Fall Means Mums

What is fall without mums?

Whether in the garden or in pots replacing spent summer annuals?

There are some in the garden which we do keep pinched back so that they bloom in late summer and early fall.     We buy a few small plants each year to add color to the garden NOW and added color to the garden in years to come.

There are always a couple of pots that I like to put mums in for fall color.     The rest of the pots get planted with pansies which not only add bright color spots in the fall but if we have a mild winter, they'll bloom all winter long.

We get our mums from good friends Brian and Tara.    They grow thousands and thousands of them and a few pots come home to Linderhof.    Bought early when they are in bud -- they'll last up to the middle of November and sometimes right up to Thanksgiving.

I'm always at a loss as to colors -- every color seems so perfect -- the bronzes, the reds, the rusts, the yellows, the oranges and even the whites.

But year after year, it seems that the oranges and yellows come home to Linderhof.    They seem brighter when seen from the street and also, I think, go better with the pumpkins piled here and there at Linderhof.

It's once again mum time and one small pot of yellow mums are on the back brick stairs.     The mums in the side garden are budding.    I've yet to make my trip to the Mum Farm but soon, several pots will join that first one in the garden and Linderhof will be abloom again.