Ask the Experts

Bulb Planting Success Tips

December 11, 2019

Bulbs make for a beautiful display planted in borders or containers, especially tulips, snowdrops, and daffodils. Did you know that they are one of the simplest and most rewarding plants to grow?

Bulbs are especially useful for coloring your borders in spring. Scillas and snowdrops are some of the earliest flowering plants, and tulips come in a wide variety of shades – from white to purple. They bloom when many plants offer muted colors.

Give tall, dramatic, and scented blooms into your garden by planting summer flowering bulbs like gladioli and lilies.

Nerines, an autumn flowering bulb, can vivify the season with their colorful displays.

Southern Botanical, your landscape services contractors in Dallas, answers your common questions about bulb planting. Read on.

When is it best to plant bulbs?

Here’s a pro tip: When planting bulbs, timing is essential. It’s best to plant resilient summer and spring flowering bulbs in the fall, fall flowering bulbs in summer, and gentle summer flowering bulbs in spring.

Where should you plant bulbs?

There are some bulbs that require a definite siting.

• Bulbs from moist, cool, woodland places, like Cardiocrinum, require similar garden conditions. Enhance heavy soils with grit and compost, and sandy or light soils with compost.
• The majority of hardy bulbs like daffodils and tulips need a warm and sunny habitat with ample drainage, since they originate from areas with summer climates.

How to plant

Plant bulbs as soon as possible. The majority of bulbs are planted when dry – in a rootless, dormant, and leafless state.

When is it too late to plant?

As mentioned, there are bulbs that require spring planting, but others do best when planted in the autumn. Keep in mind that the timing of planting is dependent on when the bulbs are supposed to bloom.

Most bulbs should be planted from mid-October until the ground freezes; after a hard frost. Daffodils and other spring flowering bulbs like tulips must be planted early in the winter so they will bloom in spring. These flowers need to be subjected to long, cool temperatures so that they will flower.

Did you miss planting your bulbs at the right season?

Bulbs are quite easy to forget, in the boot of the car or at the back of the shed. Maybe circumstances made you forget to plant them when you should have. Get them potted or in the ground as soon as you can.

Discard those that are rotten or soft, even if they have begun to sprout. It will be a huge trial and error, since some bulbs store longer than others.

You may discover too that some bulbs don’t perform as you have expected during their first year. However, if you planted a bulb that comes back every year, they should improve in subsequent years. To help them recover, try adding a well-balanced fertilizer into the soil.

Do you need professional advice in bulb planting? Feel free to reach out to us at Southern Botanical, your landscaping services contractors in Dallas.