MyGardenCenterOnline :: Plant Care Articles :: Fall Bulbs for Spring Beauty
Fall Bulbs for Spring Beauty
The time to plant fall bulbs is in the fall so they are ready to bloom in spring. There is a misconception that spring flowers are planted earlier in the year, but that is false. Many think erroneously that the heavy frosts and snow will kill the bulbs off, but what happens in nature? How do you get all these lovely snowdrops in the spring if the frost and snow was killing them off?
There is now a wide variety of bulbs available; far more than in the olden days of only red tulips and yellow daffodils, and the hybrids can be used to provide almost any color scheme you want. So, whether you have favorite colors or favorite plants, you have a very wide choice. The garden centers will be full of bulbs at the end of summer and start of fall, and they are also widely available in many discount stores, general and hardware stores and many department stores.
Online is a good place to find bargains and you have a great selection to choose from. You can browse online and pick what you want from the innumerable sites offering fall bulbs. First you should choose the bulbs that you want. Chose between daffodils, narcissus, tulips, snowdrops, crocus, hyacinths, iris and all the rest available to you. You can design you color schemes or just mix them up and see what comes.
Tulips come in many colors, favorites being the deep red varieties and the deep purple-black species such as ‘Deep of Night’ which could easily take the eponymous role in Alexandre Dumas’ ‘The Black Tulip’. Crocuses, on the other hand, tend to be more delicately colored and irises and lilies provide a wide variety of different colors. Many of the hybrid tulips are now available in variegated colors, and some even change color as they grow.
Before you decide to purchase, however, make sure that you are getting what you want. A good show of flowers grown from bulbs, corms or rhizomes, takes careful planning. All these are classed as bulbs for the purposes of fall planting. However, they do not all flower at the same time, so if you want a good show all spring through to the summer, be careful to note when they flower. Many fall bulbs are summering flowering plants, and while it is nice to have summer flowers, your bulbs might not fit in with your summer garden plans.
If you are careful, and choose a selection that flower around the same time, you can arrange your garden with the shorter snowdrops peeking up from a suitable ground cover and shorter crocuses in front. Behind these you can have a selection of alliums and hyacinths, and then the larger tulips, daffodils and iris. You can arrange the colours in clumps or bands since you have a large selection of color with each plant, except perhaps the snowdrops.
Keep in mind that many fall bulbs, such as the snowdrops and crocus, are far better grown in clumps than single plants. In fact, that is the natural way for bulbs. The bulbs separate over summer and form natural clumps that produce masses of blooms over a period of years. Hence Wordsworth’s ‘Field of Golden Daffodils’.
The best time for planting will generally be stated on the pack, though if you buy them loose with no instructions, then plant them in areas of garden that get lots of light. Bulbs like at least half the day’s sunlight. The time you plant them depends on the soil temperature. Wait until the soil has cooled to at least 50F since they will start to take root at around that temperature. The soil should be well drained, but hold moisture, and the addition of an open compost will help to prepare the ground before planting.
The bulbs should be planted about two to three bulb diameters into the soil, though a few species prefer to be planted shallower. The compost can be added to the hole if you dig a bit deeper. Spacing is not too important but about three bulb diameters between them are normal. Wild bulbs grow perfectly well and they are hardly separated at all in nature. A good bulb fertilizer can be added to older bulbs in October – December, but newly planted bulbs don’t need fed till the following fall.
Fall bulbs are ideal to provide you with color in your garden and provide some spring beauty before your summer flowering plants mature They are very easy to grow and maintain and are perennials that will return year after year, with a better showing each year.
Related Products
Hair Allium
The Allium 'Hair', 'Allium', a fall planted ornamental onion bulb, will produce unique hairy flowers. 'Hair' displays hairy purple and green strands a...
Mixed Colors Miniatures Allium
The Allium 'Miniatures Mixed Colors', 'Allium minatures', a fall planted ornamental onion bulb, will produce flowers of assorted colors. These smaller...
Lucy Ball Allium
The Allium 'Lucy Ball', 'Allium', a fall planted ornamental onion bulb, will produce large flowers. This award-winning variety has sweetly scented, da...
Read the next Plant Care article on Garden Hygiene
