DK - Grow Bulbs: Essential Know-how and Expert Advice for Gardening Success

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AUTHOR Stephanie Mahon

AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Diana Loxley and the team at Cobalt for all their hard work, and John Campbell for his help and support.

PUBLISHER ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
DK would like to thank Mary-Clare Jerram for developing the original concept, Margaret McCormack for indexing, and Paul Reid, Marek Walisiewicz, and the Cobalt team for their hard work in putting this book together.

PICTURE CREDITS

The publisher would like to thank the following for their kind permission to reproduce their photographs:

Alamy Stock Photo: adrian davies; Avalon.red; Barrie Sheerman; BIOSPHOTO; blickwinkel; Botany vision; CHRIS BOSWORTH; Chris Mattison; Christopher Burrows; Clare Gainey; Deborah Vernon; Don Mennig; Elizabeth Debenham; Ernie Janes; Ester van Dam; flafabri; Florapix; Garey Lennox; Gary Cook; Glenn Harper; Graham Prentice; Henk Vrieselaar; Herv Lenain; Holden Wildlife; Holmes Garden Photos; imageBROKER; INTERFOTO; Joel Douillet; John Glover; John Martin; John Richmond; Julie Davenport; Kaliantye; Kay Ringwood; KTT; LEE BEEL; lemanieh; Louis Berk; Malcolm McMillan; Marc de Boer; Margaret Welby; Martin Hughes-Jones; Matthew Taylor; MBP-Plants; mediasculp; mike jarman; Miriam Heppell; Nataliya Nazarova; Nigel Cattlin; Organica; P Tomlins; Panther Media GmbH; R Ann Kautzky; RM Floral; Ros Crosland; Selwyn; Sergey Kalyakin; Steffen Hauser / botanikfoto; Stephen Power; The National Trust Photolibrary; Tim Gainey; Tim Slater; Verena Matthew; Wieslaw Jarek; WILDLIFE GmbH; Wiskerke; Yakoniva; Yon Marsh Natural History.

Cobalt ID .

Dorling Kindersley: Alan Buckingham; Brian North; Mark Winwood / Alpine Garden Society; Mark Winwood / Avon Bulbs; Mark Winwood / Dr Mackenzie; Mark Winwood / Hampton Court Flower Show; Mark Winwood / Lullingstone Castle, Kent; Mark Winwood / RHS Chelsea Flower Show; Mark Winwood / RHS Wisley; Neil Overy; Peter Anderson / National Dahlia Collection; RHS Tatton Park.

GAP Photos: Abigail Rex; Christa Brand - Weihenstephan Trial Garden; Clive Nichols - Ulting Wick, Essex; Friedrich Strauss; Howard Rice; J S Sira; J S Sira - Designer: Hay Young Hwang, Sponsors: LG Electronics; Jonathan Buckley; Jonathan Buckley - Demonstrated by Carol Klein; Jonathan Buckley - Design: Carol Klein; Jonathan Buckley - Design: Sue and Wol Staines; Lee Avison - Design: Maureen Sawyer / Southlands12; Leigh Clapp; Marcus Harpur; Nicola Stocken; Nicola Stocken - Designer: David Ward; Paul Debois; Richard Bloom; Richard Bloom - Garden: Wildside Plants - Designer: Keith Wiley; Richard Bloom - Rod and Jane Leeds garden, Suffolk; Robert Mabic; Tommy Tonsberg.

Getty Images: Jeff Overs; Ron Evans; Jacky Parker Photography; Veena Nair.

Illustrations by Cobalt id.

All other images Dorling Kindersley

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WHY GROW BULBS?

Bulbs bloom in such an array of magnificent forms and colours that theres virtually no limit to the displays you can create, in any type or size of garden. There are bulbs in bloom every month of the year, offering decorative interest at otherwise dull times, and lengthening the seasons by bridging flowering gaps. Bulbs are also great value, and most are incredibly easy to grow. They dont need much space or time, but offer spectacular results, whether used on their own as an eye-catching focal point, or as support to other plants in the garden.

Grow Bulbs | Why grow bulbs?

Create sensational displays using flowering bulbs in different sizes and colours, such as this spring scheme with blue, white, and purple hyacinths, tall, dark Persian fritillaries, and pink and yellow tulips.

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EASY PLANTS FOR FREE

Bulbs are amazing plants that multiply all on their own. They naturally self-propagate, making mini copies of themselves, which you can then use to create more plants for free. The two principal methods of propagating bulbs are dividing them and cutting them up ( see ). Division is an easy and straightforward process.

HOW BULBS REPRODUCE

The bulbs you plant in the garden reproduce by making copies of themselves underground as they grow. These are known as offsets, bulblets, cormlets, or side bulbs. The baby bulbs are attached to the basal plate, and are fed and nurtured by the original parent bulb for a few years, until they become large enough to flower themselves, and produce their own baby bulbs. Left alone, these clusters of multiplying bulbs will develop into clumps.

Gardeners can take advantage of this natural process by propagating these bulbs by division. This is a foolproof, risk-free way to increase your stocks and it produces results much sooner than growing from seed.

DIVIDING CLUMPS Lifting, dividing, and spreading out large clumps of bulbs is the easiest way to create sizable displays. Most bulbs should be divided after flowering. Bulbs planted in the green ( see ), like snowdrops, should be lifted and divided while in active growth.

To lift and divide a clump of bulbs, such as daffodils, dig them up with a fork. Take the clump in both hands and gently pull it apart to create two or more smaller clumps. Replant these new clumps immediately, at the same depth as before, but spaced further apart.

Dividing bulbs is the quickest, simplest, and best-value way to make many more plants for very little effort and investment.

GROWING ON OFFSETS

If youd like to keep your large flowering bulbs putting all their energy into blooming, you can remove offsets such as bulblets and cormlets and grow them on yourself. Lift the plant after flowering, as the leaves are dying back, and pluck off the offsets from around the roots. Plant them at a depth of twice their own height in pots or trays of gritty, free-draining compost. After two or three years, the offsets will have grown large enough to flower. This method is great for corms and bulbs like crocuses and alliums. Some daffodils and tulips will produce side bulbs large enough to remove and replant in the ground right away.

Offsets such as bulblets can be easily removed from parent bulbs, like these Iris reticulata , once theyre dug up.

TOP TIP AS WELL AS BEING THE EASIEST METHOD OF PROPAGATION, DIVISION IS ALSO NECESSARY TO EASE CONGESTION. UNDIVIDED CLUMPS CAN GET SO CROWDED, WITH BULBS COMPETING FOR NUTRIENTS, THAT THEY STOP FLOWERING, SO MOST BULBS WILL BENEFIT FROM BEING DIVIDED EVERY FEW YEARS.

UNEXPECTED TREASURES

Lilies produce offsets in several different ways. As well as the small bulbs that form at the base of the main bulb, many lilies also produce bulblets on the portion of the plants stem that lies underground. These can be removed in autumn once the foliage has turned brown. Lift the bulb, separate the offsets, and pot them up to grow on.

Several lilies, including many Asiatic hybrids, also have aerial bulbils offsets that develop on the plant above ground, where the leaves meet the stem. Small, round, and usually brown or purple-black, these bulbils can be collected in late summer. Plant them in pots or trays, water, and leave somewhere frost-free. Seedlings will appear in a few weeks. They can be planted in the ground the following season, but may take several years to reach flowering maturity. Some alliums, such as Allium sphaerocephalon, also produce aerial bulbils, which can be propagated in the same way.