Is it possible to grow another flower on top of my dormant tulips? The front of my house’s garden has some unsightly gaps in it. Thanks,
Thanita from Ashburn, Virginia
Mike: The reasons we Americans (as opposed to those in Holland) have trouble getting our spring bulbs to bloom year after year are, according to what I overheard you mention last spring:
- We drastically over-earnest the green, nourishing portion of the bulb and
- If we grow annual flowers on top of our bulbs, they receive an excessive amount of watering and fertilizing.
Your recommendation was to dig up the bulbs once the greenery had withered back and layer them in a pot, according to kind, with alternating layers of peat and vermiculite to keep the layers apart. You suggested, I believe, that they should still be watered, just not more frequently than a typical rainfall schedule would allow. So I took action. However, when I went looking for confirmation on the Internet, the data I discovered suggested that it would just cause the bulbs to rot and serve as a buffet for neighborhood field mice and/or squirrels (and deer if they found the container). I gave the collection one “watering”; after that, they only received rain. How did I do?
Hockessin, Delaware’s Tina
A. Tina, you mainly got it correct. The irrigation section was the one you misheard the most. I HOPE I mentioned to only let the rain hit the container they are in and NOT to add ANY water.
However, let’s go back to the beginning. One of the best interview guests we’ve ever had on the program, British gardening writer Anna Pavord, gave us this piece of advise while she was on tour in 2000 in support of her stunning book “The Tulip,” which was published in 1999. I remarked during the interview that one of our most frequent inquiries was over the reliability of tulip returns. That’s because you Americans plant annual flowers on top of the bulbs and then water and Miracle-Grow the crap out of them, rotting the poor bulbs underground, she immediately said.
She explained that Spring bulbs have evolved to live in their native mountains of Russia, Turkey, and Afghanistan in a harsh and largely God-forsaken environment. The bulbs that have been hiding put up their shoots, flower, and absorb a lot of solar energy when heavy snow and freezing cold eventually give way to a rather comfortable Spring. After that, the above-ground growth fades away, and the bulbs hide once more, this time from a dry, sweltering summer.
Therefore, according to Pavord, their DNA does not understand the moisture and food of summer; instead, it understands scorching, dry, and desolate. They don’t respond well to beds that are watered and nourished throughout the summer to keep marigolds, begonias, or petunias alive for that reason.
She continued by saying that because she, too, had a small garden and didn’t want to leave her bulb beds vacant for the summer, she had to learn this lesson the hard way. She began lifting the bulbs, preserving them for the summer, and replanting them in the fall as soon as she realized what was happening. She assured me and my audience that it functioned admirably and had a good deal of room for mistake.
It worked the first time I attempted it that summer and every summer after. I never repeated it exactly the same manner. The first year, when the greens on the bulbs had faded, I pulled them out and moved them to the back of the garden, out of sight and away from the sprinkler. I hammered together a bottomless box out of scrap wood, filled it halfway with soil, then added a layer of one type of bulb, more soil, more bulbs, etc., until it was completely full. Only when it rained did it get irrigated. And I covered it with a tarp when we experienced protracted rainy spells. I removed them in the middle of October, planted them again around Halloween, and had fantastic results.
After a few years, the box completely rotted away, so I transferred to large pots that were initially just plain ugly and had never gotten any prettier. This also functions well. If I have it, I will occasionally add a considerable amount of peat, vermiculite, perlite, or a fine, light professional potting soil blend; if not, I will simply use my compost-enriched garden soil. I’ve never lost more than a few items to rot due to mice or squirrels invading, either (and they were probably already damaged by my tender digging-up style, which involves a lot of creative swearing). Although I adore the picture of Bambi digging through several inches of soil in search of hidden riches, I don’t believe that even deer are that stupid.
Here is how I intend to make my Spring bulbs bloom again:
- Remove the faded blooms and any developing seedpods when they have finished blooming.
- Feed the plants so they will grow new flowers for you the following year. There are numerous feeding instructions in our earlier Spring bulb Question of the Week.
- Wait until the greens have totally lost their green hue before touching them.
- Remove the bulbs. The ideal method is to slowly coax the bulb out of the ground after it goes tan or brown while gently pulling on the faded greens. Go digging if it breaks off, but exercise caution.
- The degreened bulbs should be kept outside in a container with excellent drainage, either in the sun or the shade, in soil, soilless mix, or a mixture of both. Do not water them, and if it is raining a lot, cover the container.
- In the autumn, replant. In the far north, that would be September; in the mid-Atlantic, October; and in warm climates, after Thanksgiving.
Can you grow plants on top of tulips?
When mixing perennials with tulips, take into account some perennials that, even though they might not bloom at the same time as the tulips, will conceal the tulips’ withering and discolored foliage after they have completed flowering. An illustration would be daylilies.
Around tulips that are just beginning to emerge from the ground, plant annuals. In the spring, tulips advance fast to the blossoming stage, especially in warm weather. The annual flowers will be prepared for the opening of the tulip blossoms if they are already in bloom.
What to plant after the tulips are finished?
Need some companions for your tulips? Tulips are beautiful in the spring, but the rest of the year they can leave the ground bare. Early in the spring and again in the summer when the foliage has died, the ground is frequently bare. It’s the ideal time to plant in succession! Let’s explore the ideal perennials to plant alongside tulips.
