A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 Bulb Help

I planted the baby "tulip" bulbs about 3 inches down, maybe a little less.

With the daylilies, I just tried to match the level that the soil had been on the plants previously. I will try to remember to mulch them. I was wondering if they formed bulbs or just lots of little corms. Thanks for elaborating on that, gailo.

Hi Sarah,

You just happened to ask 3 questions I know the answer to -- and that doesn't happen too often!

The Surprise Lilies are a special kind of plant (and it has a botanical description, I just forget it) that has a 3 or 4-year cycle. I forget exactly what it is, but basically this is the cycle: A single bulb blooms year one (1). Then it rests (2) Then it splits & it grows (3) and then it blooms (1) Maybe year 3 is actually year 3 & 4, but the point is that at any given time, you will have 3 or 4 times as many big bulbs in the ground as you see flowers for. Another bulb that has this cycle is the Cardiocrinum.

Surprise Lilies (and by this I mean the pink ones)will go down a about a foot no matter how shallowly you plant them by use of contractile roots.

Yes, those look like tulips... I would mulch with any kind of animal manure I could find and leave them in the ground. Baby tulips like those are heavy feeders...the manure will take care of them this fall, but in the spring I would hit them again a couple of times with whatever I had on hand -- 10-10-10 for example.

The daylilies will be fine (this is a prediction I am making because oddly enough, I got some old shriveled cast off daylilies this year myself and they are showing green growth.) And usually daylilies are dug the 2nd half of August (in your area) because they go dormant or at least slow way down then before their second flush of growth in fall (Sept.)

Are the onion weed bulbs edible?
Maybe, used by Indians or something like that?

Party Girl, thanks so much for that info! I had no idea about the cycles of the surprise lily, what a surprise.

I'll have to see if I can find someone who is willing to bring me some manure--I live in KS (pretty much manure country) but I don't have a truck to do the hauling. (My husband has "put his foot down" on the idea of putting manure in a rubbermaid box in the trunk.) In the meantime, I'll give the bulbs some fish fertilizer.

My daylilies have mostly recovered from their traumatic move. A few of the smaller ones are still looking a little limp and sickly.


Deborah, I have no idea if onion weed bulbs are edible. When I was little, I remember eating wild onion "leaves," just to get the stinky breath!! The leaves tasted very onion-y, so I don't see why the bulbs wouldn't.

In September, I put several of the smaller bulbs in a baggie for my neighbor who has a huge garden--just nothing planted in it. I forgot to give them to her and here is what I found today:

Here is a pic of what I got out of the bag, most of the bulbs were rotted but about 15 of them are growing!

So, are these tulips or onion weed? Here is a pic of something new growing all over the place, that I didn't plant. Is it onion weed?

the stuff in the ground does look like onion grass/weed.

the sprouted bulbs look like tulips to me...i'd go ahead and plant them if the soil is workable.

pinch one of the leaves, you will be able to tell by the smell.

No onion smell. Even tasted one and it just tasted a little bitter. No oniony flavor at all. It's really weird though, it keeps popping up in nice round little areas, fist sized. At least that makes it easier to dig up and dispose of.