Celebrate Spring with Beautiful Bulbs

           

            There are many great reasons why bulbs are so popular in the garden but one of the biggest reasons is because they are so easy to care for! Since bulbs have a self-contained, highly developed food-storage mechanism that has adapted to life underground, bulbs don’t need much except water.  Even after lying dormant for months underground through the winter cold and the summer’s heat, they can spring back to life.

            Not only are these self-adapting flowers easy to care for they are colorful throughout the year. During almost the entire year different types of bulbs can be used in the garden from spring all the way until late November. Spring flowering bulb types are tulips, daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths and alliums, which should be planted 3-4 weeks before the frost is in the ground, they actually need the cold season to start their biological clock. Summer flowering bulb types are dahlias, begonias, lilies, gladiolas and callas, which should be planted late spring and will bloom a few months later.

            Most bulbs will even reappear for years to come! These bulbs are called perennials, which mean they will return several years in a row without being replanted. However, bulbous plants will not flower well again unless their leaves, which manufacture starch and sugars through photosynthesis, have time to replenish the depleted food supply of the bulb for the upcoming year. To replenish they create embryos for the next year’s flowers. This process continues for weeks after flowers die, that’s why the foliage should never be cut until it has yellowed.