than that but they are totally awesome. And for giggles and glory try some Bright Lights Swiss chard in a pot surrounded by some sweet little blueberry sorbet violas. It will make you smile every day when they are there to greet you home. And not only that if your are feeling desperate or frolicky with your meal plan, you can slip the blooms of the viola into your salad and parboil the chard for an anti-oxidant healthy meal.
You have now become a bonafide vegetable grower! Wow, how can you go wrong here? Enjoy and Happy fall planting.
Viola
Bright Lights Chard
Bright Lights Chard
Panola
Snapdragon
Snapdragon
Snapdragon
Viola
Viola
Viola
Frequently asked questions
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  3 questions
  • Karyl Zimmerman Karyl Zimmerman on Oct 26, 2016
    Do they live in South Carolina Thru winter in to spring
  • J. J. on Apr 03, 2017
    Do deer and squirrels like violas?
  • Barb Barb on Nov 02, 2019

    How do you/we tell pansies and violas apart from each other?

Comments
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  • Lisa House Lisa House on Oct 21, 2016
    How lucky that you can have such beautiful flowers this time of year! I will trade you my ice and snow for a couple of months....
    • 360 Sod (Donna Dixson) 360 Sod (Donna Dixson) on Nov 16, 2016
      I agree Lisa! I love having color in the short dark days of winter. Another way to have color is to plant shrubs or trees with cool barks like a Coral Bark Maple
  • Shoshana Shoshana on Mar 13, 2017

    Beautiful!

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