FOR SPRING GARDENS
By: LINDA B. GAY Horticulturist and Gardener lgay4756@gmail.com
Naturalizing bulbs are deciduous beauties that pop up in our garden during a Texas winter, strap-like leaves emerging as soil temperatures cool off in January and February.
BULB TALK:
- “Deciduous” is another name for losing leaves or dying down, returning when conditions are right.
- “Naturalize” means to establish “in the wild” a flourishing stand of non-native bulbs or plants.
Many winter-growing, spring-blooming, summer-dormant bulbs naturalize easily here. October-December we plant spring (March-May) flowering bulbs such as Narcissus/Daffodil, Leucojum, Ipheon, Dutch Iris, and Scillas.
After blooming they sleep all summer, re-emerging in early winter. They need cold to produce those spring flowers.
Narcissus and Daffodil are closely related:
- Narcissus normally produces a cluster of flowers on one stem.
- Daffodils have one flower per stem.
These bulbs are poisonous so you don’t have to worry about wild animals eating them. Some of the popular Narcissus planted: Paperwhites, ‘Grand Primo’, ‘Erlicheer’ and the sweetly fragrant Campernelles
PLANTING TIPS
- In general, plant bulbs two times deeper than the bulb depth. A bulb 1″ from nose to root would be planted 2″ deep, not counting mulch, in well drained soil. (tip: work expanded shale deep into the heaviest part of the clay so bulbs won’t rot during a wet summer.)
- Bulbs are usually shared after they bloom, when they are going dormant anyway.
- Plant perennial bulbs (keep foliage year round) like crinum, amaryllis, and agapanthus right away. These have long necks. Plant with necks halfway out of the soil.
LANDSCAPING:
- PLANT NATURALIZING BULBS in groups, NOT in straight lines. Bulbs that go dormant do not make good borders, as it’s hard to keep them from being “shoveled” when they are sleeping.
- SUN/SHADE: Bulbs reproduce better in full sun but can take a little filtered light. Our winters are cloudy with little sun. Find the sunniest spot underneath a tree that loses leaves during winter -a great little rock garden for your special bulbs.
You can contact Linda at: lgay4756@gmail.com
