UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • October 2017 • 7 The Softening Light of Fall! by Kimberly Childers • kimberlychilders@att.net


many varieties of sweetly scent- ed Jonquill , Small-cupped and Tazetta Narcissus.


There are ab-


Santa Rosa, CA. ~ Orange pump- kins, softening light and long shad- ows. . .October is here with it’s outrageous


color pallet!


Mosquito grass topped with thick ‘eyebrows’ is playfully dancing in the slightest cool breeze. Falling leaves are scat- tering, clattering on dry streets and wonderful rain will soon be falling from the sky quenching our gardens at last. It’s time to plant bulbs with colorful blossoms that disappear in fall and winter, returning every spring to amaze, fill our flower vases and revive our garden spirits. Choose a color scheme, plant ran- dom colors, design from a picture, plant a spiral of flowers. Tulips popping up amidst thick, blooming forget me nots and other flowers can be quite spectacular. You can naturalize tiny crocus, everywhere in your lawn. Mow the grass very short when you see signs of their green tips just poking up in very early spring for an amazing display of blooms.


Always allow their


leaves and flowers to fade natural- ly since this will feed next year’s bulbs. Design an amazing special collection of bulbs in huge pots placed around your house and gar- den as architectural accents. If you plant now your spring and summer gardens will be filled with fragrant blossoms and colorful bouquets. You decide!


I always order from a few favorite east coast bulb catalogues. John Scheepers, 23 Tulip Drive (have to love that !) in Bantam, Connecti- cut is one of my absolute favorites wwwjohnscheepers.com. They are a fourth generation family and of- fer not only quality but the best American prices. Their over-the- top catalogue will entice you with its deliciously filled pages and sub- lime pictures. Beauty From Bulbs, The Art and Soul of Spring , is their 2017 catalogue and is a must have. Call them if you like 860-567-0838 There are single early tulips, dou- ble early and late tulips, Triumph and Lily Flowering tulips and the


solutely outrageous double variet- ies 14” to 16” tall. Lingerie, 4”inch double flowers with snow-white petticoat layers of petals with lem- on-yellow swirls. Sherborne, an


growing split-cup narcissi, Min- iature Heirloom, N bulbocodium with hooped petticoat flowers or N. romieuxii ‘Julia Jane’, originally collected wild in Morocco and is very fragrant. If you can’t make up your mind why not grow natural- izing narcissus mixtures, Fragrant Collections, Heavenly All-White mix, All-pink, All-yellow or Sparkling Spring Mixture. Intro- duce tall 3’-6’spires of Eremuris also known as Desert Candles or Fox- tail Lily in shades of yel- low, crème, burnt orange and pink. And then there are the Alliums, Latin for garlic, rising above it all in bold, dramatic color always attracting a


award winning variety has Peony like 4” golden-yellow blooms and orange petaled center segments, gardenia-like gem, Gay Tabor has layered ivory petals interspersed with golden orange and many more varieties to plant and enjoy. Try


plethora of pollinators. Try Allium siculum bulgaricum, also called the Sicillian Honey Lily.


This


1875 heirloom has umbels of pen- dant greenish-white florets flushed purple and edged in white, and Summer Drummer, very tall


lat- BENNETT VALLEY JEWELERS


est bloomer of all with star-shaped purple and white florets. Some heirloom alliums date as far back as 1594 and these worthy sentries are quite stately in any garden. There are Asiatic Hybrid lilies, Chinese Trumpet Lilies, Fritillaria, single and double Freesias, Ama- ryllis and Ranunculus.


They are


all waiting silently beneath the soil ... continued on page 31


JOKES & Humor # 3


I asked my wife the other day what she liked best about me.... “Is it my firm, trim, athletic, body? Or, rather, is it my


astounding intellect?” She replied.... “Your sense of humor, dear.”


Serving Sonoma County Since 1987


2700 Yulupa Ave. ~ Santa Rosa, CA 95405 707-523-1333


bennettvalleyjewelers.com “At the end of the day, you control your happiness at peace.” ~ Napz Cherub Pellazo www.comfirstcu.org UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • October 2017 • 7


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