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There is little question that I spend more time reading garden articles in the popular press as well as trade magazines than most people. Last year the hot topic was Echinacea, quite possibly in response to the many new varieties coming to the market place.

Last fall I planted a significant number of pots of two of them in my houses front landscape. One was yellow. The other was traditional pink-purple but was double flowered. Several days ago a large plant producer visited. He was quick to inform me that there was a better form of the double one available now. Oh well!

Mine sprawls a little, but it isn't that bad. Of the fifty or so varieties of coneflowers released in the last several years there are some really good ones and a few that are real dogs. I like dogs, just not in my flowerbeds. One that I have my eye on now is a dark orange one with sturdy stems called 'Tiki Torch'. (See picture)

We know that the perennial Geranium 'Rozanne' is the perennial plant of the year for next year, but the articles also seem to be focusing on gaillardias or blanket flowers. I wonder what took so long.

Blanket flowers love blazing sun and are very tolerant of drought and salt. Skip shade, and keep them dry. They will quickly die if their roots are kept soggy. The salt component makes them ideal for roadside or the shore. Better yet, they bloom all summer with or without deadheading.

More than fifty years later I still remember the exact configuration of grandmother's garden and where the gaillardias were. Back then they were rather short and sprawly with red daisy like flowers tipped in yellow. Before you worry about me, I also remember what I had for breakfast yesterday.

As a child I was especially fascinated with the ornamental fuzzy seed heads from which I frequently shelled rather large seeds. The fact that the seeds were quick to make new plants was also a plus for a small boy.

Today you can find gaillardias from well under a foot tall to just over two feet. There are still a lot with red centers and yellow tips but there are also solid burgundy and shades of yellow now. The most recent introductions include a peachy orange one with yellow tips and a red one whose petals are tubular with flared, frilly, yellow tips. Pictured here is 'Amber Wheels'.

Last week I visited the trial gardens of a commercial plant producer and spied a pink gaillardia. My first response was wow, but the more I looked at it the more I realized it would be a disappointment in the garden. Fortunately, the decision has been made not to release it until it is improved.

There are lots of good plants in the marketplace, and a few that should not have been released. In the industry we are beginning to know whose plants to move slowly with and who's to jump on immediately. To date, I have seen no bad gaillardias.

My advice is to read, visit public gardens, ask your plant suppliers, but most of all just do it, experiment, and get your hands dirty in the garden.

With the rapid increase in environmental concern and awareness among the general population, there are significant changes looming in the garden industry and in the garden. While we wait, I'll offer a few generally environmentally friendly observations about some garden pests.

Insect pests are seldom serious problems in the diverse garden. Mother Nature seems quite willing to balance things if we have sufficient patience and practice a little foresight in plant selection and site selection.

Recently, we are seeing a rather significant run of fall web worms. You can't miss the unsightly white webs hanging on tree branches. They seem to favor cherry, apple, walnut and hickory trees.

Fall webworms do no significant damage to the trees. They are just ugly. Manual removal is an option if you wish to get your hands dirty. Chemical control is easy; if you wish to go that route, just select an insecticide that kills worms.

In the spring you see a similar event when the tent caterpillars emerge. The difference is that tent caterpillars build their web in the crotches of branches. They may do a bit more foliar damage than the fall web worms, but again their chief contribution is cosmetic.

Control, if wanted, is the same.

Spider mites are a bit more of a concern to me. They are barely visible, hide out on the bottom of leaves and suck juices from the leaves until they reduce their function and bronze their color. They can also be identified by traces of webbing. What you will see looks like the work of a very lazy spider.

They thrive in hot, dry conditions. A common mistake is to plant their favorite food as foundation plants against a reflective wall in a sunny location. Azaleas, cotoneasters, daylilies, apples, and dwarf Alberta spruces are their favorites.

The best solution is to not plant problem plants in problem locations and let the natural predators take care of spider mites. Chemical control is difficult. On the subject of chemicals, do not use the insecticide Sevin anywhere near mite susceptible plants because it kills their natural predators, thus acting as mite dessert.

