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In my previous post, I discussed planting bulbs for spring flowers. This is one of several excellent flower garden ideas. In this post, I talk more on this topic.
Bulb care after blooming
After your bulbs bloom in the spring, you must “deadhead” the dead flowers. This allows the plant to channel its energy into bulb development rather than setting seed. The stalk of the dead flower should be cut back, but do not cut back the foliage.
The foliage should be allowed to turn yellow and die naturally. This provides the plant with the food nutrients needed for flowering the next year.
Spring Flowering Bulbs
The foliage can look pretty ugly as it dies back. My suggestion is to design your spring bulb garden in a way to “camouflage” or reduce the negative effect of this dead foliage.
You can plant other flowers or later spring flowering bulbs around the earlier blooming bulbs. You can also plant annual or perennial flowers that develop in front of these bulbs and hide the dying foliage.
I generally dig up my tulip and daffodil bulbs after blooming and the foliage has died back. This means you must mark the area where the bulbs are planted. I then store the bulbs in a cool, dry location during the hot months of the summer. I replant the bulbs in the fall.
Not all people recommend this procedure. I do this for a couple of reasons. First, it protects the bulbs from the heat of the summer. Secondly, I want to use that garden space for other plants. I don’t interfere with the bulbs when preparing the soil for those plants.
Garden design for planting bulbs
When you design your spring flowering bulb garden, there are several things to keep in mind:
- The height of the flower
- The desired flowering period for your spring bulbs
- The flowering period of each spring bulb variety
- The color of the spring bulb flower
- The size of the spring bulb flower
- The texture of the spring bulb foliage
- Other plants needed to camouflage the dying foliage
Planting bulbs for spring flowers is one of several excellent flower garden ideas. In my next post on this topic, I suggest my favorite bulbs to plant including crocus, tulip, daffodil, and hyacinth bulbs.
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