Prepare to occupy spring

It’s the second week of November and there still is time to dig up and divide overcrowded daylilies, hosta and iris. You also should cut back yellow foliage of lilies and peonies. In the vegetable garden, leave carrots, cabbage and Brussels sprouts in the ground where cold weather will add a sweetness to the flavor. Keep checking on green tomatoes stored indoors. Toss out any that begin to rot before the danger spreads.

If you think it is too late in the year to aerate, feed or mow the lawn, you are wrong. Tackle these fall field goals now and you’ll score great yardage in the spring with less moss and weeds to worry about. Just don’t mow the lawn if the ground is frozen solid or the soil is so saturated with water that the mowing machine would leave ruts in the ground.

The middle of November is a great time to add spring blooming bulbs that do great in our climate and are small enough to tuck into any open spot of ground. In the horticultural world these are called “minor bulbs” but they can make a major impact for just a minor amount of work. Many will bloom when planted just one or two inches below ground or when poked into the soft soil of a container garden or window box.

Their quick and easy planting makes them perfect for guerrilla gardening – adding flowers to public spaces without asking permission. I like to call it “Occupy Spring” and hope protesters who use our public parks will use their time efficiently by planting bulbs and pulling a few weeds between protests.

Try these:

Dwarf Daffodils: Add cheer to your civil disobedience. These early blooming garden gems are members of the cyclamineus narcissi group and demand equal time and placement in public gardens or they surely will take over in waves of blooming chaos. Their petals are reflexing, meaning they bend backward like a cyclamen flower. Tough and repeat blooming, these dwarfs will thrive in dry rockeries and are easy to force into early bloom.

February Gold: All that glitters is not rising in price, nor can you sell these golden beauties for quick cash, but February Gold daffodils are priceless. In our climate, anything that blooms in February should be worth its weight in precious metals. This variety is easy to find at local nurseries. If you plant February Gold in a spot with excellent drainage, you’ll make a great investment with growing dividends. This little daffodil will spread in tidy clumps.

Tte––Tte: Everything French is oh-so-chic right now. Plant this fashionable dwarf daffodil and you’ll soon understand the name that means “Head-to-Head.” It looks like golden yellow blooms are talking to one another as the flowers nod in the slightest breeze. This is a great bulb to plant under the purple PJM rhododendron because they flower at the same time – early spring.

Muscari or Grape Hyacinths: Not the high-priced, strongly fragrant hyacinths but the more common, hard-working hyacinth sold for pennies and enjoyed for generations. Most common in deep blue and often used to create rivers of color in show gardens, you also can plant grape hyacinths under the shade of deciduous trees or mix them with windflowers and other minor bulbs under the skirts of rhododendrons and azaleas.

Mount Hood Muscari: A great naturalizer or spreader, this two-toned gem is deep blue but then topped with a snow white cap of tiny florets. Grow this one in a container on the porch and add bright yellow winter pansies for a blooming reminder of sunshine, blue skies and mountain tops.

Grecian Windflowers – Anemone blanda: Daisy-like blooms that stay close to the ground make this a lovely ground cover for any spring garden. Don’t be surprised when you see the ugly corm that grows such a pretty flowers. Small, wizened and dark, the pellets show little promise when planted into the cold November ground, but their small size makes them easy to sneak into forgotten corners and empty pots or under the branches of forsythia and other spring-blooming shrubs. Anemones come in shades of pink, lavender, blue and white.

White Splendour Anemone: The French spelling of the splendor of this bulb lights up the garden with petals so bright they glow in the moonlight – or more importantly in the darkest days of late winter. Adding white to any planting scheme brightens the colors. Use these bulbs with blue hyacinths or bright yellow daffodils.

Snowdrop – Galanthus: How can one live in the rainy Northwest and survive winter without Snowdrops? Deer-proof, mice-proof and drought-proof, you can add these small bulbs to dry soil under maples and they will spread over the years into a carpet of milky white beauty. Some years, the snowdrops will flower as early as January and their spring green shoots emerge from the ground right after Christmas. Snowdrops reward the gardener with the promise of spring renewal.

Marianne Binetti is the author of “Easy Answers for Great Gardens” and eight other gardening books. She has a degree in horticulture from WSU and will answer questions at binettigarden.com.