Finally, there are bagworms. They are nasty and will kill targeted trees in several seasons if left unchecked. At this date, you have little you can do but pick them.

If you see even a few, I would suggest spraying with horticultural oil during the second half of June next year when egg hatching occurs.

The final culprits are aphids. They come with many different looks. Think color. They favor sucking on the terminal (new) growth. A heavy rain is a good control;we can imitate that with a garden hose. Chemical control also exists.

I heard a recent report of a person who was quick with the sprayer. He was amazed at the number of praying mantis, ladybugs and other interesting insects on the happy plants in the yard of his non-spraying neighbor.

It appears that modern science is about to unlock and bring mainstream some of the secrets my grandparents, who retired just before the chemical revolution after World War II, took to their grave. Stay tuned. It looks exciting.

A common summer question is when should I divide my perennials in the fall. If I sense that the questioner has the ability to smile my quick answer is August 20 at 2pm.

Usually I add the qualifier that if it is dry wait until the first fall rains start to arrive. That is not necessary this year.

You can divide any perennial now but the conventional wisdom is that if it has already bloomed do them now. If they are currently blooming or will bloom later wait until next April.

The exception to both rules in my mind is ornamental grasses who would respond best to division in late May.

Any time you transplant or divide one of your garden perennials you should reduce the leaf surface. Remove maybe a third to one half of the existing foliage. If you are transplanting a shrub a bit of pruning might be in order too.

I will admit that in recent years the above idea has been challenged by the researchers, especially with trees and shrubs. The new idea is that the transplant stressed plant needs every bit of green material possible to manufacture food to promote root development.

If you are looking to transplant a shrub or tree I would first determine whether it is evergreen (keeps its leaves all winter) or deciduous (looses it leaves).

If it is deciduous I would wait until at least some of the leaves have dropped naturally. Almost all deciduous plants have little risk of winter dehydration once their leaves have dropped.

With evergreens; whether it is a conifer, rhododendron, holly... you get the idea, I would move rather quickly to give the plant as much time as possible to reestablish its root system.

There is a real risk that evergreens could be damaged by dehydration given our normal temperatures and winds during the winter. March is especially a problem most years.

It would even make sense to offer some additional wind protection to first year evergreens. If the site is protected, or the transplanting occurred in the spring, the risk of course is much lower.

Everything I have said about dividing and transplanting applies to bring new plants to the garden in the fall. I've said it many times but will repeat it again.

Early fall is actually the best time to plant. The air temperature is dropping and the soil temperature remains high. With that you get more root development and less top development, That's just the formula for successful planting.

Since it was pouring rain at 2 pm August 20 I guess that we are all behind schedule. But don't despair. You still have plenty of time but no reason to delay.

Right about now, those brightly-labeled catalogues and cardboard boxes start popping up in hardware stores, supermarkets, garden centers and the like, promising a bit of spring after a long gray winter. I'm talking about spring- flowering bulbs, of course; tulips, daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, scilla, and frittilaria for the more adventurous.

But even though bulbs generally appear for sale in mid-August, for best success just buy them now and dream until the soil temperature is around 60 degrees; roughly the end of September or beginning of October. A good rule of thumb is to wait until after the first frost. Some gardeners swear by planting under a waxing (growing) moon. That's an old-wives tale, but who knows?

When you do plant them, remember that most bulbs do best in a sunny location with good drainage. The more sun, the better the flowering will be. In terms of depth, you should generally plant each bulb in a hole three times its height. Plant crocuses, scilla, grape hyacinths and snowdrops 4-5". Tulips, daffodils and hyacinths should go deeper- approximately 8". For the cautious, an extra inch or so won't hurt and will provide a bit of protection from our "false springs". I had daffodils breaking the surface in January last year. This fall my new bulbs will go a bit deeper.

For masses of color, dig your holes or trenches and place the bulbs in groups of one to three, pointed-side up. Keep them close together but not touching; for best display place them about twice a bulb-width apart. Cover them, tamp down the soil and then water them really well. If it hasn't rained, water again in 4 or 5 weeks. If you like to mulch, you can mulch them for a little more protection, but remember to scrape it away in the spring before they appear.

