Order Up: Time to Be Thinking About Spring Bulbs

Use these tips to shop for the right bulbs for your spring garden

Thinking of spring - blooming bulbs in August ? You probably think the heating has gone to my pass . Why , yes , now is the meter to appease in your atmosphere - conditioned house perusing internet site and place orders for your spring - blooming bulbs . They are planted in the fall , and dictate now is one way to ensure you have the good selection — and sometimes get early - bird deduction . practice wooden chopstick to cross out settle planting areas for the bulb you are about to range . I ’ll just lean a few of my all - time favorites , and you’re able to go from there .

First , a caveat regarding tulip ( Tulipaspp . and cvs . , zone 3–8 ): I hear from gardener over and over again how disappointed they are when their tulips are not dependable perennials . They can be . You just have to eff how to treat them . I have some Darwin hybrids as well as species , or wild , tulip that have been bloom in my garden for almost ten — yes , TEN — years . The Darwin hybrids seem to be the good and longest - experience of the tall showy tulip in our Mountain West region . One trick ? Keep them wry in the summertime . Do not plant them where they get water from your steady watering apparatus . Too much water and they rot . The species tulips , though small in height , are problematical , tough , tough . In fact , the species tulips in my garden are multiplying . They are also cervid resistant .

Species tulips ( Zones 4–8 ) do especially well in rock garden , at the front of a prime border , or anywhere they can be showcased and see up close . They appreciate a bit of sand or gravel for improved drainage . I grow mine next to the front steps so I have to take the air by them . Plant them with short ornamental gage that will fill out and cover the declining tulip foliage .

Of the Darwin loanblend tulip ( Zones 3–7 ) , you ca n’t go ill-timed with any of the Impression serial . ‘ Apricot Impression ’ , ‘ Pink Impression ’ , ‘ Red Impression ’ , and ‘ Salmon Impression ’ tulips acquire between 20 and 26 inches grandiloquent . Some bulb purveyors offer a mix of Impression tulips , and they are endearing .

The happy - go - favourable flower of bound , Narcissus pseudonarcissus ( Narcissusspp . and cvs . , Zones 3–9 ) have a lot of good things blend for them . First , critters execrate them . secondly , they incline to multiply if they are happy . Yours truly can describe having found ‘ Pheasant ’s heart ’ daffodils ( Narcissus poeticusvar.recurves‘Pheasant ’s Eye ’ , zone 3–7 ) around the West on abandon properties and old cemeteries . impart those in topographic point . The lightbulb can be easily buy from a reliable light bulb company or favorite greenhouse .

Bulbs seem their right-down best when institute in clustering consisting of uneven number . Group them in thump of seven or nine , or go uncivilized with 15 . You will be thrilled next outflow . retrieve to give thanks your overheated self for the time spent choosing the good bulbs for your garden .

— Mary Ann Newcomer is the author of two books : Rocky Mountain Gardener ’s HandbookandVegetable Gardening in the Mountain States .

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