A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 Suggestions, hints, knowledge about bulb gardens

Hello I am considering putting in a bulb garden. What I need to know is how to keep summer color in the garden. I have done my research and found bulbs that will flower early mid and late spring and some that will flower early summer and a few that will flower mid summer. Notta thing for late summer. I will also want to have additional color in this area as the bulb flowers fade away. Can I just throw wildflower seed over the area after the bubls fade, or should I just throw my wave petunias in this area next year and pray that I dont dig up a bulb while planting them. I think if I do dig up a bulb or 2 while I plant my annuals no big deal just throw it back in where I got it from.

My other thought process is this.......Go ahead plant the bulbs where I want them and in the spring when they pop up mark areas where I can just throw in prennials and leave it at that. I do so love the additional color that annuals add.

What have you all found works best.

Thanks in advance for all the help.

I've been considering the same type of situation. One thing I know is that if I plant the glads staggered i.e. some every week it will stagger the blooming. Same with the canna from what I've been able to gather. And my canna that got a late start this year are still blooming. But their plant spacing requirements are 18 inches apart I think because their leaves get so very big. But have you seen the tropicanna variety of canna the foliage is a show unto itself. I'm also planning on putting some of the miniature snapdragons down between the bulbs because they handle spring and fall bloom times and can handle the partial shade when the leaves of the bulb plants are still around and yet handle the full sun for before and after the bulbs provide that shade. Hopefully I've pretty much researched everything to make that work. All I can do is hope I guess.

Planting around bulbs really isn't that hard. For one thing you can see where they are and you can put small plants (annuals and perenials) in the spaces (bulbs should be planted in bunches/groupings). Also bulbs should be pretty deep and annuals should be planted above them so you won't have to worry about disturbing them. Annuals of course are nice for long color and seeds or plants can be used. Try getting a bulb catalog for ideas and low prices -like John Scheepers.
http://www.johnscheepers.com/index.html They have low prices and will explain what blooms when.

The first thing to come up are my crocus, followed by tulips, then my squills, daffodils, daylillies. There are alot of varieties to choose from. I also keep perrenials that bloom at different times of year with them. It's a never ending bloom until frost.

What size bulb garden are you planting?

just doing something small to start with. I will have to add the prennials next year. I kinda am thinking about doing bulbs and annuals. There are so many annuals that I like I am thinking about doing a large bed and putting in bulbs then annuals as they are called for due to the season.

Mine is definitely going to be a mixed bed. So far there are only the glads and one lone dusty miller in there. But I plan to add the sparkler allium and more dusty miller this fall and then in late winter hopefully I'll be adding the miniature snapdragons that I'll start inside right after christmas lol. That should keep the January blues in check.

My Black Eyed Susans are a perennial that blooms in the summer into September here in zone 6. I also have different kinds of lillies that I enjoy in the summer.

I keep reading about planting bulbs deep, but I got some crocus bulbs and they said to plant them 2" in the dirt, should I make them deeper? I just planted them yesterday so it wouldnt be a problem, but I dont want them too shallow either.

Malinda

every bulb, rhizome, and tuber has different depth requirements. generally, if the bulb is 2 inches tall, plant it 2 inched deep. but that is only a rule of thumb, and can vary depending on the plant.