Category Archives: In The Greenhouse

Bulbs: Go Formal or Natural In the Garden

Early spring crocuses, delicately scented hyacinths, nodding daffodils and vibrant tulips are favorite flower bulbs for coloring your garden from very early to late spring. But how should you plant them for a great impact and to match the theme of your garden or landscape?

Formal vs. Natural

Clumps of color in a formal planting of hardy spring flowering bulbs is, by far, the most spectacular way to display these beauties. Planting several dozen bulbs in a mass heightens the impact when using one variety and color. Coordinating colors or varieties can be arranged in planned beds for a uniform, luxury look.

The opposite approach is a naturalizing technique where you replicate the look of bulbs growing wild. These bulbs create colorful surprises throughout the yard, often popping up in unexpected places, but they are no less delightful.

Whichever overall design look you choose, planning the garden for a formal, massed look or for a natural appearance will yield spring flowers with minimum care.

Planning Your Bulbs

This fall, before you purchase hardy bulbs, look at areas in your garden that could benefit from color. Note when the bulbs will bloom, and whether they prefer sun or shade. Check the height of the bulb plants and their bloom times. Knowing the facts about the bulbs will help you plant them where they will perform and look best.

Formal Bulb Planting

Because flowering bulbs bloom early in the spring, their clumps of color in a massed planting can fill those gaps in the yard when trees and shrubs are still leaf-barren. By the time the bulbs have brightened these areas, the deciduous trees will begin to leaf. Growing on a bank or at the nearby base of a tree, daffodils in massed planting will give your garden a showy drift of color before summer’s flowers bloom.

Mix hardy spring bulbs with annuals, perennials and biennials for ongoing landscape beauty. Your only maintenance over the seasons is to prune, replant to replace old bulbs and divide occasionally where there is overcrowding. Keep in mind that the smaller the blooms, the greater the number of bulbs you will need to plant. A couple dozen tulips may be fine for a border, but several dozen small snowdrops might be needed in the same border.

When planting a border, place the bulb flowers with long leaves behind perennials. The leaves and flowers of the perennials will grow up and cover the spent yellow foliage of daffodils, tulips, alliums and crown-imperial fritillarias. In border planting, perennials such as phlox, periwinkle and candytuft can be a ground cover for May flowering tulips. Perennial plant leaves from plants like shade-loving hostas can be used as foreground foil in a border planting of tulips that prefer shade (`Triumph’). With a little planning, a border can be an easy care focal point by mixing flowering spring bulbs with other garden flowers.

Formal planting of hardy spring bulbs produces an impressive show of color. Hyacinths and tulips can be a dazzling display in a single-colored massed planting; purple hyacinths and scarlet tulips can be showstoppers too. Parrot tulips, frilled and bold in color, can be carefully paired with the generous blooms of bright cottage tulips. A winning combination is the duo of yellow daffodils or tulips with grape hyacinths.

Keep scale and color in mind when doing formal planting with spring bulbs. Planting similar colors and varieties rather than mixing them is the best approach, though careful experimenting can result in pleasing effects, too.

Planning Naturalized Bulb Landscaping

Naturalizing is a good method of planting hardy spring bulbs like crocus, grape hyacinths and daffodils where drainage is good and where the foliage will not be mowed. To achieve a natural growing look with bulbs, space them by taking a handful and tossing them gently. Simply plant them wherever they land for a ‘growing wild’ effect, avoiding any regular rows or predictable spacing.

Another look in naturalizing with small flowering bulbs is to plant them in a rock garden. Where the soil is unsuitable for larger bulbs, smaller bulbs are ideal. Hardy small bulbs of anemone blanda, snowdrop, kaufmanniana and tarda tulips, Siberian squill, crocus and Iris reticulata are perfect for massed planting in a rock garden.

Your preparations for a colorful spring begin in the fall. Imagine what joy you will realize when your spring garden comes alive with color from those drab brown bulbs.

PERENNIAL POWER

When choosing a perennial to fill an empty space in your garden, make sure to get the most bang from your buck by selecting one, or several, of the long blooming perennials listed below.

