Bulbs-the promise of spring in a little package!

I love my spring garden! It's bursting at the seams with colour, sound and life! 

Snowdrops can appear as early as January if the winter is mild and I'm eternally amazed to see bees on my early Crocus on the very day that they open! It's usually their buzzing that alerts me to the opening of the flowers. 

Snowdrops - so cute in a vase!

Just as soon as the snow melts, the early crocus pop up through the leaves.

The very day my crocus open, the bees are there! How do they know?

There are a lot of different types bulbs to choose from. My favourites include Snowdrops, Crocus, Blue Poppy anemones, large Alliums and of course tulips!

Botanical Name	Common Name
Allium	Flowering Onions
Anemone blanda	Windflower
Arisaema	Jack in the Pulpit
Camassia	Camas lily
Chionodoxa	Glory-of-the-snow
Crocus	Crocus
Eranthis	Winter Aconite
Eremurus	Foxtail lily
Erythronium	Trout lily, yellow dog-tooth violet
Fritillaria, (Fritillaria imperialis)	Fritillaria, (Crown Imperial)
Galanthus	Snowdrop
Hyacinth	Hyacinth
Iris reticulata	Dwarf iris
Leucojum	Spring/summer snowflake
Mertensia	Virginia bluebells
Muscari	Grape hyacinth
Narcissus	Daffodil
Nectaroscordum	honey garlic, Sicilian honey lily,
Ornithogalum	star-of-Bethlehem
Puschkinia	Striped Squill
Scilla	Siberian Squill
Tulipa	Tulip

If you take time to plan out your spring garden, you'll have blooms from the time the snow melts. Continuous blooms really help give pollinators an on ongoing source of food. 

Blooms Times of Spring Bulbs 

March	April	May	June
Crocus	Anemone blanda	Allium	Allium
Eranthis	Chionodoxa	Camassia	Arisaema
Galanthus	Eranthis	Fritillaria	Fritillaria
	Erythronium	Eremurus	Iris reticulata
	Narcissus	Hyacinth	Narcissus
	Puschkinia	Iris reticulata	Nectaroscordum
	Scilla	Leucojum	Ornithogalum
	Tulipa	Mertensia	Tulipa
		Muscaria
		Narcissus
		Tulipa

When to Plant?

• Bulbs are usually planted from September to the end of November-but you can plant as long as the ground isn't frozen. 
• Try and plant your bulbs as soon after purchase as possible-the longer you wait, the more likely the bulb will dry out. Dried out or rotten bulbs will not grow.

Pointy side up!

• Most bulbs are planted "pointy side up" or darker, flatter, root-end down.  If in doubt, plant bulbs sideways-they will automatically right themselves as they grow!
• Some bulbs like Crown Imperials have a depression in the middle of the bulb that can accumulate water and cause the bulb to rot. Plant those bulbs on their side, so that water does not accumulate.

Plant Crown Imperials on their side to prevent them from rotting.

Bed preparation

• Bulbs grow best in soil that is free draining. Heavy clay or poorly drained soil will keep the soil cold and wet and cause bulbs to rot. 
• Don't plant bulbs in areas that accumulate water or are poorly drained.
• If your soil is a heavy clay, you can add a good quality compost at planting time to help improve it. Incorporate the compost into the planting hole and mix with the existing soil. 
• Compost will also help to feed the plant that will emerge from your bulb in spring. 

Depth

• Use the height of the bulb as a rough guide and dig a hole 3-5 times deeper than the height of the bulb.  For example,  plant larger bulbs (tulips, hyacinths, narcissus) at about 20 cm/7 inches and smaller bulbs (scilla, anemone, crocus, Snowdrops) at 10 cm/3-5 inches.
• Planting bulbs more deeply also discourages squirrels from digging them up. 

 

Plant bulbs at least 3x their height. Note the depth on your garden trowel to plant deep enough.

Spacing

• All bulbs should be planted at least as far apart as they are wide. 
• Again, if in doubt add more space than you think is necessary – not less.
• Many bulbs multiply over the years and the extra spacing will give them room to grow and help maintain flower size large. 

You can dig an individual hole per bulb or dig a larger one and distribute the bulbs in the whole. This works well if you are "layering" different kinds of bulbs.

