Some Insight Into Bulbs
After a long winter there is nothing more lovely than a spring garden with decorative garden decor (glass gazing balls are a great addition). You want the beautiful spring bloom so here is what you need to do.
The first thing you need to do is plant your bulbs and some ground phlox in the fall. You
should also put some bulb premium fertilizers into each hole as you plant the bulbs-and watch to
how far down the nursery staff said to plant. I recommend planting in groups, odd numbers are best,
scattered about so that that most of the other flowers will hide their greenery as the garden bulbs start to
wither. When they are just planted willy nilly here and there they tend to make a nice
home seem cheap.
In the spring after your daffodils and tulips have all bloomed it is important to not cut
away the greenery. You might think its ugly, but chopping this greenery away will disturb your bulbs from
showing up the next year the way that you really want them too. If you will take the patience to let it yellow, it will likely pull out or cut off simpler
enough. Truthfully, if you cannot remove it out of the earth then it is pointless to try and cut
out or cut away. These left over leaves are generating food for next year’s blooms. Try to just
forget about them til they have totally wilted & yellowed.
It is also a good idea to put down some bulb fertilizer in the fall and spring over the areas where you have them planted. This will help keep your bulbs happy from year to year. Daffodils are a good bulb choice as deer and squirrels seem fairly uninterested in them and
they slowly multiply year after year.
Tulips can be a disappointment!
After a few years they tend to stop blooming or the squirrels have stolen them or the deer have eaten them-they just kind of disappear.
Grape hyacinth and scilla are both lovely small purple flower bulbs, but they can spread to the
point of becoming a nuisance in your landscape…so, keep that in mind when introducing them. Be sure to have some recycled glass gazing balls and other decorative garden decor too!
Rule of thumb number one is to start the spring garden in the fall…just another reason why planning ahead is a big part of gardening.