Achillea (Yarrow)
Alcea (Hollyhock)
Anemone (Wind Flower)
Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Weed)
Campanula (clips series)
Clematis ‘Jackmani’
Coreopsis (Tickseed)
Corydalis lutea (Yellow Bleeding Heart)
Delosperma (Ice Plant)
Dicentra exima (Bleeding Heart)
Doronicum
Echinacea (Coneflower)
Gallardia (Blanket Flower)
Gaura (Wand Flower)
Geranium ‘Johnson Blue’
Helenium (Helen’s Flower)
Heliopsis (Sunflower)
Hemerocallis ‘Stella D’Oro’ (Daylily)
Hemerocallis ‘Happy Returns’ (Daylily)
Kniphofia (Red Hot Poker)
Lavender
Liatris spicata (Gayfeather)
Ligularia (Ragwort)
Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal Flower)
Lythrum (Loosestrife)
Malva (Mallow)
Monarda (Bee Balm)
Nepeta (Catnip or Catmint)
Oneothra ‘Siskiyou’ (Evening Primrose)
Perovskia (Russian Sage)
Rudbeckia (Coneflower)
Salvia (most verticillata)
Scabiosa (Pincushion Flower)
Shasta Daisy ‘Becky’ or ‘Snow Queen’
Stokesia (Stoke’s Aster)
Veronica (Speedwell)
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Nurturing Spring Bulbs

Spring bulbs faithfully reappear at the most advantageous time – after a long, cold winter. Most spring bulbs are perennial and multiply in number every year. Seemingly carefree, bulbs do require a bit of nurturing to ensure that they perform their very best for years to come.

  1. Good soil drainage is important to prevent bulbs from rotting. Plan your site accordingly.
  2. When planting bulbs in the fall, add a high phosphorus fertilizer to the planting hole for the development strong roots. Bone meal is an excellent choice.
  3. Bulb foliage will often break through the soil after a few warm winter days. This vegetation is hardy and its exposure to the cold will not damage your plants or prevent them from blooming.
  4. Fertilize bulbs as plants are emerging from the ground. Do not fertilize them once flowers appear. Use a complete fertilizer that is high in phosphorus, like a granular 5-10-5, to assist in foliage and flower development.
  5. After blooming, cut back the flower stalk leaving the bulb foliage. This will force the plant to put its energy into the bulb for next year’s flowers and not into seed production.
  6. Allow the leaves to die back naturally. The leaves are vital for producing food that is stored in the bulb for next year’s growth. Cut bulb leaves, never pull them, once they have turned yellow. Do not tie leaves as this reduces the leaf surface required for adequate food production.
  7. When the foliage dies back the bulb is dormant, this is the proper time to dig and separate bulbs if necessary. Flowering will often be reduced when bulb beds become over-crowded. If division is needed, bulbs should be dug and stored in a well-ventilated place and replanted in the fall.
  8. Fertilize bulbs again in the fall with a high-phosphorus, granular fertilizer.
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Early Spring Blooming Beauties

Subtle blooms in early spring sing the promise of winter’s end. These simple beauties are often overlooked, overpowered by the bold appearance of tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and more. This is unfortunate as these perennials have an unpretentious charm that complements early season bulbs and shrubs. Consider adding a selection of these delicate treasures to your landscape this year! Listed are a few of our favorites:

SUNNY LOCATION
Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus)
English Daisy (Bellis)
Mountain Pinks (Phlox subulata)
Rockcress (Aubrieta)
Candytuft (Iberis)
Wall Cress (Arabis)
Pig Squeak (Berginia)
Basket-of-Gold (Aurina)

FULL TO PART SHADE
Pasqueflower (Pulsatilla)
Bleeding Heart (Dicentra)
Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia)
Columbine (Aquilegia)
Dead Nettle (Lamium)
Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis)
Creeping Phlox (Phlox stolonifera)
Lungwort (Pulmonaria)
Bloodroot (Sanguinaria)
Primrose (Primula)
Sweet Violet (Viola odorata)

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