I have a small area in front of my house. I want to plant some tulips in between my hosta plants.
Do I put more than one bulb in the ground or do I put a few together? How far down do I dig? How far do I space them? What month is the best time to plant them? (I know it is in the fall but when?)
I have seen a few websites but I want to know what YOU do. What looks best?
*********************************************************************** 08-29-03, 12:31 PM Lydia I like to plant several masses here and there using a mix of colors and also a mix of blooming time. There are early and late blooming tulips in the same colors. Say, for example, I want to plant a mass of yellow and red together, I may plant several of each color in two varying timeframes, so I get a little more color as the first set of flowers is dying back. I have red, yellow, white, purple and a couple of other colors that are somewhat mixed. I also like to plant some Hyacinths and Daffodils along with the tulips.
I plant them about 6 inches deep and about 3 – 4 inches apart. In each mass, I may plant 8 to 10 bulbs (over the years, they will multiply). Depending on how much space you have to work with, I'd plant that many bulbs, but not fewer than 3 - 4 in one "clump"
I like to plant them when the warmer weather is gone (don’t want to risk the chance of them poking through the ground this year and that has happened). Typically, I’ll wait until the latter part of October to plant spring blooming bulbs. You can plant them right up until the time when the ground freezes.
The one thing I like to stay away from is planting the bulbs in a row just one at each space – makes them look like little soldiers standing guard in front of your house…
08-29-03, 02:42 PM clarebear
quote: I may plant several of each color in two varying timeframes, so I get a little more color as the first set of flowers is dying back.
How much of a timeframe between planting?
Do you plant the Hyacinths and Daffodils at the same time?
08-29-03, 03:10 PM Lydia Sorry Clare..I wasn't clear...there are tulips that are "early blooming" and some are "late spring blooming". I like to buy loose bulbs at garden centers to pick out the best looking ones and you get a little sheet of instructions/time of bloom info...this will tell you about blooming time...they all get planted at the same time though.
Yes - plant the daffodils and the hyacinths at the same time and you will get a pretty little cluster and beautiful showing in the spring!!!
You might also want to pick up a bag of bone meal at the garden center (or wherever you buy your bulbs) - put a teaspoon or so in the bottom of each of the holes. Make sure you water when done as well...
Hmmm...what else...did you buy a bulb planter? they are a metal (or plastic) "tube" kinda of digging thingie...lets you just push it into the soil and it pulls up the dirt and makes the hole for you to a specific depth. Just makes it a little easier to make the holes...also you can make all your holes at once...drop the bone meal in and then the bulb (make sure you put the flat part to the bottom) and then top the soil back in - it's an easy process!! Big Grin
Hope this clarifies it a bit...
08-29-03, 03:58 PM clarebear Thanks for clare-ifying that! LOL
Ok now... How should I mix them? Should I plant one daffodils and one tulip? 2-2? 4-4? Do I put more than one bulb together in the hole?
I am going to spread the hyacinths around. (I only have 18 of them)
Help. Roll Eyes Big Grin
09-19-03, 07:59 AM gizmogram One thing you'll want to keep in mind too clare, is that both Tulips and Daffodils will multiply over time. So while you may only have one flower the first year, the next year you'll probably have two.
So although it may look a little odd the first year with just one or two lone flowers per square foot or so, you will eventually have bunches.
At some point a few years down the road, you'll get to learn how to divide them! Big Grin
09-19-03, 08:45 AM Lydia Clare, What I would do is to plant maybe three or four bulbs together - Giz is right, they will multiply, but they will take time before you have so many that you'll have to divide them.
I would plant the like bulbs together so you get masses of each - planting one of each kind will look too "planned". This way, you will have separate groupings of like flowers, but they will all be in the same area so you will have a showing of all the different ones.
If you were to plant the tulips and daffs mixed, the foliage of one may overtake the other during the dying process (especially if they are different blooming times). You can mix them if you prefer - but my choice would be to keep them separate.
