In just a couple of weeks, you can purchase your favorite flowering bulbs that will bloom next spring. Right now is a great time to plan how and where you’d like to pop them in the soil.
Making a plan now is especially helpful if you want to achieve that “natural” or random look of your spring flowering bulbs. That’s when it appears the daffodils, tulips and other flowering bulbs just pop up around trees, on your lawn or in your meadow.
To get that more natural look from spring flowering bulbs, begin by checking out all the possible places to plant in your yard. Ensure that those areas will get full sun in spring, because many of our favorite flowering bulbs come from Turkey, Iran and Kazakhstan, which have a much drier, sunnier climate.
If you want to have flowers growing all over your lawn next spring, look for crocus and hardy chionodoxa. These tend to be small bulbs that won’t grow very tall, plus they will spread quickly. After they're done flowering, they are easy to mow down again.
If you have deciduous trees or a more forested area close to your house, some of the bigger bulbs, like daffodils and camassia can really stand out. In those settings, bigger bulbs mean bigger flowers, plus they're really tough bulbs.
Finally, if you have a meadowy area, try some species tulips and species daffodils. The caveat is, if you have problems with rodents like chipmunks, voles or mice or even deer, try to choose bulbs that they tend to pass over.
Flowering bulbs like daffodils, scillas, camassia, chionodoxas, snowdrops and winter aconite all work well and critters don’t seem to pay attention to them.
When you've chosen some locations and you're ready to plant, you can achieve a more natural look by just flinging them around and wherever they drop, plant them there! And note that smaller bulbs shouldn’t go very far down into the soil.
If you love the look, leave your lawn, meadow or forest canopy unmowed. This will ensure the foliage and seeds will begin to spread even more naturalized bulb-plantings.
Plant perennials at new home this fall, or wait till next spring?
Q: My husband and I are in the process of building a home and will be moving as soon as it is done and our current home is sold. I don't think I will be able to put in perennials at my new home this fall. I was wondering if I can do this in the spring or should I wait until next fall? - Elaine, via email
A: You can wait till spring, and in fact, most perennials do better if you plant them in the spring. That way they have a whole summer to get established.
If you're going to want to plant bulbs, though, you'll have to wait till next fall to do that.
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