Planting Fall Bulbs

These bulbs hold the power to produce a profound array of colors with just a little sunshine, water and some tender care.

If you're new to gardening, it will help to think of the primary way of dividing plants and flowers: annuals and perennials. Annuals are flowers that bloom only once and stay for just a season. An example is the red poppy. If you go to the nursery in spring, buy some plants already blooming, plant them in your garden or window box, and they die in the fall, and that's it.

Perennials keep coming back year after year. They don't die each fall, they just go dormant until the spring weather warms them again.

Bulbs are perennials and need to be planted in the fall They'll provide you with blooms year after year. When you see a garden with a clump of iris or tulips or daffodils that is bushy and thick with flowers, you know those bulbs were probably planted a few years ago.

Before you start planting bulbs, make sure you've got the right spot marked out because unless you dig them up they will be in your garden for some time to come.

When you dig the holes for the bulbs sprinkle fertilizer granules before dropping in the bulb and replacing soil. Add plenty of water as you fill the hole back in. The nursery where you buy the bulbs will have instructions to how deep and how far apart they should be planted, but as a rule of thumb, you should plant large bulbs 8 inches deep, and 6 inches apart and small bulbs 5 inches deep, 3 inches apart with all pointed ends up. It's a good idea to add 3 inches of mulch to hold in moisture and protect the bulbs from extreme and/or drastic changes in temperatures.

When you choose bulbs keep in mind size and color of the blooms. They should have photos of the flowers on the packaging. In most cases smaller bulbs produce flowers that bloom earlier in the spring, and the flowers are small, like snowdrops or crocus. The larger bulbs, such as tulips, bloom later and produce larger blooms. Make sure the bulbs are firm, clean, and free of mold.

The best time to plant is after the first frost, so the bulbs will stay cool throughout the fall and winter.

Forcing Bulbs

Growing bulbs indoors during the winter is called "forcing." You're forcing them to bloom inside the house before their time, by deceiving them into thinking it's spring.

Set the bulbs in a shallow dish with some pebbles. You can buy them at any garden center. Sink the bulb pointy side up about half way down into the pebbles. Then add a little water and put them in a sunny window. You'll start seeing green shoots after a couple of days.

You have to pay close attention to the water level in the dish. Too little and they'll dry out and too much can cause them to rot.

Indoor flowers will last for about two months. Start them in December and they should last until you can begin looking for the first signs of spring in the early snowdrops, winter aconites or snow crocus you planted in the fall. These are awesome to have as they are a warm prelude to the arrival of spring.

Early Snowdrop Glory Of The Snow

Early Snowdrops mingled with Glory of the Snow is a welcomed sight.

Winter Aconite White Magic Muscari

Winter Aconite and White Magic Muscari are equally welcoming with Snow Crocus (below).

Snow Crocus Mix

Daffodils are awesome, too. Breezy Brisbane of The Little Rascals has to learn that the hard way.

The Daffodil Poem to Ms. Crabtree

High up grew a daffodil
I couldn't hardly reach her
Said I to me, "I think I will
Get it for my teacher!"
I climbed to get the daffodil
Out on a limb so thin
I tumbled down like Jack and Jill
And skinned my little shin
And here's the pretty daffodil
I brought to my dear teacher
I love her dear and I always will
I'm awful glad to meet cha -"Sherwood Bailey"

planting fall bulbs

Flowers emerging in springtime from tiny little bulbs planted in the fall is one of the all-time great miracles of nature. When you hold a few tulip,daffodil, and crocus bulbs in your hand, it's easy to see that God's Intelligent Design is the only source of all life.

resources