Click here to read about fertilizing non-bloomers such as evergreen trees & shrubs.
Just like you respond to a healthy diet and vitamins, your flowers will respond to a good fertilizer now that they are awake and growing! Perennials and annuals and blooming shrubs alike will bloom better, bigger and more consistently when they are treated to regular feedings, starting right now. The trick is knowing what kind of fertilizer is the equivalent of a good meal to your flowers!
Perennials: The instructions vary slightly for perennials that are already in the ground from previous seasons and ones you are just now adding to the garden. Perennials that are returning will benefit from a feeding of Fertilome Gardener’s Special or Fertilome’s Premium Bedding Plant Food to bring them back for another glorious season of growing! And for ones you are just now planting, our best advise is to mix Hy Yield brand Bone Meal into the soil for a slow-long lasting source of phosphorus (needed for root growth). We also recommend adding Fertilome Root Stimulator to the soil every 10 days or so for the first couple of months. Remember that your groundcovers like periwinkle and pachysandra are also perennials and could use a good feeding as well!
NOTE: For perennials AND annuals, we strongly suggest using a granular fertilizer as your plant’s primary source of nutrition.
Annuals: Those sweet colorful annuals will bloom straight through to fall if you follow just a few simple fertilizing tips, in addition to regular watering and deadheading. Fertilome Gardener’s Special or Fertilome’s Premium Bedding Plant Food mixed into the soil at the time of planting will help your plants’ roots take a good hold – a necessity for great blooming. Then every few weeks throughout the season, treat them to regular doses of Fertilome Water Soluble 20-20-20 Plant Food to extend their life and their blooming power! To encourage even more blooms once your flowers have grown to a healthy size, our customer’s also love the results of Fertilome’s Blooming & Rooting Water Soluble Plant Food which has a whopping 58% of Phosphate.
Flowering Shrubs & Trees:
When it comes to flowering shrubs, we highly recommend Fertilome’s Gardener’s Special granular fertilizer for a boost of the nutrients they need to get then off to a right start. This is the primary choice of our professional Landscape team – it’s packed full of “minor” or “trace” elements, in addition to the fundamental nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
Azaleas, Camellias, & Rhododendron:
These blooming and acid-loving shrubs prefer a formulation all of their own. We recommend Fertilome’s Azalea, Camellia, Rhododendron granular fertilizer for top dressing over their root area, applied immediately after they have finished flowering in the spring. These beauties appreciate additional light fertilizer applications between the end of their spring bloom (usually mid-May), applied every 4-6 weeks through August.
NOTE: Watch for details on non-flowering trees and shrubs and landscape plants in next month’s newsletter!
