Bulbous plants – including corms, rhizomes and tubers – are both beautiful and easy to grow. Together, they form an interesting and varied section of the world of flowers. Although their makeup is similar, they represent a huge variety of colours, shapes and sizes. Moreover, by careful selection, siting and planting, bulbs will provide colour in the garden throughout the year.
Since the origins of bulbs are so diverse, it is not possible to generalize treatment, therefore individual cultural details are given under respective headings. One notable fact, however, is that all bulbs, corms and tubers are storage organs which allow the plants to remain alive and healthy during long periods of dormancy, when they are without food or moisture. This is why bulbous plants can be dried off without coming to harm.
In addition, newlyacquired mature bulbs will produce flowers the first season that they are planted, since, in many cases, the flower bud has already formed in the bulb by planting time. This means that it is not until the second season and subsequent years, that the display depends on the general growing conditions and the skill of the gardener.
Best ways of Buying bulbs
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Garden centres offer a good range of varieties, but if you want a wider choice buy from a specialist bulb grower. They sell by mail order and supply well-illustrated catalogues.
For the maximum number of flowers buy the largest bulbs available of that particular species and variety. Choose your bulbs as soon as they appear in the shops; if left for too long on the shelves they will deteriorate. Avoid any with blemishes, loose outer skins or softness around the base where the roots will show. This usually means the bulbs have been displayed in conditions that are too warm.
Getting the best effect
The taller-growing daffodils make excellent cut flowers so, if you have enough space, rather than spoil your main garden display, grow a row specially for cutting. They will grow virtually anywhere, so you need not worry about providing exactly the right sort of conditions. They do thrive, however, in sun or light shade.
For the best effect daffodils should be planted boldly in drifts or groups of irregular shape. The miniature and dwarf varieties look particularly effective in rock gardens, between paving stones or at the front of mixed borders.
The taller-growing daffodils look best planted near shrubs, particularly spring-flowering kinds such as deutzia, forsythia, flowering currant (ribes), magnolias and camellias.
Natural attraction
Daffodils look very attractive growing in lawns, especially in clumps under a tree. You can use any type, but especially recommended are the poeticus, trumpet and large-cupped varieties.
You can use daffodils for spring bedding but, in this case, you must lift the bulbs after flowering and replant them elsewhere to make way for summer bedding plants.
Trumpet, large-cupped and double daffodils are best for spring bedding. Grow them in bold groups with blue forget-me-nots and polyanthus.
When planting bulbs, many people tend to forget the summer-flowering ones. Yet flowers such as lilies are the most powerfully scented and beautiful of all the plants which are grown from bulbs. Most lily varieties should be planted in mid-autumn (the exception is the Madonna lily Liliwn candidwn, which should be planted in late summer), in soil lightened by the addition of peat. Place the bulbs in prepared holes so that they lie at a depth of three times the height of the bulb, which could be 15 cm (6 in) deep. Again Madonna lilies are the exception: they should be covered with just 5 cm (2 in) of soil. Once planted, lilies should not be disturbed. Feeding too is unnecessary. Simply give them a covering of 10 cm (4 in) of moist peat every spring.
(1) If you want to have bulbs in flower indoors over winter or in early spring, plant them in bowls containing bulb fibre in early or mid-autumn. Crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths and tulips are the best bulbs for indoors. Many bulb suppliers also sell ‘prepared’ bulbs which have been advanced in their growth cycle so that they will flower indoors in winter. Fill the chosen container with moistened (but not wet) bulb fibre to 5 cm (2 in) to the top and stand the bulbs on the potting mixture so that they are almost touching. Then fill the space between and around the bulbs with more bulb fibre and wrap the container in several thicknesses of newspaper.
