caging hyacinth bulbs

Rabbits and deer rarely munch on the bulbs, flowers or foliage of hyacinth. However, underground critters tunnel around the bulbs and leave air pockets that can stunt the growth. Or out of curiosity, squirrels may dig up bulbs shortly after they’re planted.

To help prevent both of these problems, plant hyacinth bulbs in a mesh cage like this one made with 1/2-in. hardware cloth. The sides are 6 in. high and the bottom is 12 in. across. Hya­cinths have a thick growing point that’s too large to push through the small holes in hardware cloth. So refill the hole and cage with soil and lay a chicken wire lid on top of the cage before refilling the hole the rest of the way. When you’re ready to dig and replace spent bulbs, the basket makes the clump easy to lift.

Click to see the sprouting tuber.

plant pick

Cyclamen
Cyclamen hederifolium

It’s hard to say which is more appealing about cyclamen: The perky fall flowers or the charming round to heart-shaped leaves. Colorful blooms push up through the soil first. They’re followed by foliage that sports zones of silver or patterns of lighter or darker colors on the surface with red or purple undersides.

After a few seasons, a tuber the size that you can easily hold in your hand can grow into a clump in the garden that reaches 12 in. across. So even though they’re small, plant them in early fall with plenty of elbow room — 6 to 8 in. apart — just below the soil’s surface. Cyclamen tubers can sometimes take up to two to three years to start growing. (Both roots and stems sprout from the top side of the tuber.) Buy young plants for a quicker start.

TYPE Perennial SIZE 4 to 6 in. tall and wide BLOOM Pink or white in late summer to late fall LIGHT Filtered shade SOIL Well-drained PESTS None serious HARDINESS Cold: USDA zones 5 to 8; Heat: AHS zones 8 to 1 SOURCE Digging Dog Nursery

If you want to know when this or other perennials flower, see When Perennials Bloom at right.

storing calla tubers

If you overwinter your callas, they’ll get bigger and bigger, producing a better show every year.

A light frost (30 to 32 degrees F) will kill the foliage without hurting the tubers. Let the foliage dry for a day or two. If a hard freeze (28 degrees F or colder) is in the forecast, dig the tubers as soon as possible or they may be damaged by the cold.

Lift the clump and snip off the foliage a couple of inches above the tuber as I’m doing in the top photo. Crumble off big clods of soil. Set the clump in a shady spot where it won’t freeze. Allow the soil to dry completely — this could take a few days. At this point, the roots and stem should be dry enough to come off easily. It’s critical that the tubers are completely dry before you store them because they’re prone to rotting during the winter.

I like to bury my tubers in dry peat moss in a plastic-lined cardboard box as I’m doing in the lower photo. (Wood shavings are also good storage material.) Make sure the tubers aren’t touching each other. If one rots, the rest may rot, too. Poke holes through the plastic and the side of the box, then loosely close the tops. It’s OK to stack boxes on top of one another.

Check your boxes a few times over the winter and remove any mushy tubers. Keep your callas in a cool, dry place that stays about 50 to 55 degrees F during the winter — an unheated basement or attached garage works well.

“You can never have too much of a good thing” is definitely true with these small flowering bulbs. The more the better!

Check out even more fabulous bulbs and plants in Ultimate Flowers for Sun and Shade at right!

easy bulb planting

Not many flowers rival the welcome splash of color that spring bulbs can give you. But if you’ve ever planted them in fall, you can appreciate the effort that goes into planting. When you have a lot of bulbs to plant, make it easier on yourself by using your drill and a bulb auger.

You can drill a lot of holes without much effort in lawns and even tough garden soil (but stay away from tree roots and hard-packed clay). Just make sure you’re using a 12-in. or shorter length auger (this one is 7 in.). The longer ones are more likely to bend when the going gets tough. However, the long-shafted augers are more comfortable to work with (you don’t have to bend as much) and they’re fine if you’re working in prepared soil.

If you have a small yard, run an extension cord and use an electric ½-in. drill with your auger. A powerful battery-operated drill also works, but you may have to recharge or switch battery packs frequently. Run it both as you push down and pull up to get the cleanest hole. (And wear eye protection.) Need a bigger hole for giant daffodil bulbs? Drill two holes side by side.

