Bulbs To Plant In Spring
Liliums – My Favorite Bulbs To Plant In Spring
Some of my friends think I have a problem. I can’t resist a gorgeous flower – plain or ornate, big or small. I love them all! And I want them all. In my garden, in my flower pots, on my kitchen table, even tucked away on a coffee table (my husband gets a little irritated when he can’t put his coffee down).
I get shaky when presented with a new kind of lily or a three-on-one bush. I want it, I have to find it, I have to have it. Doesn’t matter that I have a tiny little back garden. (No, really, I even planted a fig tree is this tiny patch which, if it flourishes, will block out any sun I now have. I may have to rethink that one).
I am a huge fan of bulbs, whether they are spring flower bulbs or fall ones. There is such a wonderful variety available here too, enough fill your entire garden, and most of them will return a few times, bringing offspring with them to add to the fray. Bulbs to plant in spring are bulbs that will flower in the summer so they are called spring flower bulbs or summer flowering bulbs. Fall bulbs are planted in the fall, over-winter in the ground and then come up and flower in spring, hence the term, “Spring flowering bulbs”. It can be quite confusing!
My fall planted bulbs are all starting to show their heads now, with some tulips and daffodils already putting on a show. My bulbs will flower as late as early summer, by which time the spring planted bulbs or summer flowering bulbs will be emerging, ready to take over until late fall. Really, if you wanted to, you could just have bulb flowers, held together with ground covers all year round (bar winter).
There is such a huge selection of bulbs to plant in spring that I’m having palpitations when I think of what I have to leave out! Just the lilium selection alone is mind-bending – Asiatic lily bulbs, Oriental lily bulbs, Trumpet lily bulbs, even Tree lily bulbs. Now I see there are Rose lilies and bedding lilies too. Don’t forget the native lilies either, like the early blooming Erythroniums with their beautiful, dainty, yellow or pink flowers. Those would be great naturalized under some light trees.
Asiatics
Asiatic lily bulbs are definitely amongst the easiest bulbs to plant in spring and are very brightly colored on the whole, with hot yellows, oranges and reds lined up with the whites and gentler pinks. They’re not fussy about soil, although no lilies I know of like to be waterlogged. You can get tall or short varieties which grow equally well in pots or in the ground. They bloom early on in the season so are a great way to start.
Orientals
Last year I planted Stargazer lily bulbs along with Casablancas. They are part of the Oriental lily family and are fabulously eye-catching, with enormous, blooms and cinnamon anthers. Stargazer lilies are variegated pink with dark pink dots and Casablancas are snowy white with a touch of gold and little raised bits on the petals. I always thought those were the only two in this range but now, reading through these catalogs of summer flowering bulbs, I see there are at least a dozen, all equally breathtaking. They are all late bloomers so provide an added thrill.
Of course, the plant dies back in winter but the bulbs are still there and I can see little baby bulbs at the base of the old stems which means that I don’t have to buy any more of those: they will multiply all on their own. So I can try another kind this year! As for when to plant lily bulbs, they should always be in the ground because they don’t go dormant. I plant mine as soon as I get them. Shops and online nurseries shouldn’t stock them out of planting season.
I am very tempted to try Rose lilies which are also Orientals but with double blooms. I will have to dig another bed if I get some bedding Asiatic lily bulbs. Would look fantastic though, a whole bed of low growing, red, orange and yellow lilies.
By the way, you have to keep the deer out. I planted some of my Asiatic lily bulbs in my street side bed and as soon as they reached budding stage, they were chomped, right down to the ground!
Read my blog on how to bulk up your bulbs here, and have a read of The Shoestring Gardener for more great money saving tips.
By the way, here is a link to a list of gopher resistant plants:http://www.groundcoversandgardening.com/gopher resistant plants.
If you want to buy plants that deer probably won’t eat, look here.
