FLOWERING BULBS

Bulbs are planted mostly 2 times a year. Spring and fall. Spring bulbs include Gladiolas, Tigridia, Canna, Dahlias and Begonias are usually not hardy in our climate but make a long blooming show during their season, which is summer.

Gladiolas and Dahlias make nice cut flowers for the summer table and Cannas are the show of the garden from July until frost. Begonias do nicely in dappled shade. Tigridia or Tiger Flower is a beautiful and curious shell-like flower, giving abundance of bloom for a long season. Individual flowers last only a day but more seem to come on as the season progresses.

A rule of thumb for planting bulbs is they should be planted at a depth of about three times their length or at least two inches deep.

Their hardy cousins on the other hand, which include Tulips, Hyacinths, Daffodils, Crocus, Iris, Alliums, Snowdrops are planted in the fall before a hard freeze and bloom in the spring months beginning with Snowdrops and Crocus in February/March and continuing with late blooming Tulips in May.

Often people people come into the garden center and want to get the bulbs for these hardy flowering plants and we must tell them to come back in September. Planting instructions are usually on each package or box of bulbs as to th time of bloom and the depth to plant them.

Research has shown that bulbs planted at incorrect depths will usually move up or down in the soil to adjust. Our experience here at Ashcombe has verified this. It is always wise to do your best at planting properly, but don't worry when you have a lot of them to put in. They will adapt.

Bulbs can be planting in the fall as long as the ground isn't frozen. Sometimes here in Central PA we can plant up until the end of the year safely. It's best to mass color to get the most striking effect. Some years ago a gardener of ours removed about 8 inches of soil from an entire bed, then set bulbs on the ground and covered them. He also mixed various seasonal types so the bed blended well for the entire blooming season April and May. What a show this was for a few years!

Tulip bulbs will do well for two years and begin to fade the third year. Daffodils almost continue endlessly but will fill in and take over your bed if not dug up and thinned. The best investment in bulbs in the minis (snowdrops, iris, crocus and hyacinths) as they seem to self-maintain and appear again each year in robust fashion.