Midsummer dog days are difficult times to think about bulb garden designs. Autumn bulb planting and spring-blooming bulbs are in the distant future. However, practical factors make summer days the best time to design and plan pest-free, spring-blooming bulb gardens.
Bulb gardens, whether designed for (Photo #5) containers, intimate patio gardens or large spaces, benefit from the following factors:
- Shortly before the summer solstice (June 21) tempting bulb catalogs arrive in each day’s mail. On-line vendors post their annual spring-blooming bulb selections. Bulb inventories are full now, but as sales move closer to autumn planting times, desirable selections sell out.
- Buying from catalogs that sell high-grade, super-quality bulbs insures a beautiful spring-blooming bulb garden. Research shows that large superior bulbs deliver beautiful quality blooms.
- Early ordering for autumn planting from reputable merchants guarantees your bulbs are reserved, kept in optimum storage conditions and then shipped at autumn planting time. This is the perfect way to avoid last minute rush, and disappointment over not finding desired varieties. Proper bulb storage from harvest to your door means quality bulbs for superior bloom.
- Many catalog merchants arrange summer promotions such as free or reduced shipping, free bulb fertilizer or discounts for early ordering and payment.
Here are some spring-blooming bulb garden design tips:
- Plant bulbs in groups. For maximum color impact, cluster bulbs. Two design patterns suggested by the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center are circular groupings for a bouquet effect, and triangular configurations that trick eyes into thinking there are more bulb flowers than are actually planted. (Photo #1)
- Choose appropriate microclimate locations with plenty of sun and well-drained soil.
- Use appropriate fertilizers after the first year for bulbs that will naturalize. (Photo #4)
- Select spring-flowering bulbs that are deer and rodent resistant. Designing with hyacinths and tulips is hard to resist. However, these kinds of spring-flowering bulbs rank highly as animal snacks.
Here are some outstanding pest-resistant narcissus combinations:
- A medium-sized white, yellow and blue combination that says “Hello Spring.” Narcissus “Sailboat” (white petals and yellow cups 10-12 inches high), Narcissus “Pipit” (15-inch, light yellow petals and pure white cups), and Narcissus “Quail” (12-inch pure yellow short-cup jonquils) mixed with 6-inch spikes of blue Muscari (grape hyacinth) flowers. Early to midseason blooms. (Photo #2)
- Narcissus “Thalia” (2-3 pure white flowers per 12-14 inch stem ) with a nice fragrance on warm days. This is an heirloom spring-blooming, medium-sized bulb from about 1916. Mix with blue-flowered Muscari (grape hyacinth) to create your own garden Milky Way. Midseason blooms.
- Five miniature creations bring cheer to your patio garden. Narcissus “Hawera” (6-8 lemon yellow flowers per 8-inch stem), Narcissus “Jetfire” (yellow petals with orange cups, 10 inches), Narcissus “T√™te-√†-T√™te” (1-3 bright yellow flowers per 7-inch stem), Narcissus “Minnow” (2 white and yellow flowers per 8-inch stem ), and Narcissus “Jack Snipe” (white petals with butter-yellow cup 8-10 inches high). Early to midseason blooms. (Photo #3)
- Narcissus poeticus (Poet’s Narcissus) naturalize and stand the test of time. They are all fragrant with large white petals with flat contrasting cups. Narcisssus “Actaea”, circa 1919 (small, yellow cup edged with scarlet red), Narcissus “Pheasant’s Eye” (white petals are recurved – twisted back from small yellow cup edged in red with a green eye), one of the last Narcissus to bloom, and Narcissus “Angel Eyes” (small chartreuse-yellow cup with pale green center and orange-scarlet rim) a modern American bulb.
More Articles About Spring-blooming Bulbs
- Pest-proof Spring-blooming Bulbs: Daffodils and Minor Bulbs Equal Enduring Landscape Groupings
- 2008 Catalogs of Spring-blooming Bulbs: Quality Bulbs Insure Superior Spring-blooming Bulb Gardens
©Text by Georgene A. Bramlage. 2008. Reproduction without permission prohibited