A word about deer: if you have them--and you know if you have them--stick with daffodils and grape hyacinths, snowdrops or scilla. Crocuses and tulips especially, are good deer-food.

Another thing to consider when you plant is this: some bulbs are naturalizers and some are not. If you are looking to plant a large area, you may want to stick with bulbs that will come back and multiply like daffodils, scilla and crocuses. You can divide these clumps after flowering every three to four years. Most tulips only look good the first year or two, and the second year depends on how long you are willing to put up with the dying foliage. Some tulips--the Darwin hybrids (tall), fosterianas (medium) and kaufmannianas (short)--will naturalize, but have slightly different flower forms than traditional hybrid tulips.

Next spring enjoy your fall labor, and then wait. And then wait some more, and then cut off the dead foliage. One of the most common questions we get every spring regards when to cut bulb foliage. Flowering uses up all the stored food in the bulb that needs to be replenished by photosynthesizing. If you cut off the foliage too soon, you will diminish the next year's flowers. Fertilizing immediately after flowering before the foliage browns will help, but it's most important not to cut them off too soon! If the unsightly foliage bothers you, plant bulbs where their dying leaves will be hidden by newly-emerging perennials in the border. Whatever you do my mother begs you NOT to braid the foliage. This just makes her cringe.

Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square plants over 125,000 bulbs every fall. When you get spring fever next year, they may be worth a trip. Who knows, you may be inspired!

Last week Dad railed against hedge clippers and the practice of pruning bushes within inches of their lives. Since the proper pruning of shrubs seems to be one of the most-asked questions we get, I'll keep going where he left off.

A recent series of lectures at Longwood gardens stressed the importance of knowing what your shrubs want to do and pruning to allow them to do it, rather than bending them to your will. That is a practice that will make neither of you happy. The wonderful thing about shrubs is that most deciduous shrubs, (the ones that loose their leaves), can be cut completely to the ground and will grow back from the roots. If you repent of over-clipping you can start with a clean slate. There is a forsythia in my yard that will get such treatment next spring. The picture at the top of this article is how forsythias are SUPPOSED to look.

As a rule of thumb, spring-blooming shrubs (like lilac, mock orange, weigelas, azaleas, etc) set their flower buds the previous summer. Looking at the lilacs and magnolias in my yard, I already see next spring's buds.

Many summer bloomers, on the other hand, set their flower buds in the spring on new growth. This is the case for butterfly bushes (Buddlejas), beauty berry (Callicarpa), Tamarix and Caryopteris. Of course there are always exceptions. Hydrangeas are a bit tricky as some bloom on new wood (the panicle type) and some bloom on old wood (the oakleaf type).

Once you know what time of year your shrubs bloom, you can plan your pruning schedule. Prune spring bloomers immediately after flowering, and summer bloomers in the late winter/early spring. Now what exactly to do? For the health of the plant, remove the oldest quarter (or third) of the stems from the base at ground level or an inch or two higher. This will do two things. It will open up the base and allow sunlight in which promotes branching and you will still have leaves on the bottom half of your shrubs. Secondly, it will keep the height under control.

Summer-blooming dieback shrubs like Tamarix, Buddlejas, and Callicarpa, can be cut to the ground completely once you start to see a hint of green in April. When I say cut to the ground, I mean it. They will put on 2-4 feet of new growth a year and will bloom profusely on this new wood. If you don't cut them back, it's not a big deal, they'll just be a little taller, mangier and less floriferous. We were a little busy this year and didn't get our Tamarix or butterfly bush cut back and the bloom is not nearly as spectacular as usual.

Finally remember this: July and August are the worst time to prune most flowering shrubs. The bushes think, "Oh, ok, I guess I better grow now" and put on new growth that won't have time to harden off before winter. And pruning spring bloomers now just removes the flower buds. Trimming-and I mean just trimming- evergreens to shape a hedge is allowable, but better done later in the fall. Stay inside in your air-conditioning, and leave the hedge clippers alone.