One of September's most important and exciting jobs is to start buying and planting spring-flowering bulbs.

Bulbs are easy plants to grow. They have a mystique bordering on the miraculous but many of them naturalize readily, are drought resistant, and are unbelievably easy to grow.

Buy Bulbs Now to Plant Later

Begin purchasing spring-flowering bulbs as soon as possible; they soon get picked over and sometimes put back in the wrong bins. We carry many varieties that will do well in our climate zone. Choose the largest and fattest bulbs, because they produce the biggest blooms.

Among the choices for our area are crocuses, daffodils, muscari, oriental lilies, dutch irises and tulips.

Look for daffodils with three or more divisions. Don't pull them apart. If they're still connected, each point will produce a bloom. Feel them gently to make sure they're firm to the touch; softness means rot.

Hyacinths perform best and give the most bloom if you buy large bulbs.

Tulips have to be bought yearly. Don't buy 'naked' tulip bulbs, ones that have lost their tunics (the brown papery skin); they might be dried out.

Take them home but don't plant most of the bulbs yet. Wait until the weather cools down later this month. Store them in a cool, dry area until planting time.

Buy Bulbs to Plant NOW

Some bulbs can and should be planted in September as soon as you buy them. Among these are some superb choices from the daffodil (Narcissus) family, various oxalis from the Western Hemisphere and many bulbs and corms from South Africa.

When purchasing your bulbs jot down the directions for planting as to depth and spacing. Ask us for best planting times for the bulbs you choose.

Before planting, prepare the area properly by amending the soil if needed. When adding fertilizer, mix it into the soil near the bottom of the hole. Different bulbs will require different planting depths.

By Tamara Galbraith

As September takes a bow, let's tip our straw hats to the official flower of the month, the Aster.

The hardy blue aster (Aster novae-angliae) is the common fall-blooming variety. Asters produce large clusters of delicate daisy-like flowers in many other colors, like white, purple, lavender, pink or red. They are hardy in USDA zones 4 through 9, depending on the variety.

Asters should be planted in moist well-drained soil and in full sun to light shade. The clumps get big quick, so give them some room. Divide the clumps every 3 - 4 years in the early spring or in late fall after the flowering has finished.

There are also dwarf varieties which aren't quite so pushy, but in the fall -- when it seems like the burnt autumn colors of mums are everywhere -- a big, fat blue aster can bring a welcome flash of pastel to the garden.

...that we have a soil and mulch calculator? Very handy if you want to figure out how many cubic feet of mulch you need to fill your garden.

You can always find it over on our right sidebar - but since it's mulching season, we thought we'd make sure you know it's there.