Ann Reilly - Landscaping with Bulbs

by Ann Reilly

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Cover design by Carol J. Jessop (Black Trout Design)
Photographs courtesy of Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center

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Reilly, Ann

Landscaping with bulbs / by Ann Reilly

A Storey Publishing Bulletin, A-99

ISBN 0-88266-498-0

When you plant bulbs, you plant a hope in tomorrow. Place one of Mother Natures most unique creations into the ground, and you are planting a self-contained package of foliage and flowers that will reward you with color year after year. Triggered into motion by time or temperature, bulbs are one of the most reliable of plants, welcoming spring when most needed or filling the summer garden with unusual beauty. Although you will not be rewarded with the fruits of your planting labor for several months of tomorrows, the results cannot be duplicated in any manner.

The beauty of bulbs in the landscape is as dependable and as permanent as can be. Cut and brought indoors, bulb flowers offer color, form, fragrance and long-lasting qualities that welcome the end of winter or the glory of summer.

True bulbs, such as daffodils, lilies, bulbous iris, hyacinths, glory of the snow and others, are actually complete plants within a tiny package. Slice into a bulb at planting time, and you will see the future roots, stems, leaves and flowers. Fleshy scales surrounding this future growth contain all the necessary food for the bulb to grow. After the bulb has bloomed, food for the next season is manufactured in the leaves and transferred to the underground portion to start the chain again the following year. On the outside of a bulb you will find a thin, brown covering similar to that you find on an onion.

As bulbs grow, tiny bulblets are formed around the base. These bulblets can be separated from the main bulb to form new plants. A few bulbs, such as lilies, form bulbils in the leaf axils of the parent plant.

Corms, which include crocus, freesia and gladiolus, are modified stems filled with food storage tissue. They are usually short and squat and covered with a mesh-like material. Look closely, and you will see growth eyes at the top. After a corm blooms, the original corm disappears and a new one forms for next years growth. Some corms also produce cormels which, like bulblets, are baby plants that can be separated from the parent and grown into new plants.

Rhizomes such as iris are thick storage stems that grow along the soil surface. Growth buds form on a rhizome for next years leaves and flowers; the original rhizome will not reflower and in time will need to be dug out.

Tubers, including Grecian windflower, caladiums and tuberous begonias, are underground food-storing stems. Unlike rhizomes, they do not creep along the ground. Tuberous roots are actually roots, not stems, with thick, fleshy food-storing parts that resemble tubers. Chief among these are dahlias.

All of these plants are generally referred to as bulbs because of their unique food-storing capabilities and their growth habits. All are planted while dormant and then grow, bloom, and store food before going dormant again. Because of their many similarities, they are usually grouped together.

You will hear and see the terms spring bulbs and summer bulbs whenever the subject is discussed. Spring bulbs are winter hardy: they are planted in fall, grow and bloom in spring, and then lie dormant for a year. They do not need to be dug out of the ground except when they need to be divided. Summer bulbs are not winter hardy: they are planted in spring, grow and bloom in summer, and are then dug from the ground and stored in a frost-free area over the winter until they are replanted the following spring.

What says SPRING better than a magnificent bulb display, especially when it is tastefully integrated into the rest of the landscape? Long before any color is contributed to the garden by any other plant, bulbs such as winter aconite, snowdrops, bulbous iris, early-blooming species crocus and later-blooming hybrid crocus are poking their heads through the ground, leaves, and even snow.

A little later, Grecian windflower, Siberian squill, glory of the snow, and puschkinia show off their blooms when days are still bleak and trees and shrubs are just beginning to think about blooming or leafing out. All of these early bulbs can be naturalized in the lawn, as it has not yet started to grow.

In front of forsythia, early tulips and daffodils form an enchanting silhouette, united by a border of pansies. Fragrant hyacinths bloom at the same time as most daffodils and can be added to this scheme, under magnolias or in front of rhododendrons such as P.J.M. Hybrids. Grape hyacinths, blooming a little later, add complementary blue to the pinks of flowering crabapple, cherry and peach. With late-blooming azaleas, Scotch broom and dogwood, combine Dutch iris and wood hyacinth. Allium can add color and an interesting accent to early perennials such as iris and peonies.

Late-blooming tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, and the more unique summer snowflake, crown imperial, and allium bloom with shrubs and early perennials and should become a part of the overall plan. Being larger, they can deliver a greater impact and help to fill the time void between early bulbs, flowering trees and shrubs, and summer annuals.

Set early charmers where you and passers-by will notice them the most. Besides growing in the lawn, they will do well around the base of trees near the house, or in small clumps near the front door. Line the path to the door or from the garage to the house. Squeeze them into the corner of the rock garden or use them as a border in front of the foundation planting. Pick complementary heights and colors, and select different types so color will be continuous and even overlap.

If you want top-quality flowers from your spring bulb plantings, you must plant top-quality bulbs. Dont try to skimp on bulbs; youll only be disappointed with their poor performance and the small size of their flowers. When you buy bulbs, look for large, firm bulbs that do not have visible scars, bruises, or soft spots