September 22, 2003
Lee County - Fall officially starts Tuesday. If you want your yard to look nice for the next few months, now is the time to start your fall planting.
Mums the word at Lawn Barber Nursery in Lee County. Owner, Steve Collins, says, "I would do a process of elimination on colors verses how hearty they were."
Collins experiments on mums. He adds, "The Belgian [variety] I'm not having to go through such a strenuous process because most of them are doing extremely well."
Some of the new Belgian Mum varieties were able to withstand southwest Georgia heat, humidity and stress. Others didn't make the cut. Collins points to a sick plant and says, "This is one of the Belgian varieties, but it didn't pan out. This is one out of the 15 I tried that didn't pan out."
The ones that did work, like the White Terano, foliage was thicker and held its bloom and color for longer.
If you don't dig mums, Purple Mexican Sage plants are good for the fall. Collins explains, "It's a true perennial, it comes back every year. I've had one in my yard for eight years."
Collins says Belgian Mum varieties seem to attract less insects and grow less fungus. They last up to 10 weeks. They are true perennials and will bloom again next spring.
posted at 5:15PM by kathryn.simmons@walb.com
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