this season
The Glory of Bulbs
W
hile traditionally recognized as a time of harvest, autumn is, for many flower gardeners, planting season. The glory of next year’s garden will be determined by the bulbs that go into the ground in early fall. The general rule when it comes to knowing what to plant when is this: if it blooms in the spring, plant it in the fall. Since spring bulbs need to “chill out” before they can bloom, you want to plant about six weeks before you expect the ground to freeze.
Giant alliums, also known as Ornamental Onions, are show-stopping sensations in the garden bed. Most flower bulbs sold commercially
Today, exotic varieties of bulbs from
originated in the Middle East or southern
around the world are easy to find, but why
Europe, particularly the Mediterranean area.
not consider adding some native species
Many bulbs were first introduced to Europe
bulbs to your garden? When you plant
by soldiers returning from the Crusades. In
native you contribute to maintaining the
some areas, flowers drove regional econo-
balance of our natural ecosystem. As a
mies. When tulip mania swept the Dutch
bonus, every native plant has at least one
people in the 1630s, a single bulb could fetch
specific native insect that is a specialist in
more than 10 times the annual living of a
pollinating it.
skilled worker.
PLANTING SUCCESS
What is commonly called a bulb can be classified as a true bulb, corm, rhizome, or tuber. • A true bulb is a reduced stem with modified fleshy leaves, which are tightly folded around one or more flower buds (tulip, narcissus, lilies, allium) • A corm is a rounded, vertical, swollen underground stem base covered with scale leaves (crocus, gladiolus, ixia, sparaxis) • A rhizome is a swollen stem lying horizontally at or below ground level (bearded iris, lily of the valley) • A tuber is the swollen end of an underground stem or root with a bud or buds Narcissus, a.k.a. daffodils, welcome the coming spring when planted in the fall.
8 Milford Living • Autumn
(dahlia, day lily, begonia)
