Mixing it Up with Spring Flowering Bulbs
By David Salman:
Plant a surprise this fall. Get some spring blooming bulbs into the ground in October or November, water them in and forget about them. With the arrival of spring, enjoy the surprise as your forgotten bulbs burst into bloom. Bulbs are some of the most beautiful, inexpensive, low care flowers you can plant in your garden. The trick is to understand the best varieties to use and how to mix them into the fabric of your landscape.
Narcissus poeticus recurvus, a true heirloom and one of the most perennial. Strong and very fragrant, the Poet’s Daffodil blooms later in spring than most other daffodils so it rarely gets smashed by heavy wet snows. Photo: Jane Shellenberger
Mention the word “bulb” to a gardener and most often a tulip comes to mind. But the bulb palette suitable for Western gardens extends well beyond just tulips. There are daffodils, Grape Hyacinths (Muscari), Crocus, miniature Iris, Ornamental Onion (Allium), Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides) and many other genera that are well suited to our climate and growing conditions. And yes, there are a lot of wonderful tulips as well, especially perennial wildflower tulips, also known as species tulips. Many of the big hybrid tulips don’t come back true after the first year and some don’t come back at all, especially if we don’t have a wet spring. By choosing perennial bulbs, commonly referred to as “naturalizing” bulbs, your bulb plantings multiply and become showier each year.
A Bulb for Every Site
Just as there are flowering annuals and perennials for many different growing conditions such as shade, sun, dry soils and moist soils, spring flowering bulbs can be matched to these different growing conditions as well. If you’re looking to plant spring color under shade trees and in shady beds on the north/northeast sides of your house, Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides), Snowdrops (Galanthus), Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa) and Guinea Hen Flower (Fritillaria) are all wonderful, low care choices. For not-too-dry areas with dappled shade to mostly sun, Grape Hyacinths (Muscari), Siberian Squill (Scilla) and Daffodil (Narcissus) are recommended. For sunny, dry conditions, wildflower Tulips (Tulipa), Crocus, Fall Blooming Crocus, miniature Iris, ornamental onions (Alium) are a perfect match.
Species Tulip: 'Persian Pearl' (t. pulchella or humilis)
Bulbs for Deer Defense
Many gardeners have to contend with destructive deer helping themselves to free meals in their landscapes. Fortunately, there are many spring blooming bulbs that deer won’t eat. Daffodils, Hyacinthoides, Scilla and Allium are excellent for planting colorful flower beds in deer infested areas. For those of us who don’t have deer but have to contend with gophers as an underground hazard, daffodils are the best solution as they are ignored these hungry critters.
Planting Bulbs for Big Areas of Color
Experience has shown that planting larger numbers of bulbs into a given area will greatly increase the beauty of their flowering display the following spring. Even large bulbs (such as daffodils and tulips) can be planted as closely as six inches apart. By massing (planting densely) each bulb by type or color, their visual impact in your landscape is greatly magnified. If fact, many of the wildflower iris, wildflower tulips, and crocus are small plants, so plant each variety in groups of at least a couple of dozen or more bulbs. Each of these little bulbs will multiply and spread like a groundcover, filling in the empty spots over the course of several growing seasons.
Allium siculum bulgaricum, Sicilian Honey Lily
New Ideas for Bulb Plantings
Traditionally, bulbs, especially tulips, have been used as bedding plants, densely planted for their spring color, then removed and replaced with annual bedding plants to keep the beds in color for the remainder of the growing season. And many big, beautiful hybrid tulips only come true for one year. These days, this labor intensive routine is not very practical for time constrained gardeners. Instead, mixing perennial bulbs into perennial flower beds and borders will provide a less formal and less work intensive way to enjoy them. Just like herbaceous perennials, spring flowering bulbs bloom at different times of the spring. Familiarize yourself with early mid- and late spring blooming daffodils to extend their season of color from late February to end of May. The same is true of Tulips; this huge collection of different species and cultivars also has the same long season of bloom. By using some of the showy Allium varieties, you can extend the season of bulb color into June!
Species Tulip: 'Lady Jane' (t. clusiana).
Groundcovers and Small Bulbs
There are many spring blooming groundcovers that make fine companions for bulbs. Speedwell (Veronica), Thyme (Thymus), Rock Cress (Aubrietia), Moss Pinks (Phlox subulata) and low growing Greek Yarrow (Achillea) are just a few. For established patches of groundcovers, remove a small plug of the groundcover with a bulb planter and drop bulbs of small growing varieties like Crocus, miniature Iris, miniature daffodils, small wildflower tulips into the hole. The beauty and performance of fall blooming Crocus is enhanced by planting them into Snow-in-Summer (Cerastium) and Speedwells.For shady and part shade areas, woodland groundcovers like Siberian Bugloss (Brunnera), Ornamental Comfrey (Symphytum) and /Dead Nettle (Lamium) are wonderful companions for larger Daffodils, Siberian Squill and Spanish Bluebells. White flowered Candytuft (Iberis) is superb used under mid-spring blooming white flowered Daffodils while Golden Columbine (Aquilegia) is a knockout with late spring blooming Daffodils.
Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides)
Mixing Bulbs into the Perennial Border
As you move into the full sun, there are numerous companion perennials that mix seamlessly with the spring flowering bulbs. Remember to match their bloom times to provide complementary colored flowers between bulb and perennial. Early blooming Basket of gold (Alyssum) is superb mixed with Greigii and Fosteriana type tulips. Early blooming Hardy Iceplant (Delosperma) is nice combined with Grape Hyacinths. Finish the bulb season with Moonshine Yarrow (Achillea) or ‘Walker Low’ Catmint (Nepeta) blooming with Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ or Brodia ‘Queen Fabiola’. The combinations between bulb and perennial are vast and can provide you with a many stimulating hours of planning the possibilities.
Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides)
Waiting For Fall
It’s always a good idea to order your bulbs early to insure you get the varieties you want, but you don’t need to be in a hurry to plant them. Waiting until October or November (sometime after the first hard frost but before the ground begins to freeze) is the best time to get them into the ground. So in the meantime, promise yourself a surprise, a spring surprise, by planting bulbs this fall.
The late David Salman founded High Country Gardens and Santa Fe Nursery. (Reprinted from an article he wrote for Colorado Gardener in 2010.)
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