The ideal companion plants for tulips are low-maintenance, drought-resistant perennials like native forest flowers and foliage plants. Avoid perennials that require regular watering and fertilization in the middle of the summer. During the summer, this “TLC” may cause your tulip bulbs to decay.
Here are ten excellent perennials you can plant with your tulips that bloom every year:
Can I bury bulbs under ground cover?
Planning is essential for any garden created expressly to highlight bulbs; otherwise, there will be brief flowering bursts followed by protracted bloomless periods.
The flowering seasons of bulbs are divided into three groups: late winter and spring flowering, summer flowering, and fall flowering. There are early, middle, and late bloomers for each seasonal group. For instance, among spring-flowering bulbs, late-winter flowering bulbs like snowdrops and Iris reticulata come in second place to early spring flowering bulbs like Dutch crocus and Siberian squill.
The flowering of mid- to late-season bulbs, such narcissus and tulips, is followed by the blossoming of very late-season bulbs, like alliums. There are more subcategories within each bulb category. For instance, there are early, middle, and late kinds of tulips. Similar to this, there are early, mid-season, and late lilies among the summer bloomers. In fact, if care is used in choosing varieties, a bulb garden consisting solely of lilies can bloom all summer long.
The versatility of bulbs gives them an edge over many other garden plants. Their leaves typically emerge in the early spring before deciduous trees and shrubs, even though most bulbs require full sun or just light shade. As a result, some bulbs, especially spring bloomers, can be successfully planted in areas that are shaded for a large portion of the year. Almost any soil is good, though it is advisable to generously amend weak soils with organic matter.
Soil that is too wet is the one thing that bulbs will not tolerate. Consider planting bulbs in raised beds if your selected site has prolonged periods of moisture or wetness so they can receive the necessary drainage. As long as the containers are positioned so they won’t freeze over during the winter, bulbs can also be grown successfully in containers.
It’s crucial to prepare ahead of time to fill in the gaps as the leaves on the majority of hardy bulbs (lilies are a notable exception) fall off in the early summer. For instance, interplanting annuals and perennials among bulb clusters is possible. The relationship between ground covers and bulbs is even greater because the bulbs will grow straight through the ground cover, blossom, and then vanish until the following year. To reduce competition with the bulbs, pick a ground cover that is open and has shallow roots.
Instead of being randomly placed across the yard or planted in straight rows, bulbs look best when they are planted in groups. It is acceptable to plant groups of three to five large bulbs, such as lilies; seven to ten medium-sized bulbs, like tulips, narcissus, or hyacinths; and twelve or more little bulbs, like crocuses or Siberian squills. To avoid boring displays, don’t mix different types of bulbs. To help hide the foliage of the bulbs as they decline, interplant ground covers, annuals, or perennials in the spaces between each cluster of bulbs.
Tall-growing bulbs are typically planted at the back of the border or in the center of the bed, with smaller bulbs at the front and medium-high bulbs in the middle. However, it is also feasible to grow bulbs of every size in a single location. Put tall bulbs in first since they require deep planting. Then add another layer of dirt, and right on top of that, plant medium-high bulbs. After that, add another layer of earth, and finally plant small bulbs. A succession of blooms will appear in the same location since little bulbs flower first. Early crocuses, midseason hyacinths, and late tulips make a lovely combination.
Although they take some work, massive formal plantings of spring bulbs, like those sometimes seen in public gardens, are also doable in the backyard garden. In such instances, it might take a hundred or more of the same bulb to fill the bed. After blooming, either compost the bulbs and replace the bed with summer flowers, or take the fading bulbs and place them somewhere out of the way where they can ripen. The next autumn, after the summer flowers have done blooming, they can be transplanted in the formal bed.
Naturalized plantings, rather than formal beds or mixed borders, can make for the most stunning bulb gardens. In these situations, bulbs are picked based on the existing conditions and permanently inserted so they appear to have always been a part of the environment. In these circumstances, bulbs that more closely resemble wildflowers are typically preferred than the ornately colored, totally double hybrid kinds. The best bulbs to use are those that are naturally resilient and spread widely.
Obviously, naturalized gardens should not have strict formal plantings. Tossing bulbs into the air and planting them where they land is actually a popular planting technique. Another technique involves arranging a garden hose in the shape of a meandering stream in an erratic manner, then planting bulbs inside its confines.
Most bulbs are helpful to people who appreciate growing more plants; they proliferate on their own. Anytime a bulb needs to be moved, you’ll discover a lot of other bulbs there, all different sizes. The bigger ones can be planted again right away and will bloom the following year; the smaller ones can either be planted again right away or nurtured in a remote location for a few years until they are large enough to blossom. Although it can take several years for the seedlings to get to flowering size, naturalized bulbs will also proliferate in large numbers. Cutting rhizomes, tubers, and tuberous roots into parts also allows for division. There must be at least one eye in each part.
Although sensitive bulbs come in a range of varieties, the discussion has primarily centered on hardy bulbs. Only the warmest regions in the United States can support these. Where they are grown, they are either treated as annuals and let to freeze in the fall or they are dug up and kept inside during the winter in a cool, dry, but frost-free location.