Same with the hyacinths - nothing looks prettier than a mass together...I'd plant two or three bulbs together, they don't multiply nearly as quickly as the daffs and tulips.
09-19-03, 08:54 AM clarebear Thanks! Smile
Wish me luck! LOL Roll Eyes
09-19-03, 09:14 AM Lydia Good Luck Big Grin Oh - and to answer the other question I did not...one bulb per hole - make separate holes for each one - you don't want them on top of one another. Also - make sure the point is up...
09-19-03, 10:29 AM DvdGStwrt
The first year I was here I planted hundreds - possibly thousands of bulbs and tubers.
Yes the gophers ate well that winter... Frown
The solution wasn't too hard, I got chicken wire (That hexagonal wire) and I made "boxes" with lids. I dug large shallow holes, laid in my wide wire bulb boxes, filled in about half way, laid in my bulbs, filled in to the top and put on the top wire.
How deep? Well depends on the bulb or the tuber. I have found that twice as deep as the size of the bulb is a good general rule of thumb applies broadly.
I prefer to plant an assortment of bulbs together, thus I layer in my bulbs. I start with the largest bulbs putting them about twice as deep as their size, filling in with soil, planting the smaller bulbs, until I finish with the smallest bulbs. Covering it all with the wire chicken wire, covering that with about 1/2 inch of soil to hide it. In beds I finish off with half composted organic material, spreading it out about 1/2 inch deep.
When to plant: When the bulbs come out in your local store is just about when to plant. Big Grin The Garden sections of stores pretty much supply plants, seeds, etc during the season that is best for the plant.
All the packages I received gives good general directions on how to plant. Even when I get plants as gifts I wait until I see them in the local nursery and read the directions without purchasing the plants themselves.
How to lay them out. Well I just toss them in the wire box (Mind the boxes are 2x2 feet, 6 inches deep and in the soil about 8 inches) where they land is where they will be planted. Again, I have a fairly large hole opened up. If you are doing one at a time you would dig your hole wherever it landed, put it in right side up.
A couple of years ago we had to remove the old wooden porch, replaced the structure with a brick patio and an aluminum roof. This opened up a very large space under our Box Elder.
I used broken brick, stone, broken concrete slab, etc and build a low (8 to 18 inch wall) around the tree to make a level bed. I lined the bottom and sides with wire mesh (The 1/4 square kind, heavy duty wire cloth found at local home stores - again to prevent those gophers from coming in) and I filled in with grass clippings - about a foot deep in the deepest part, a couple of inches on the shallow end) followed by our sand (which passes for soil out here) mixed with several wheelbarrow loads of compost.
I did not cover this area with chicken wire, gophers tend to stay in the ground. They are reluctant to climb up into beds. Squirrels on the other hand will attack from above -
That year I put in: Daffodils, Cannas, Day Lilies, Calla lillies, Iris, Paper-whites, Naked Ladies, Hosta and an assorted mix of Dutch Bulbs gotten out of the discount basket at my local Wal-mart.
Since then I have added a Sago Palm pup from our adult sago palm, a Hydrangea and Wandering Jew as a ground cover.
The Paper Whites are poking up their tips right now, during the year the other bulbs and tubers will come up.
This is under my Box Elder, a huge tree which drops its leaves in the fall, in spring it drops its "flowers" - I leave the debris from the tree, it swiftly composts and adds food to the soil. In winter plenty of sunlight comes through and in spring that area gets more than enough sunlight for a lot of the bulbs.
Unfortunately we do not get a real frost, so there is a decline in some bulbs flowering, I will usually restock in fall (around late October, early November here).
I DO NOT remove the dead and dieing leaves from these. I let the plant completely die back until I can run my hand gently through the debris and the debris come free of the bulb.
