Honestly, I don't know how you folks can get so many bulbs done each year. I planted over a thousand tulips and daffs combined last year plus about 700 Dutch Iris and that was plenty for me. I usually only get about 100-200 bulbs locally each fall.
Any other kilobulb planters out there?
Rita, that's nearly 2 kilobulbs you did last year... sounds like a lot to me! If I go over the 1 kilobulb mark, its because I've put in a lot of little bulbs (crocus, species tulips, dutch iris)... the daffs and tulips take more digging! :-)
Patti, those are beautiful!
Here's a sunny clump of crocuses that went in fall of 2009:
Most of the clumps in Joyanna's crocus lawn are bigger this year (a few disappeared, but that happens), so I think they are multiplying. :-)
Yes, but that's just it. I have only done that the one year. Last year. I had so many boxes of bulbs when my orders came. It took me over a week of getting out there and planting everyday to get it all done. I can't immagine doing that each and every fall. Now, don't get me wrong. I love the bulbs when they flower in the spring and if it wasn't for the work (and cost) I would get at least a thousand each fall. But it was sooooo much work.
I didn't get crocus last fall even though I wanted it as I knew I already had as much as I could manage. I want to definately get crocus this fall. Plus I plan to add some more dutch iris too. Might as well get some daffs and tulips also but really need to add those crocus. I haven't added crocus in years.
Try more little bulbs and fewer big ones this fall... I probably plant twice as many little bulbs as big ones each year... and they make a great display! Patti can use a bulb auger in her soil, and that makes a big difference in her ability to plant loads of daffs.
It's the daffodils and tulips that are my favorites. I don't really that much care for hyacinths so don't have any except for wood hyacinths that naturatized in my yard. Well, I went crazy for the pics of Dutch Iris but this will be the first time I have had them myself. Will try lots of crocus for starters this fall.
Take a look at some of the little "species" tulips, too.. unlike the big Darwin and other hybrids, they will multiply from year to year rather than petering out. I love love love the miniature Dutch iris, and they will multiply into clumps also. When you plant your bigger bulbs, just tuck some small ones on top and in between as you're filling in the holes.
Waiting for pictures. It should be gorgeous.
Adore the little iris, bbookrd, and of course your crocus!
And love the naturalized crocus in the lawn, critter! (I don't understand how you can keep the squirrels away from those and I can't!?) Maybe if I'd planted a thousand crocus I would have gotten 100 to come up...must think about doing that as I crave the early garden color after a bleak February...
Last summer I removed loads of mixed daffs from our front gardens and left mostly the white ones and then planted about 200 hyacinths in blue/purple shades...the display looks pretty good combined with a chartreuse creeping jenny. I replanted all the mixed up daff collection bulbs in our back 'woodsy' yard (about a 1000 or more) and am anxious to see if they survived.
I planted maybe 500 new bulbs last fall~~about 200 in pots for forcing and we have thoroughly enjoyed those this past winter (and many of the tulips are coming into bloom now). Have to plant my tulips in pots to protect them from the animals.
Will try to get some pics today while it's sunny and clear.
Cheerio! t.
Tabasco, I think the squirrels eat giant crocus here but not the snow crocus (chyrsanthus) or tommies or sibierica... I planted 1000 giant crocus in the back border a few years ago when I put in a bunch of daffs there, and I think I saw maybe 10 blooms this spring.
Thanks, critter, for the tip. I love croci (?) so much...I too planted a 100 or so from Van Engelen and got maybe 20 if that. The few that appeared in late Feb. were well loved at the time~~nothing much else was blooming...
Pictured are a few of the hyacinth orientalis a planted along the front walk.
And bbookrd, I went back thru this thread and looked at your picasa album of reticulated iris from last year...did you get a good return on those? Again mine disappeared and feel they may have met the same fate as the crocus...makes me cry when I see your pretty ones...
My new thing is hyacinth orientalis...I'm thinking these below are "Miss Saigon" from Brent & Becky.
They look like my 'Miss Saigon' -- a pretty purple!
I can't wait for my Miss Saigon to bloom! I ordered it from the bulb coop last fall....from Sunshine I think! They are coming up and should bloom within a week or maybe two.
Here is a bed of 800 "Mrs. John Scheepers" (2nd year for these bulbs - I dug them up from another bed last June and stored them in the basement over the summer) that just fully opened yesterday. The bed they were in last year contains 1,000 Mayflowering Darwin tulips - 7 varieties.
Here's the bed of Mayflowering tulips - I had hoped all colors would bloom at once - no such luck!
Geez, both beds look absolutely stunning. I do like the mixed color bed the best and not opening all at once will just make the show last longer. Beautiful!
I have been waiting for you spring blast. Great job. And a big one to dig, store, and then replant them all. Patti
Beautiful beds. What do you do with the gardens when the tulips are finished?
Because I dig and store the bulbs, then replant in the fall, I cannot have perennials in these two beds. I fill them with annuals (usually I can't plant until late June, since I dig the bulbs) and plant bulbs after the first frost in the fall. Here's how the "Mrs. John Scheepers" bed looks today.
Just beautiful!
