ARTY'S GARDEN: Plant Bulbs to Brighten Your Garden

Originally published in the Oct. 2, 2013, issue

 

When garden centers receive their shipments of bulbs in the fall, I look them over and wish I had room to try every kind. Among the bulbs (and, technically, corms) that you may find now at Georgia garden centers are daffodils, jonquils, tulips, crocuses, Dutch hyacinths, Roman hyacinths, grape hyacinths, colchicums, snowdrops, snowflakes, alliums, triteleias, scillas, ipheions, Dutch irises, anemones, camassias and Spanish bluebells. If you’ve never heard of some of these, don’t let that hold you back from giving them a try!

 

Spanish bluebells

When purchasing bulbs, avoid the ones that are soft or that have become dried out and brittle. Autumn-flowering bulbs should be planted immediately. Wait until after Oct. 15 to plant spring-blooming ones, however. Keep them in the vegetable crisper until ready to plant, but do not store them with fruit. The fruit emits a gas that is detrimental to the bulbs.

 

As a general rule, fall-planted bulbs prefer well-drained soil. Clay soil can be amended by digging in organic matter such as ground pine bark mulch. Throwing a shovel of sand into a hole isn’t enough to help. If you want to use sand to amend red clay, you need to add enough sand so that it makes up at least 50 percent of the volume of the amended bed.

 

A good rule of thumb is that bulbs should be planted at a depth of 1.5 times the diameter of the bulb. An exception is the tulip, which should be planted six inches deep in very well-drained soil. Plant the pointed end up and the fatter, rounded end down. If you are unsure about which end goes up, ask a garden center employee.

 

Most bulbs benefit from fertilizing at planting. Work the fertilizer beneath the bulbs, but don’t set the bulbs directly down on top of a handful of fertilizer. Bulb Booster is a slow-release fertilizer developed specifically for bulbs and is a top-of-the-line choice. Bone meal, the traditional fertilizer for bulbs, is still OK, but is not a complete fertilizer. Most brands now lack the nitrogen they once had. If you are using bone meal, you need to add supplemental nitrogen. 

 

A horticulturist at your garden center can help you with your bulb choices and answer your questions. And don’t forget to check out the ads in the “Flowers for Sale” category in the Market Bulletin – you can sometimes find some interesting bulbs there.

 

Arty Schronce is the Department’s resident gardening expert. He’s a lifelong gardener and a horticulture graduate of North Carolina State University who encourages everyone to discover the pleasures of plants and gardening.