Many bulb plants suck the life out of their leaves and stems and store it for the next year. People who are in a hurry or want to keep a picture perfect flower bed will come through and cut off the yellow, broken stems, wilting leaves and prevent future flowering by robbing the plant from its energy source (The exceptions are calla Lilies and Canna's which out here grow perpetually)
Each year, through the summer months: I use the bag on the mower every third week, the clipping I share with several beds, sprinkling out grass clippings to about an inch depth of loose grass. Grass clippings compost swiftly, feeding the soil nicely reducing the need for chemicals down the road.
I through the dead debris of my bulb garden into the compost heap. - I give back in the spring time by sprinkling about 1/2 inch of composted material over the bed each spring, being careful to not crush the sprouting plants.
One year I grabbed a handful of daffodils threw them out into the lawn. Where they landed I planted groups of 3-5 in smaller wire boxes. Each year since my brown lawn gets a few clumps of bright colour, about the time I really need to start owing the lawn the daffodils are just about through, I will mow around them if they are still in bloom. The tall grass and the daffodil island looks "Natural" -
I understand that one can also use terracotta pots to protect the bulbs from ground invaders - I never tried that myself.
Cheers
David
[This message was edited by DvdGStwrt on 09-19-03 at 10:45 AM.]
09-19-03, 12:37 PM NCcichlid Sparkle, I'd hold off planting the tulips until February. Prior to planintg I would store the tulip bulbs in the refrigerator for six weeks.
Tulip bulbs sprout when the groud temperature reaches a certain degree. By refrigerating the bulbs first, the will all bloom at the same time.
NC
09-19-03, 04:26 PM clarebear Sparkle!
In February the snow will so high I won't be able to walk through my yard to plant the bulbs! Eek
09-19-03, 10:31 PM gizmogram Yes Clare, you really do need to plant them now, since you won't be able to even dig 6" down until about April or so.
I'm glad that Lyds posted with more info after I did, I like her suggestions alot.
And David? I think you must have an absolutely beautiful garden.
10-03-03, 09:50 AM clarebear Whooh! (wipes brow)
I did it. I'm not sure if it is right.. but I did it. Roll Eyes
I planted the daffs toward the back, the tulips in the middle and the hyacinths all around the front.
I'm not sure I planted them all deep enough but I guess I'll find out next year. Some the hole was deeper than others but they are all around 6 inches. Some I put 2 bulbs in some one bulb.
I don't have very much room there. I planted about 20 of each. I have some other plants in there.. 2 hostas and something else. (My brother put those in for me)
I just tried to space them out well. Not too close and not to far apart. I put in colored sticks so I would know where I planted them.
Thank you all sooooooooo much for your help.
This was my first attempt ever at planting. You have all helped me so much. I couldn't have done it without you. Really. Thanks. Smile
10-03-03, 10:43 PM Tree clare, take at look HERE There's lots of information there about tulip planting! Wink
10-04-03, 09:17 AM clarebear What a great site Tree! Smile
I never thought of putting bulbs in a flower pot.
Now I have another question:
How am I supposed to plant summer flowering and autumn flowering bulbs? I already planted the spring ones. There isn't any room left. I even have about 40 bulbs left over I'm not sure what to do with. I think I'm gonna just plant them on the side of the house. (It is supposed to be nice this week) Is it people with big yards that plant different blooming bulbs? I have a small area in my front yard.
Ok.. one more question. Roll Eyes
How do I plant the tulips in a pot and not have it freeze in the winter. It gets really cold here. If I put them inside they will bloom too early.
Jeeze... anyone want to come over and help me? I'll make hot chocolate with marshmallows. Smile
10-04-03, 10:18 AM Lydia Clare - - any peppermint schnapps to go with the hot chocolate??? Wink
As for planting bulbs in containers - you can plant more in a container than you can in the same piece of ground itself (although I'm not certain why that is). The trick is not to keep the container outside in the direct elements if you are in an area that freezes. You should keep them in a cold area, such as a garage, an unheaded basement or hallway. HERE is a site that gives you some info on planting bulbs in containers.
