Video:Tips for Maintaining Fall Bloomers

Transcript:Tips for Maintaining Fall Bloomers

Hi I'm Nick Jaynes for About.com and these are tips for maintaining fall bloomers.

Classic Fall Bloomers

I'll be using some information found on about.com's gardening guide site.

1. Aster Virtually maintenance free once your put it in your flower garden. It has a natural immunity to disease and insect attack. Mulch with seaweed, compost, or pine bark to provide extra nutrients for the flower.

2. Coreopsis These flowers bloom best in full sun, and once you plant them they require very little water. Make sure you remove the seed heads before the winter otherwise birds will devour them.

3. Pansies Make sure they get at least six hours of sunlight per day, otherwise you will get fewer flowers. Add compost or well-rotted manure to the soil so the flower has added nutrients, and give them at least 1 inch of water per week. Fertilizing them every three weeks during growing season will also help.

More Fall Bloomers

4. Michaelmas Daisy One major obstacle is preventing mildew from getting on the flowers. Make sure to keep the weeds down around the flower. Removing all top growth at the end of the season will reduce the amount of spores surviving in the winter. Healthy soil is a must for this plant to survive.

5. Perennial Geranium Shear these plants back to stimulate growth. Make sure to dispose of any infected or dead leaves to prevent disease from spreading.

Other Fall Bloomers

6. Rudbeckia Go easy on the fertilizer, and use some compost in the soil. Deadheading the faded flowers will keep the plant in bloom longer. If the flowers are overcrowded, start dividing them up into separate spaces.

7. Setsugekka Camellia Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep root system. Provide well-drained soil, rich in organic matter. Make sure to keep roots cool with a thick layer of mulch.

8. Kaleidoscope Abelia This flower performs best in full sun to partial shade. Sometimes the plant produces water shoots that need to be immediately pruned out. Use a slow release, high nitrogen fertilizer and apply in the spring of each year.

9. Sedum (Stonecrop) Cut back dead stalks in the springtime, and divide the flower every 3-4 years to maintain a compact growth habit. Pinching the taller varieties back in the early summer will also help prevent them from splitting.

10. Solidago (Goldenrod) If they flowers are tall, provide a stake, and water frequently to keep soil moist. Deadhead the flowers before they seed, and divide the plants every three years to maintain vigorous growth.

Thanks for watching. If you'd like to learn more, please find us on the web at About.com.