(2) The container should then be kept in a cool dark place, such as a garage, where the temperature is not more than 9 C (48 F), until the first shoots are well through the necks of the bulbs. If you cannot maintain such an initial low temperature, it is best to put the bulbs in their containers in a ‘plunge bed’ outdoors. This is made by digging a trench, one spit deep, placing bulb containers wrapped in newspaper in the bottom and filling in the trench with peat. ‘Prepared’ bulbs should remain in the dark of the plunge bed or garage for about 10 weeks. Ordinary bulbs should be kept covered for 15 weeks before bringing them into subdued light for a few days. Then move them to a well-lit position, where the temperature is around 18 C (64 F). Unfortunately most bulbs are not happy in the hot-house atmosphere of some centrally heated rooms.
(3) When bulbs are to be planted in grassed areas, it is advisable to plant them in ragged drifts, not rigid rows or clumps. With daffodils, you can use a special bulb-planting tool (an open-ended cylinder which pulls up a ‘plug’ of soil which can be replaced on top of the implanted bulb) or trowel. With smaller bulbs, it is simpler to ease up a layer of the turf with a spade, loosen the soil with a fork, plant the bulbs, and firm down the turf. Remember that if bulbs are grown in lawns, the grass cannot be cut until all the bulb foliage has died back; otherwise the bulbs will be unable to replenish their food store and will not flower the following year.
(4) Some bulbous plants, such as the popular dahlia, will not survive winter frost. When the stems of dahlias are blackened by the first frosts, dig up the tubers, cut off most of the stems, and allow the tubers to dry sufficiently for you to brush off any remaining soil. Next dust the tubers with green sulphur as a precaution against fungal attack and store the tubers in a box of dry peat in a cool, frost-free place.
(5) After the first frosts, begonia corms should be lifted, dried and stored in a box of peat for planting the following year. Gladioli plants should be lifted when the foliage turns brown and allowed to dry out completely. Then cut off the dried tops 2.5 cm (1 in) above the corms and store the corms in paper bags in a dry, frost-free place for the following year.
Most other bulbs are best left in their original planting positions. If bulbs such as daffodils and tulips are in tubs which are required for summer plants, the bulbs can be lifted and planted in another part of the garden until their foliage dies down naturally. At this point the bulbs can be lifted again, dried and stored until the appropriate planting time comes around again.
Gladioli are another group of summer bulbs well worth planting from early to late spring 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 in) deep in clumps or rows, and 20 cm (8 in) apart. The idea of planting over several months is to give a succession of flowers from midsummer to the first frosts, when the bulbs should be lifted.
Because the dahlia has tuberous roots which allow it to be lifted and stored from year to year, it too can be thought of as a bulb. The tubers should be started into growth in boxes of moist peat stood on a sunny window ledge in mid-spring. In late spring or early summer, when the risk of frost has passed, they can be planted outdoors 5 cm (2 in) deep in well-prepared rich soil with 30 to 60 cm (1 to 2 ft) between the plants, depending on their eventual height. Tall plants require sturdy stakes. Regular watering is vital to keep the plants growing strongly.
Another tuberous rooted plant is the begonia. The corms, or bulbs, should be pressed, hollow side uppermost, into 7.5 cm (3 in) diameter peat pots, containing peat-based mixture, in mid-spring and started into growth in a light, frost-free place. The plants can be put outdoors in early summer, either in the open ground, or in tubs, window boxes and hanging baskets.
Bulbs growing in tubs provide a magnificent spring display. The tubs can be filled with either good garden soil or a suitable potting mixture, and the bulbs planted at the same depth as for those growing in ordinary beds and borders. It is for this reason that it is not a good idea to grow daffodils in window boxes. With shallow con-tainers, it would be better to concentrate on growing some of the many smaller bulbs.
Where bulbs are grown in shrub and herbaceous borders and beds, the soil should be forked over first and improved if necessary by the addition of some peat, before planting the bulbs at the appropriate depths.
Related articles
- Spring Bulbs (gardeningdatafiles.com)
- The First Days of Spring (gardeningdatafiles.com)