When you’re planting bulbs close together — 6 in. or so apart — the holes tend to cave in on one another. Enlist a friend and use a drill-and-drop planting technique: One person drills, the other drops the bulb into each hole and refills it. This means you won’t have to drill a hole, put down the drill, drop a bulb in, refill the hole, drill another hole, etc.

Read about other bulb-planting tools in the current issue of Garden Gate magazine.

plant pick

Tulip
Tulipa hybrids

There are some plants that just stand for a certain season, and nothing says “spring” as loud and clear as tulips!

There’s a tulip out there for everyone. You’ll find nearly any color except blue, and some flowers are streaked with two or three colors. Some are that classic tulip shape, like ‘Barcelona’, in the photo, while others have fringed or ruffled edges, double blooms or elegant, pointed, lily-shaped flowers.

Like most bulbs, tulips like a spot that’s sunny in the spring, but they’re perfectly content under big shade trees that leaf out later. Just make sure they’re in well-drained soil, or the bulbs can rot.

If you garden south of zone 8, buy pre-chilled bulbs or refrigerate your bulbs for four to six weeks before you plant them.

TYPE Bulb SIZE 4 to 24 in. tall by 3 to 5 in. wide BLOOM Wide range of colors from early to late spring LIGHT Sun to part shade SOIL Moist, well-drained PESTS Crown rot HARDINESS Cold: USDA zones 3 to 8; Heat: AHS zones 8 to 1

See more spring-bloomers in Garden Gate magazine issue 85, on newsstands now!

A couple of times during the winter, remember to check on the summer bulbs that you’ve stored in your basement to make sure they’re not drying out or rotting. Check the temperature — it should be around 45 to 50 degrees. Pull out a few bulbs to see if they’re moist enough. Bulbs that have dried out and are starting to shrivel need to be misted with water. The gladiolus bulb on the left is too dry and will have to be thrown away. Click on the photo for a larger version.

Soft, rotten spots often happen where a bulb was damaged as it was dug up. The dahlia on the right is too rotten to be saved — discard it. Clear out the peat moss that was touching the bulb in the storage container and replace it with fresh packing material so the rot doesn’t spread to other bulbs.

Be sure to peek in on your bulbs at least once more before spring.

An electric drill and special bulb auger bit make quick work of planting spring-blooming bulbs in fall. Watch our video to see just how easy it is.

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bring out the bulbs

Why wait for summer to fill your containers? Beautiful blooms like the ‘Pink Pride’ daffodil, ‘Big Chief’ tulip and grape hyacinths here add a blast of spring color, and they’re so easy to grow. Fall’s the time to get started.

Fill a 1-gal. plastic nursery pot with soilless potting mix and bulbs. Planting bulbs in layers gives you a full look and lets you combine different kinds of bulbs. Usually bulbs need to be planted three times as deep as their height, but don’t worry about that here. Just place the largest bulbs, such as daffodils, in the bottom. Next, add medium-sized bulbs, like tulips, then plant the smallest bulbs, here, grape hyacinths, on top.

Set the pot in a dry-leaf-lined trench, water it well, cover it with a foot of leaves and mark the location. If you have squirrels, put wire mesh over this area to protect the bulbs.

As the tree buds start swelling in early spring, remove the top layer of leaves so you can keep an eye on the bulbs. When the first sprouts appear, move the nursery pot into your decorative container. Put a layer of soil in the container and set the nursery pot in so it’s level with the top rim. Then you can fill the rest of the container with soil. Fill in bare spots with pansies or other cool-weather flowers. You’ll get rave reviews on your beautiful spring display, and everyone will wonder how you got your container flowers to bloom so effortlessly.

grape hyacinth
muscari armeniacum

If you’ve ever planted grape hyacinths in fall, you know that they sprout leaves in just a few weeks after planting. This startles some gardeners the first time; they think they’ve planted them too early and all is lost now. It’s not; that’s just what they do. Grape hyacinth leaves are evergreen, sprouting in the fall and lasting until after their spring flowering.

Because the flowers are small, you’ll get the greatest impact by planting a mass of bulbs. Plant them along a path or front edge of a flower bed; anywhere you can enjoy their sweet fragrance. Grape hyacinths can also be planted in containers with other bulbs or annuals.

