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Written by: Michael
McGroarty
Web Site: Freeplants.com
There is nothing quite as welcome as those beautiful spring
flowers that seem to emerge from nowhere to welcome the
arrival of spring. Bulb type flowers are really unique plants,
because they spend most of their days resting quietly beneath
the surface of the soil. Then right on schedule, up they
come, full of bloom and vigor, and then almost as fast as
they came, they go. Except for the green leafy part of the
plant that tends to linger longer than we would like them
to.
Despite their short bloom time and unattractive foliage
after the blooms are gone, they are still a wonderful addition
to any landscape. But how should you care for them? First
let’s talk about how to use them in your landscape. Flowers
of all kinds are best when planted in groupings. Many people
buy 25 or 50 bulbs and just go around the yard planting
helter skelter. That’s fine if that’s what you want, but
when planted that way they tend to blend in with the landscape
and really don’t show up well at all. When you plant them
in large groups they are a breathtaking showpiece.
In the early spring start thinking about where you would
like to create a bed for flower bulbs. Prepare the bed by
raising it with good rich topsoil, and if at all possible
add some well composted cow manure. Do this in the spring
while you are in the gardening mood; you may not be in the
fall. Over the summer fill the bed with annual flowers to
keep the weeds down, and to pretty up your yard for the
summer. Come fall all you have to do is pull out the annuals
and plant your bulbs to the depth recommended on the package.
If you think you could have a problem with squirrels digging
up the bulbs and eating them, you can also wrap the bulbs
in steel wool, leaving just the tip of the bulb exposed
so it can grow out of the little wire cage you’ve created.
Or you can just plant the bulbs and then cover the bed with
chicken wire or plastic fencing until the bulbs start to
grow in the spring.
When the bulbs come up in the spring and start blooming,
you should clip off the blooms as they start to wither.
This keeps the bulb from producing seeds, which requires
a lot of energy, and you want the bulb to use all of its
available energy to store food in preparation for the bulb’s
resting period. Once the bulbs are completely done blooming
you don’t want to cut off the tops until they are withered
and die back. The million dollar question is how to treat
the tops until that happens.
Many people bend them over and slip a rubber band over
them, or in the case of bulbs like Daffodils tie them with
one of the long leaves. This seems to work because it is
a very common practice among many experienced gardeners.
However, Mike is about to rain on the parade.
I strongly disagree with this theory because back about
6th grade we learned about photosynthesis in science class.
To recap what we learned, and without going into the boring
details, photosynthesis is the process of the plant using
the sun’s rays to make food for itself. The rays from the
sun are absorbed by the foliage and the food making process
begins. In the case of a flower bulb this food is transported
to the bulb beneath the ground and stored for later use.
So basically the leaves of the plant are like little solar
panels. Their job is to absorb the rays from the sun to
begin the process known as photosynthesis. If we fold them
over and handcuff them with their hands behind their back,
they are not going to be able to do their job. It’s like
throwing a tarpaulin over 80% of a solar panel.
In order for the leaves to absorb the rays from the sun,
the surface of the foliage has to be exposed to the sun.
On top of that, when you bend the foliage over, you are
restricting the flow of nutrients to the bulb. The veins
in the leaves and the stem are a lot like our blood vessels.
If you restrict them the flow stops.
You decide. I’ve presented my case. Bending them over seems
to work, but I’ve spent a lot of money on my bulbs. I want
them running at full speed. What I do is clip the blooms
off once they are spent, and just leave the tops alone until
they are yellow and wilted. If they are still not wilted
when it’s time to plant my annual flowers, I just plant
the annuals in between the bulbs. As the bulbs die back
the annuals tend to grow and conceal them. If one shows
through I clip it off. It seems to work well for me.
About The Author:
Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit
his most interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com
and sign up for his excellent gardening newsletter. |
