Moscow Food Co-op Gardening
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The Glory And Magic Of Bulbs
by Pat Diaz, from the September 2004 Newsletter
One of the most wonderful things we gardeners can do is plant bulbs in Autumn for an incredible show of beauty and color in the Spring. Just think of the magic – we bury dead-looking lumps in the garden in Fall and in Spring we see the bright green spears emerge from the earth, sometimes right through the snow. Soon the gorgeous colors of the flowers provide wonderful balm to our souls. Spring is reborn!
There are three ways to plant bulbs in your garden; choose your method based on the look you’re after. You can cluster bulbs in beds, naturalize them, or mass them in large pots on your deck or porch. Or, choose all three!
Clustering Bulbs In Beds
For a formal look, arrange the bulbs in symmetrical designs. One of the best
is a triangular pattern with the point of the triangle facing your viewing
area. This makes the flowers appear more extensive. Or, arrange the masses
of bulbs in gently curving shapes to give swathes of color to your garden.
Another gardening trick is to choose a color scheme. Some gardeners choose
a rainbow mixture of flower colors; others combine two or three shades of
a color, or choose opposite colors, such as blue with orange or yellow.
Some gardeners research flowering times for their bulbs and plant several in a cluster that all bloom at the same time, creating an Emeril-like POW to the garden. This is easier within types of flowers rather than trying to plan for different kinds of bulbs’ flowering times.
For clustering in beds, plant at least twelve of each type of flower. For little bulbs, such as grape hyacinth, plant in groups no fewer than 50 bulbs. I like to cluster my bulbs with other plantings like peonies. The bulbs are finished flowering before the peonies bloom, creating continuous spots of color in the garden. Just be sure to choose bulbs that will grow tall enough to be seen above other foliage nearby.
Naturalizing Bulbs
My very favorite thing to do with bulbs, ‘naturalizing’ means planting
once so that the bulbs come back year after year and multiply in the garden.
Eventually this looks very casual and unaffected, like Nature planted them
for you. One of my favorite sights is an old, broken-down homestead with beautiful
daffodils still blooming all around.
In our climate, the best types of bulbs to naturalize are allium, crocus, daffodils, English bluebells, muscari, and species tulips. If you live in deer country, though, watch out for planting tulips where deer can eat them. Tulips you might want to plant in pots on your porch or deck (although I’ve heard of deer climbing on decks and porches to eat them).
To naturalize, plant bulbs in clusters of a single type of bulb among shrubs, under trees, etc. The benefit of planting bulbs among your other shrubs is that the shrubs’ foliage will hide the waning leaves of the bulb plants. You can also plant bulbs in big sweeps, such as in a meadow or orchard. It looks best when you plant all of one type of bulb. Some gardeners toss out handfuls of bulbs and plant them where they land. You probably need about 100 bulbs for every 10-20 square feet of ground.
Bulbs In Containers
There are two approaches to planting bulbs in containers – mass one variety
in each container or mix bulbs with annuals and perennials. The former technique
results in impressive masses of color as they all bloom at once. The latter
results in more continuous color all spring and summer. You can plant 40–50
bulbs in a 16” flared pot if some are smaller bulbs such as hyacinth.
Fill the pot with soil to within 5” of the top. Set the bulbs closely
together on top of the soil and then cover with soil, leaving about 2” of
clearance between the top of the soil and rim of the pot. Tamp down gently
to remove air pockets, set in a shady spot and water. Place 3–4” of
mulch on top and dampen with water. When the leaves emerge, remove a couple
of inches of the mulch and set the pot in full sun.
General “Rules”
Here on the Palouse we generally plant bulbs in October, although I’ve
planted them in snowstorms in late November. Just don’t plant them when
it’s still too warm, like in September. Be sure to know the planting
depth and spacing needs of your bulbs. Once your bulbs have bloomed in the
spring, continue watering until the leaves turn brown. This will ensure that
your bulbs will bloom again the following year.
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