Arrangement

• Bulbs look best planted in groups- a circle of 5 bulbs is a good guide. Avoid planting bulbs in rows- nature just never does that and you shouldn't either! 
• Plant an assortment of different bulbs in the same hole ("layering") to extend bloom time in an area. For instance, start by planting tulips in the bottom of the planting hole, cover them with soil and then put some Snowdrops or Crocus just above them. The early bulbs will emerge first, followed by the later bulbs.
• Planting your bulbs amongst your perennials is also a good way to hide the leaves of the bulbs after the flowers have died.
• You can create a stunning visual effect by having several taller bulbs emerge from lower growing ground covers or plants. Tall Alliums and Crown Imperials are good choices to start. Try planting them growing out of spring phlox or hostas. 
• WATER after planting, especially if the fall is dry. Not much may be going on above ground, but bulbs will start to grow their root system once planted and will need watering.





These purple Alliums look amazing with the bluish hostas-and the hostas hide the leaves of the alliums once they are finished blooming.

Location

• While many bulbs prefer full sun, some can be planted partial shade. Woodland bulbs like Woodland Anemone, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Dog's Tooth Violets and Snowdrops prefer a bit of cool shade.
• Remember that a shady summer location may be sunny before deciduous trees fully leaf out. 
• Plant bulbs in bare spots between/behind perennials or where you had annuals.  
• Plant narcissus or crocus in the lawn or under groundcovers to naturalize.

Critter Proofing!

• Members of the Amaryllis family (daffodils, snowflakes, snowdrops) are pretty well guaranteed to be deer and rodent proof as they contain a bitter poisonous substance called lycorine-no mammal wants to eat this! However in times where plant material is unavailable, you may find critters nibbling at even the most unappetizing plants.
• Deer and rodent resistant bulbs include: Fritillaria, daffodils, snowdrops, alliums, anemone, Siberian quill, Grape hyacinth, Glory-of-the-Snow, Winter aconite.
• Unfortunately, not much can stop deer and rodents from nipping off the tops of your tulips-they are edible after all. I suggest borrowing a large, ominous hyperactive dog...
• Crazy squirrels are a torment but I've found a way to deal with them. First of all, I NEVER place my bulbs on the soil! This is like putting "X marks the spot" where the treasure is buried! I swear the squirrels can detect the residual bulb smell. I arrange my bulbs in clay saucers and place them in the garden. That allows me to visually figure out where to plant them and re-position as needed. It also serves as a nice way of holding bulbs while I make the planting hole without leaving any squirrels scent clues on the soil. Once the bulbs are safely in their hole, you can sprinkle some bloodmeal to act as a "smell" deterrent-it also provides nourishment to the bulb. I've also added cayenne pepper to the planting hole and that has been effective. Then I cover the hole over and place the saucer on top. This not only further deters digging from crazy critters, but helps me remember where I planted bulbs. You can remove the saucers once your bulbs sprout out.
• Some people recommend placing something like chicken wire over the planting holes-this will deter critters from digging, but it's difficult to remove once the plants start growing as the stems grow into the wire. And it makes it hard for "the gardener" to dig in the garden later on in the year, so I've removed all the wire that I placed there.

Bulbs in pot saucers to foil the squirrels!

Keep Them Blooming Year after Year

• Cut the flowers and flower stems after bloom to help direct the energy of the plant back into the bulb. This ensures that next year you'll have large gorgeous blooms again.  I don't bother cutting small flowers such as crocus or snowdrops, but it really helps for the larger bulbs such as tulips. 
• Leave the leaves on until they turn yellow or are dry. I know this is a a pain as the leaves are totally unattractive but cutting the leaves before the bulb has made enough energy for next year will result in smaller or no blooms next spring. I do admit to tying up my daffodil leaves in a knot as even I get sick of seeing them in spring. Just pick a small handful of leaves and tie them in a tidy knot. It does help make your garden look neater and so far I haven't noticed an adverse affect on the daffs.
• If you notice that your tulips or other bulbs are getting smaller despite leaving the leaves to ripen, it may mean that they have made too many bulbs and are too crowded. Mark the location so that you can find the bulbs once the leaves are gone and the bulb is dormant-that's the best time to lift them. Carefully dig the bulbs up-a garden fork sometimes works well to avoid cutting bulbs in half. Separate the bulbs and replant them in another location.
• Small bulbs such as Grape Hyacinth usually shoot up leaves in the fall. That makes it easy to locate them and thin them out by relocating them. 

I love fall bulb planting as I get to work in my garden and get to look forward to a bounty of beauty in the spring!

Grape hyacinth send up leaves in the fall.

Carefully dig them up, divide and replant to a new location.