IT'S TIME NOW TO PLANT FOR SPRING COLOR.

Byline: JANE GATES Gardening

SANTA CLARITA - It's time to put hours into the garden again as the weather allows us cooler nights and some cooler days. Preparation for the autumn planting spree begins now.

If you have hillsides that need a quick fix or fill-in while drought-tolerant perennials establish themselves, consider seeding with easy-growing native annual plants.

Try California poppies, yellow and white ``tidy tips,'' the brilliant blue phacelia, clarkias/godetias in crisp pinks and whites or ``baby blue eyes'' in the shade.

If we get rain this winter, these seeds will cover your open areas with cheerful flowers come the early spring, and they'll help hold soil on hillsides until slower-growing perennials become established. They may also help your hillside if you suffered from fire damage this year.

Keep an eye out for bulbs as they trickle into the shops. Although most bulbs have a relatively short flowering life, they are incredibly showy when in bloom. They can fill in areas while perennials are still small in the spring, and their foliage can be left to die down without looking unsightly as the perennials overgrow them.

Always plant bulbs in groups so they will form a natural-looking cluster. When these clusters become overcrowded, divide them up and plant some in other areas or give away extras to friends and neighbors.

If you have overcrowded conditions, this is a good time of year to start divisions. You can also divide iris (not actually bulbs, but rhizomes) now, too. Edible bulbs such as onions and garlic should be dug when the foliage dies down and allowed to dry in the sun for a few days before storing in a cool, dry area.

Consider bulbs such as crocosmia (monbretia), dichelostemma and brodiaea for areas with little or no extra water.

Consider drought-tolerant plants and California natives. They can be planted from this point on through the very early spring. Autumn and winter planting are best. There are some splendidly showy flowers in the buckwheat, acacia and salvia families that can live with no added water at all once they have lived through a moisture-assisted summer or two.

Hopseed bush (dodonaea) is a large bush or small tree with great drought tolerance, and comes in green or deep red-purple, the latter offering an effect like the ornamental plum but without the litter or the water requirements. Coreopsis offers bright yellow flowers, calliandra eriophylla (desert fairy duster) with its pink fluffy flowers and some penstemons offer bright reds and brilliant blues and purples, all with minimal water needs.

For areas with more water, it's a good time to plant hearty perennials so they can get their roots well developed for a colorful spring showing.

Fill in bare spots with cool-season annuals such as pansies and stock. Keep up on weeding, too. Get small weeds out now before nourishing rains come and turn them into monsters.

And if you haven't started a compost heap yet, cleaning up dried summer plants will offer a great opportunity to start one now.