Looking Ahead

[ladysprite]

Summer, like it or not, is almost over, and with it most of my beloved gardening. There are still eggplant and tomatoes growing, but everything else has started to fade and die. The lilacs and lilies of the valley are long gone, and the potted snapdragons and pansies are fighting to survive, but clearly starting to lose that battle.

But there's one thing that I can do, that will keep me looking forward and let me indulge in my love of green growing things and playing in the dirt for at least a little longer.

Bulbs. Since we bought this house, I've been talking about planting bulbs in the fall, so that when spring comes I'll have bright explosions of flowers and color all around me, but it's never quite worked out. I tried to set up a raised bed on one side of the house, but the shade from above and tree roots from below led to utter failure. There are the lilies of the valley I mentioned, transplanted lovingly from a friend's garden, and the lilacs, but other than that... nothing.

I've never been very good with flowers - I feel completely lost working with them. Vegetables are easy; there are no real aesthetic concerns. Put them in the dirt, come back and get food later. Flowers are strange and mysterious and serve no practical purpose, and I'm always slightly afraid I'll do something wrong and they'll.... I don't know. Look funny, or wrong.

But I want to try. There are some places I can try to brighten up; I just need to figure out what to put there. Small areas, a row here or there, nothing huge, but it'd be nice as anything to have color peeking out at me come April.

So, my wiser and more experienced friends.... any hints or suggestions as to what I should try to play with, or how to make sure they grow right?

Comments

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

Think of bulbs as vegetables that grow flowers. Plant 'em and leave them...

I don't know what local conditions you have, but you can certainly match wet/dry soil and shady/full sun by type. Semi-wild types often naturalise better than more showy things. For me, Year 1, tuplips/daffs/etc look great, but years on, it is the bluebells that have established. Most bulbs are spring, but there are for other seasons too.

Once you've done that, the two things that are most important are (1) plant to the right depth and (2) generally, don't plant them in too regimented a way. Dropping a handful gives you a natural layout - just tweak if they end up too crowded.

Here, most of the details you need are on the packets or catalogue. For small bulbs, a big dibber (aka pointy stick) is good. If you have a LOT of big bulbs to plant in soil, a bulb planter helps, but for a smaller load, just trowel them in.

Don't forget you can plant in lawn areas as well as beds, if you don't mind not cutting for ages.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

In my front yard, a few snow drops will come up very early in the season
and are a nice harbinger of spring. And then they're usually followed by crocuses.
http://www.dutchbulbs.com/store/specialtybulbs/26041
http://www.dutchbulbs.com/search?keywords=Crocus
(this is the first site I found, I don't know anything about them or the quality of their bulbs)

When selecting any plant take a close look at the Cold Zone range and the amount of sun light it needs. We live in zone 6, but I'd go for plants that are rated for zone 5 (a little bit colder). Soil type you might be able to adjust when you plant the bulbs. Water is up to you.

I was at Home Depot earlier this week, and they had a nifty looking kit for planting bulbs. It's a fiber pot (it'll break down quickly). You dig a hole for the pot. And then plant the included bulbs at various depths in the pot. In the Spring, the bulbs will flower in three phases (early, mid, late Spring).

At least, that's the theory, I have no idea how it'll work in reality.

Or head over to Mahoney's Garden Center in Winchester (a couple of miles from your house). They're usually good for advice.
http://www.mahoneysgarden.com/

BTW their Concord store is having a bulb seminar on Saturday, October 2nd.
https://www.mahoneysgarden.com/event/fall-bulb-planting-101-seminar

If you'd like to be a bit more adventuresome, there's the Messelaar Bulb Company (http://www.tulipbulbs.com/) in Ipswich (about two miles from Russell Orchards (PYO and cider donuts :))

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Ben was joking about male answer syndrome WRT this comment. I will add:

We've planted a lot of bulbs over the years, and the small things like snowdrops, scilla, puschkinia, chinodoxa, bluebells, ipheon, crocus (spring or fall) and grape hyacinth (muscari) have stuck around and spread the best. Any daffodil marked "good for naturalizing" is also a good choice. Alliums (flowering onions) are super-easy and come in a zillion varieties. Lily of the valley is so easy that it's downright invasive. Most if not all of these are not bothered by critters.

What I do for care: get a bag of bulb fertilizer, and mix some into the soil when planting bulbs, and water in well (or plant when it's going to rain.) Then, every year, when they are done flowering but the leaves are still green, sprinkle a little bulb fertilizer around them on a rainy day, because good healthy foilage one year means more flowers and more naturalizing the next. (If you miss a year, it won't kill them.)

I would call the folks at Messelaar to ask what they have; they will be a tiny bit more expensive than Home Depot, but their bulbs are top-quality and the more you buy, the more of a discount they give, and they know *everything* about bulbs. A drive to their store is also a nice touristy thing during fall colors season.

Also: daylilies! Absolutely 100% the easiest flowers to grow; plant 'em, water during the first year, and they will stick around for decades; in fact, you can dig them up every few years and split them apart and give the extras to friends. And nothing -- I mean nothing -- eats them. The cheapies at Home Depot or Lowes are fine, or you can get creative and order from R. Seawright Daylilies which is in our area, or Tranquil Lake in Rehoboth, MA, or go visit either place.

[pagawne.livejournal.com]

Daffodils, are great, and iris come in many colors and generally thrive on neglect, day lilies are great, and generally bloom around Bill's birthday (13 July).

[suzilem.livejournal.com]

I also vote for Iris. Any plant that can happily survive in both upstate New York and Texas and reliably return year after year with little or no fussing with gets my vote.

[asdr83.livejournal.com]

crocuses give you your first color in Spring and grow in shade or sun. Nothing perfumes the Spring evening when you get home like hyacinths and they're fairly hardy. If you get your bulbs at home depot all of there bulbs have a number (1,2 or 3) that tells you what time during the season they'll bllom so you can have coverage all summer.

[mermaidlady]

Tulips=Gardener's Heartbreak