Those tulips are outstanding. Another question: When you dig them up, how do you keep from getting your shovel into a bulb?
When I dig them, I start at one end of the bed and work across. You always split a few, but you can tell (by the dying leaves) where the bulbs are located.
After five years of amendment, the soil is fairly loose. This was originally a lawn area. In 2005 the county renovated the creek behind my property and my yard was the 'staging area. For 18 months I had piles of gravel (taller than my ranch-style house), diesel fuel tanks, port-a-potties and a ramp down into the creek. When they finished, they said, "we'll put in sod" - to which I said, "No! I'm going to build a garden there." It didn't occur to me that they had hauled off my nice, rich topsoil and what they brought back was clay, mixed with gravel. The first year I broke a shovel trying to plant a hedge. Every shovelful of dirt contained broken asphalt, rocks, gravel, etc. Each spring and fall I have the bed tilled. I spread a layer of horse manure and have it dug in deep. After five years, I've got out all of the major rocks and the soil works fairly easily, so when I dig, the dirt falls off the bulbs.
Why don't you just over plant the tulips in May with annuals and let the tulips stay in the ground? You would need annuals that like a dryer condition to get the tulips to come back, but there are plenty to choose from. But what you are doing sure looks good. Patti
Love the border tulips. It just says: Spring! I "dusted" alyssum seed amongst my bulbs this spring. I am doing what bbrook mentioned. I am also thinking about Texas blue bonnets or forget me nots to go amongst my tulips.
Leawood thanks for showing us your garden.
I tried overplanting the first year, because when I dug the first shovelful, the bulbs looked so healthy. That year I'd planted "Apricot Beauty", an earlier Darwin. After they finished blooming, I planted begonias in the bed. In the fall, I carefully removed the begonias, put down a top dressing of mulch and hoped for the best. The next spring the bed was a disaster - of the 1000 "Apricot Beauty" I'd planted the year before, about 50 came up and bloomed. I ripped them out as soon as they finished their meager show and vowed I'd start fresh each year. That fall I planted 1000 "Beauty of Appledorn" which looked OK the next spring, but I dug/tossed them. In 2009 DonnaMack from DG talked me into saving the "Maureen" tulips I'd planted the previous fall, and the rest is 'history' - now I dig/save each spring, but I start with something 'new' in this bed. The saved bulbs are planted in other beds around the yard. I like having something 'different' in this bed each spring.
Makes sense as it obviously works. You are developing quite a load of ones to plant in your other beds. Have you planned what is going to be your choice for next year? Patti
I haven't made a decision yet, but I'm certainly going to use a single variety, to avoid the issue I'm having where they bloom at different times.
I've always liked "Pink Impression" for it's sturdy stems and big flowers. I planted a large bed with 2,000 "Pink Impression" many years ago (the year the variety was introduced, I think) for a friend who loves pink. Several years ago I saw a gorgeous bed of "Portofino" (a Mayflowering sport of Scheepers) and thought I'd like to try them... I also love "West Point", a yellow lily flowering variety.
So, when you dig the bulbs up, do they do well the next year? I have a small bed of red Darwin tulips that were really showy this spring. I am thinking of digging them up and putting them in the same bed next year.
I dig them in June, after the blooms are gone and the leaves have started to die. I described what I did two years ago in this forum: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/921976/ - you will need to go down to the entries starting on June 15, 2009.
The yellow tulips from last year are in this bed last year - looks pretty successful to me.
I definitely agree! That is awesome and I'm not a fan of yellow but those tulips are beautiful!
I am so happy with the daffodils I did last fall putting on an exceptional show for me that I am plotting all the places around the yard that I want to add more. If I get as many as I would like to I would be ordering 1,000 daffs alone and thats not counting more tulips I want to order.
Welcome to the club - those of us who a hooked on bulbs can never seem to get enough!
Leawood, you have just made my year. I've been replacing my tulips every year. I never knew that I could dig and store them after they were done blooming. What a cost savings this is going to be. My tulips bloomed starting in February and March and finished in early April. I'll dig them out in May. Thanks to you and DonnaMack, I've read your threads from 2008 and 2009 and I'll definitely will be trying this method this year. Did you cut off the bloom stalks of your tulips after they were done blooming, or did you just leave the whole plant in the ground till you pulled it in June? Also, what did you use to remove them from the soil?Annette
I didn't remove the spent bloom stalks (too many... er, I'm lazy), but I waited until the leaves had started to die before I dug them. I used my garden spade, although a fork might work well also. Good luck Annette!
Stunning!
I was thinking of this thread from last year and remembering it because it dealt with planting bulbs in high volume. That is what I plant to do this fall as I have been plotting my order from Scheepers. Going to be a record breaking order for me.
Here's a mega kilo bulb planter
http://www.11alive.com/news/article/232008/3/Gardens-open-after-30-years-20-million-daffodils-planted
Thanks for sharing that link. I live in GA and didn't even know that this garden existed. That was just gorgeous. It makes the thousands of bulbs that I've planted look paltry, LOL.
TRULY impressive. I'd love to visit the garden and take in the glory in person!