How To Add Year Long Color In Your Yard With Bulbs
We’re all familiar with the lovely display of Tulips, Hyacinths and Daffodils once the temperature starts to warm up. The delightful show of colors seen in these spring flowers make us welcome the warm weather with a smile.
They always seem to be a surprise coming almost out of nowhere. Do you know that these plants were first started at the beginning of winter by bulbs? They slept through the cold and icy ground for months until they finally made their appearance. The usual means of having flowers and vegetables sprout and bloom is by way of their seeds, however, the bulb and tuber is another form of growing flowers.
There are also the summer tubers such as dahlias, considered annuals which are planted in the spring, when the ground is warm. The summer tubers sprout and bloom from July until October.
Tubers and bulbs are tan colored and round or oval shaped, somewhat like a potato. They will have a number of protruding bulbs from one stem, with a number of small eyes where the plant starts to grow. They are all slightly different in size depending on what flower is growing. However, it’s important that each tuber has an eye where the plant will sprout.
Dahlias are grown from tubers and tulips from bulbs. There are also corms which act the same way. The energy for growing the flower is stored inside the potato looking tuber, bulb or corm.
Tulips and dahlias are the most popular, but there are many spring and summer flowers which are grown from tubers and bulbs, such as lilies, gladiolus, irises, and the Christmas Amaryllis.
How difficult are these beauties to grow? Not that hard.
They actually take care of themselves once you have planted them in the proper location, with well-amended soil and plenty of sun and watering.
Most tubers and bulbs can be planted in the ground as well as in pots. When choosing pots, the size is important because they need enough space to grow, and more water than the ground growing flowers.
It’s important from the start to buy healthy firm bulbs and store them well. The package will always give you instructions on planting and storage.
The label will say how to store before planting, because they can be damaged by too much moisture or too much heat and dry up.
During September and October, the big box stores have many types of bulbs on sale, as well as online nurseries. Once you buy a package of bulbs or tubers, open it as soon as possible to make sure they are dry and not moist or soft because the tubers and bulbs will not grow flowers and will be damaged. If they are damaged, and you’ve bought them online you can contact the seller and will be given another order.
When planting daffodils and tulips, place them in the soil in the ground or pot, and cover the bulb with soil, usually the recommendation is 3 times the height of the bulb deep. The soil may be damp but not soaking wet, and when in pots they can be kept dry until you see shoots, then water lightly. When planted outside, cover the area with mulch because you don’t want the bulbs to get rotted from the rain.
I prefer to start them in pots and then place them outdoors when the weather warms up. Here in Ocean Shores, there is also the risk of having the critters dig them up, it’s like candy for them.
When planted in pots, keep them protected from the rain, and you can even cover them with a mesh if there are any critters roaming about. Once they start sprouting, they can be moved to a sunny location.
The tulips and daffodils will grow well with sun and don’t need a great deal of water, only damp soil. They will last about a month or two, after you have enjoyed the rewards of blooming. Cut off the stems after the flowers are all gone and stems are wilted. There is energy in the stems that has to go into the bulb.
When they are in the ground, you can remove them from the soil and store them for the following fall. Storage of bulbs and tubers is usually done with a very dry component like straw or vermiculite, after they are wiped and dried, and kept in a cool dry area.
If you leave them in their pots, keep the pots in a dry area for the remainder of the summer without watering. Most of the bulbs can be dug up after their blooms are gone and saved for the next season. You can also cover them with mulch in order to protect them. The risk in our area is that the rain in winter will damage them and they won’t survive.
Summer tubers, such as dahlias, need about 6 hours of sun, with plenty of water and monthly fertilizing. To get earlier blooms with summer flowers they can be started indoors as early as March or April.
They can’t get too dry because they won’t bloom, or too wet because the bulb will rot with the moisture. There are many varieties of dahlias in various colors, shapes and sizes. Dahlias can be addictive because there is such joy in growing them, however, they can be pricey, and you want to protect them to have them for future seasons.
There is the possibility of having beautiful flowers for many months, when you start the bulbs in the winter to get blooms in spring, and plant summer tubers in the spring to last until the fall.
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