Landscape Flowers
Planting and Caring for Flower Bulbs
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There is nothing quite as welcome as those beautiful spring
flowers that seem to emerge from nowhere to welcome the arrival
of spring. Bulb type flowers are really unique plants, because
they spend most of their days resting quietly beneath the
surface of the soil. Then right on schedule, up they come, full
of bloom and vigor, and then almost as fast as they came, they
go. Except for the green leafy part of the plant that tends to
linger longer than we would like them to. Despite their short
bloom time and unattractive foliage after the blooms are gone,
they are still a wonderful addition to any landscape. But how
should you care for them? First let's talk about how to use them
in your landscape. Flowers of all kinds are best when planted in
groupings. Many people buy 25 or 50 bulbs and just go around the
yard planting helter skelter. That's fine if that's what you
want, but when planted that way they tend to blend in with the
landscape and really don't show up well at all. When you plant
them in large groups they are a breathtaking showpiece. In the
early spring start thinking about where you would like to create
a bed for flower bulbs. Prepare the bed by raising it with good
rich topsoil, and if at all possible add some well composted cow
manure. Do this in the spring while you are in the gardening
mood; you may not be in the fall. Over the summer fill the bed
with annual flowers to keep the weeds down, and to pretty up
your yard for the summer. Come fall all you have to do is pull
out the annuals and plant your bulbs to the depth recommended on
the package. If you think you could have a problem with
squirrels digging up the bulbs and eating them, you can also
wrap the bulbs in steel wool, leaving just the tip of the bulb
exposed so it can grow out of the little wire cage you've
created. Or you can just plant the bulbs and then cover the bed
with chicken wire or plastic fencing until the bulbs start to
grow in the spring. When the bulbs come up in the spring and
start blooming, you should clip off the blooms as they start to
wither. This keeps the bulb from producing seeds, which requires
a lot of energy, and you want the bulb to use all of its
available energy to store food in preparation for the bulb's
resting period. Once the bulbs are completely done blooming you
don't want to cut off the tops until they are withered and die
back. The million dollar question is how to treat the tops until
that happens. Many people bend them over and slip a rubber
band over them, or in the case of bulbs like Daffodils tie them
with one of the long leaves. This seems to work because it is a
very common practice among many experienced gardeners. However,
Mike is about to rain on the parade. I strongly disagree with
this theory because back about 6th grade we learned about
photosynthesis in science class. To recap what we learned, and
without going into the boring details, photosynthesis is the
process of the plant using the sun's rays to make food for
itself. The rays from the sun are absorbed by the foliage and
the food making process begins. In the case of a flower bulb
this food is transported to the bulb beneath the ground and
stored for later use. So basically the leaves of the plant are
like little solar panels. Their job is to absorb the rays from
the sun to begin the process known as photosynthesis. If we fold
them over and handcuff them with their hands behind their back,
they are not going to be able to do their job. It's like
throwing a tarpaulin over 80% of a solar panel. In order for
the leaves to absorb the rays from the sun, the surface of the
foliage has to be exposed to the sun. On top of that, when you
bend the foliage over, you are restricting the flow of nutrients
to the bulb. The veins in the leaves and the stem are a lot like
our blood vessels. If you restrict them the flow stops. You
decide. I've presented my case. Bending them over seems to work,
but I've spent a lot of money on my bulbs. I want them running
at full speed. What I do is clip the blooms off once they are
spent, and just leave the tops alone until they are yellow and
wilted. If they are still not wilted when it's time to plant my
annual flowers, I just plant the annuals in between the bulbs.
As the bulbs die back the annuals tend to grow and conceal them.
If one shows through I clip it off. It seems to work well for me.
Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his
most interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up
for his excellent gardening newsletter. Article provided by
http://gardening-articles.com
About the Author
Michael J. McGroarty has more than 30 years experience in the
landscape gardening/nursery industry. He's spent the better part
of his life on his hands and knees in the dirt working with
plants and his hands-on experience allows Mike to write in a
manner than many gardeners find to be helpful and beneficial.
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