Adding Fall Flower Bulbs For Beautiful Spring Gift Of Color:
Adding flower bulbs to our fall gardens provide us a beautiful gift of color when temperatures start to warm in the spring, and often earlier. Also, by selecting different varieties, you can have lasting color throughout the season! Choose healthy bulbs when possible and be sure to find a spot in your yard that gets some sunshine and has soil with good drainage and is rich in organic matter.
According to Dauna Koval, Master Gardener and GBTS member, fall is a time when gardeners’ thoughts turn to preparing for next spring’s awakenings as one puts their garden to bed for the Winter. Gardening catalogs bringing pictures of lovely flowers and luscious landscapes to help sharpen a gardener’s dreams of the success of next season.
With floral hopes and fall catalogs in hand, let us consider bulbs while there is still time to order and plant them. Daffodils (also called narcissus or jonquils) will form the mainstay of any of our flower gardens. There are many varieties available now: early, middle, and late bloomers; lots of shades of white, yellow, orange, pink or multicolored; single or double trumpeted; with or without scent. All varieties are great pollinator plants, attracting bees and later bloomers attracting butterflies as well. Choose a wide variety, especially of bloom time, so you will have flowers if possible.
Select heavy, solid bulbs, without damage. “Double nosed” bulbs (those with more than one apparent stem site) will provide the best blooms their first season. Place where plants will get full sun and wait until late fall to plant, when the soil has begun to cool. Daffodils are adaptable to most soils if they have good drainage. For the greatest impact, plant in groups or drifts of the same variety and color. Dig each hole two or three times as deep as the bulb is high and place about 5 or 6 inches apart. A light covering of mulch is helpful, but not necessary. Keep well-watered until the winter rain sets in.
For early blooms, just as winter gives way to spring, try Snowdrops (several species of Galanthus.) These are small bulbs that can be planted at the same time as daffodils, although they need more humus and can get by with less sunlight. Plant about 3-4 inches deep. Do not forget to watch for them at the end of winter. “I have missed mine some seasons,” Dauna says.
Crocus are the typical early season bloomer, showing themselves after snowdrops have just about gone. We do not find them listed on any deer resistant lists, except the one produced by the Master Gardeners of North Beach. Word of mouth is that they sometimes appear before too many baby deer are around so they might be worth a try.
Checkered or Chocolate Lilies (Fritillaria meleagris) are a bit unusual in that they are checkered, just like a brownish-purple checkerboard. A native of the Pacific Coast, they are a delicate flower that is usually deer resistant. They need a porous, humus rich soil along with some winter chill. They sometimes need a year of rest just after planting or between bloom years. You might forget about them and be surprised when they decide to show up.
Hyacinths are on most deer resistant lists. Crocosmia, looking a little like a mini bird-or-paradise, likewise turns up on deer resistant lists. Although produced from rhyzomes rather than bulbs, all the many varieties of Iris appear on deer resistant lists too. Each of these can be planted now. We have seen them all in neighboring gardens, but again word-of-mouth is inconsistent. Just keep thinking: Experiment! You never know when and with what you will get lucky!
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