Nature's brightest bulbs

Split-cup varieties are a so-pretty variation on the daffodil theme. — NFBIC

As autumn brings a hush over the garden and nature begins to slide toward winter, it may seem that the gardening year is finally over.

Don’t give in to those end-of-season blues! Now’s the perfect time to be a contrarian and think spring. The waning days of fall are the perfect time to plant a generous selection of spring’s brightest bulbs, giving you something to look forward to when wintry winds howl.

Imagine how delighted you will be to welcome fragrant hyacinths, golden daffodils, and elegant tulips to a newly awakening landscape. There’s something so cheery about spotting the first pale snowdrop, tiny crocus or miniature iris even while icy drifts still linger. These brave early blossoms are positive proof that winter at long last is loosening its grip.

Bulbs require advanced planning, and if you wait until spring is on your doorstep, you will have missed the boat. Familiar spring bulb flowers need a prolonged period of cold – as much as 16 weeks – in order to bloom. Now is when you should be choosing favorites, shopping for bulbs and selecting good locations for next spring’s displays.

Ideally, bulbs should go in the ground when nighttime temperatures hold steady at 40 or 50 degrees for a week or two. The chill prevents top growth from sprouting and depleting the bulb’s resources. On the other hand, you must act well before the ground freezes to allow bulbs to put down a supporting network of roots.

Oct. 1 through November 30 is the window of opportunity in our area according to bulb guides developed by industry experts in the United States and the Netherlands, where most of our flower bulbs originate. Procrastinators like me are often out there on their knees, planting through Thanksgiving weekend, but it’s actually a good way to work off those thick turkey sandwiches.

Tulips make superb cut flowers — plant extra! This is ‘Esther Renjveld.’ — NFBIC

Tulips and crocuses are among the most popular species – and also the most likely to be eaten by greedy critters. Voles, or meadow mice, are the chief culprits when underground bulbs disappear. Squirrels don’t frequently devour bulbs, but will dig them up. In spring, as flowers form and open, rabbits and deer and only too happy to move in to snack on the blossoms, depriving you of the fruits of your labors..

Protecting flowers by planting behind fencing or so close to the house that creatures are fearful to approach. Bulbs also can be protected by treating them with a repellent like Ropel; by lacing planting with sharp-edged crushed oyster shell or by laying old screens on top of newly planted beds.

Be sure to collect any papery scraps that fall off bulbs – these are a tip-off that tasty treats lie below. And forget the bone meal. Its scent is attractive to foraging animals, and the modern product doesn’t really have much nutrition that bulbs can use.

Happily, there are a wide range of desirable bulbs that critters leave in peace. Chief among them are daffodils, which come in an astounding array of colors, sizes, shapes and forms. All contain toxic chemicals in roots, leaves, stems and flowers that render them unpalatable to the wild things.

When you go daffodil shopping, don’t settle for just the familiar yellow trumpets like the classic ‘King Alfred.’ Try some delicate triandus types, with several small blossoms atop each slender step. Split cut and “butterfly” daffodils have extra, ruffled petals instead of a trumpet and look more like exotic daylilies. Miniatures carry flowers no larger than a quarter and have less conspicuous foliage as well.

Sweetly scented hyacinths, as a group, are usually safe from rabbits and deer. In addition to the stiff, thickly flowered columns sold as potted plants, the family also includes the more relaxed woodland hyacinths, known as bluebells, which are ideal for naturalizing in the woods. Look for English bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) or Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica), which come in white and pink as well as blue.

Bluebells or woodland hyacinths are reliable and fragrant. — James Petts/Flickr.

Grape hyacinths are smaller still, and add a zingy electric blue to sweeps of red, yellow or orange flowers. Dutch designers use them by the thousands to create rivers of vivid sapphire among other spring-blooming species. Catalogs often carry the more unusual types with white or sky blue flowers, should that strike your fancy.

Among the other “minor” bulbs, snowdrops, tiny bulbous irises and petite spring anemones are also charming and reliable. Four-inch-tall Iris reticulate, danfordiae and histroides bloom in late February or early March, making them good substitutes for crocuses where critters are many and defenses are few.

Anemone blanda comes in white, pink or blue. Its glossy, daisy-style flowers open each morning on a clump of handsome foliage about four inches tall, and close tightly shut at the end of the day. These may be slow to establish, but are entirely charming and trouble-free.

It’s important to bear in mind the bulb’s less attractive after-life. Once the flowers have faded, it’s crucial to allow foliage to grow, fade and die in order to recharge the bulb for next season’s bloom. Bulb foliage often dies a long, lingering and unattractive death – with the final gasp coming a good six to eight weeks after the flower show. Daffodil beds in their glory in mid April may not be free of yellowing foliage until mid June.

Don’t give spring bulbs the most conspicuous locations unless you are prepared to pull them out and discard them after they have flowered. This is a perfectly good strategy for tulips, which don’t reliably return and bloom well in subsequent years. For durable bulbs you hope to have a long time, clever tactics are required. Tuck them in among foundation shrubbery, or set them free in a woodland where they can slowly increase on their own. Plant them among groundcovers that will draw attention away from tatty, fading foliage.

One final caveat: Be generous with bulbs. For larger bulbs like tulips and daffodils, repeat groups of five to seven throughout your bed or border or mass them in closely planted swaths of 25 to 50. Up the numbers for smaller species like crocuses, which should be planted in clumps of a dozen or two.

Planting bulbs now is the best investment you can make for a happy re-entry into a new gardening year. Remember how hungry your eyes were for living color ‘round about February. Plant yourself a rainbow and savor the anticipation.