TYPE Bulb SIZE 6 to 8 in. tall BLOOM Midspring LIGHT Full sun to part shade SOIL Well-drained PESTS None serious HARDINESS Cold: USDA zones 4 to 8 Heat: AHS zones 8 to 1

problem solver

Tulip bulb blast

Have you tried to force tulip bulbs in the refrigerator and been disappointed when the flower buds shrivel up? Ethylene may be the culprit. It’s colorless, odorless gas emitted by all plants. Ethylene is responsible for fruit ripening, flowers expiring and many other plant growth processes. If you store fruit in the same refrigerator, the level of ethylene may be elevated. In this case, ethylene has caused the buds to blast or shrivel up before they open. Once the bulbs have been damaged, throw them away.

If it is possible to force bulbs in a refrigerator where you don’t keep fruit, you won’t have this problem. Since that isn’t always possible or practical, here are some tips to prevent ethylene from damaging bulbs in the future. Put the pot of bulbs in a plastic bag before putting them in the refrigerator. Check them occasionally to make sure they don’t mold. If you find mold on the soil surface, leave the bag open and let the soil dry out a bit.

You can also try another chilling area. A cold frame or unheated garage, away from fruits and vegetables will do the trick. Or if you have covered, outdoor stairs to a basement or cellar try setting potted bulbs on a step 3 or 4 feet below ground level.

winter aconite
eranthis hyemalis

These bright yellow flowers poke through the soil just when it seems that winter will never end. Even though they look fragile, they’ll tolerate freezing temperatures and snow without trouble. Plant winter aconite tubers in early autumn in alkaline soil. A shady lawn or under shrubs where they can reseed and naturalize is ideal. You can even plant them in perennial or annual borders. The extra water in summer won’t hurt the winter aconite tubers.

Before you plant the tubers, soak them in warm water for 24 hours. They’ll plump up and send out roots faster after you’ve planted them. Winter aconite tubers don’t have an obvious top, but don’t worry about it. Just drop them in the hole and they’ll be fine. Just like grape hyacinth, winter aconite looks best when planted in masses.

TYPE Bulb SIZE 3 to 4 inches tall BLOOM Late winter LIGHT Part shade to shade SOIL Alkaline, moist, well-drained PESTS None serious HARDINESS Cold: USDA zones 4 to 7 Heat: AHS zones 7 to 1

plants deer avoid

While there’s no such thing as a deer-proof plant, there are definitely ones that deer don’t crave. Generally, they shun plants with fuzzy, tomentose foliage or ones with lemon, sage or spicy flavors. The plants below are some of deer’s least favorites.

Bulbs
Allium Allium spp.
Autumn crocus Colchicum spp.
Daffodil Narcissus spp.
Fritillaria Fritillaria spp.
Grape hyacinth Muscari spp.
Squill Scilla spp.

Perennials
Adam’s needle Yucca filamentosa
Agastache Agastache spp.
Blue cardinal flower Lobelia siphilitica
Catmint Nepeta xfaassenii
Foxglove Digitalis spp.
Speedwell Veronica spp.

Annuals
Angel’s trumpet Brugmansia spp.
Canna Canna spp.
Forget-me-not Myosotis spp.
Firecracker plant Cuphea ignea
Heliotrope Heliotropium arborescens
Larkspur Consolida ajacis

Trees, shrubs and vines
Butterfly bush Buddleja davidii
Clematis Clematis paniculata
Dwarf Norway spruce Picea abies
European white birch Betula pendula
Holly Ilex spp. (except thornless varieties)
Honeysuckle Lonicera spp.

fritillaria bulbs
of all sizes

Most bulbs do best with a planting depth of three times the height of the bulb, and fritillarias are no different. All I can say is don’t scrimp on this. Even four times the depth can’t hurt. It’s easy to plant too shallowly, but these plants bloom better with deep planting.

Because of the difference in sizes — you can get an idea in the illustration at left — each species will go in at a different depth. You might plant large Persian fritillaria bulbs 6 to 8 in. deep and tiny F. uva-vulpis bulbs only an inch or so below the soil’s surface.