To our green thumbs...

G

greenfreak

New Member
Anyone planting bulbs for spring??

The planting bug bit me today. I dug up my Canna Lillies and I'm drying them out before I seperate them and pack them away for the winter. (which reminds me, anyone want some? PM me)

I started thinking about spring and the 100 or so tulips in my lawn right now. I love crocus and I've never grown them but I heard they do great in containers. So I went online and found a bulb dealer www.brecks.com. Here's what I bought:


a mixture of 30 crocus bulbs:

82883.jpg



10 'Gavota' tulip bulbs:

50989.jpg



8 'Monsella' tulip bulbs:

55459.jpg


15 'Romano' Dutch Iris bulbs:

39008.jpg



and 15 'Purple Sensation' Dutch Iris bulbs:

39024.jpg



I have a big container that I had the Cannas in that I'm going to use. I'm going to plant the crocus and tulips in one because they both bloom at different times. The crocus will come up first, then when they're dying off, the tulips will break ground. I'm going to get some more containers for the Iris', aren't they beautiful??

I can't wait for spring!!! :D
 
Very nice greenie!

Make sure to post lots of pics of your next year!!!!
 
greenfreak said:
I dug up my Canna Lillies and I'm drying them out before I seperate them and pack them away for the winter. (which reminds me, anyone want some? PM me)
Click to expand...

Here's some pics of my canna... The first one is just to give you an idea of the leaves and the size. By the time it was done, it was eye height, and this is *dwarf* canna! I had two rhizomes which were supposed to yield one stalk each. I got 12 instead. As you can see in the first pic, I took better care of my cannas than I did my lawn this summer:

canna.jpg


A closeup of the flowers starting to break free from the stalk:

canna1.jpg


And finally, my first bloom:

canna2.jpg



Cannas are the only thing I could find that would tolerate full sun. They're tropical, like sun and heat and well draining soil. I had to water them every morning because they were in containers, not planted in the ground. In the ground, a good soaking every 3 days or so would do it.

Let me know if anyone wants some (for free of course).
 
Nixy said:
Very nice greenie!

Make sure to post lots of pics of your next year!!!!
Click to expand...

Thanks Nix! This is a pic of one of my tulips from last year:

tulip_bee.jpg


I have more flower pics on my website if you wanna look at em. :)
 
lovely, we really like those irises, gf :) They'll be gorgeous!

we don't do bulbs as yet, only the tulips that are already there, and some that I found growing wild in the back 40 :confuse3: and replanted in my garden.
 
I tried growing tulips and crocuses (croci?) several years ago, but didn't have any luck. The house we lived in at the time had a lot of big trees in the yard, and I think the spot I picked was just too shady. There were some amaryllises growing in one somewhat sunny part of the yard that the previous owners put in. When we moved here I brought them with me and set them out in front of the trailer. They're growing really well (see picture). Last spring Jan bought me some bearded irises and I set them out intermixed with the amaryllises. I also have daylillies in the same bed.

Attachment(s):

amaryllis.jpg, 67.54kb

201_1035224095.jpg


iris.jpg, 101.54kb

201_1035224193.jpg
 
Ards, those are beautiful! I think if I like the iris this year, I'll grow more next year. How much sun do yours get, how often do you water them? I'll probably have to keep mine indoors because I get constant sun and wind.
 
greenfreak said:
Ards, those are beautiful! I think if I like the iris this year, I'll grow more next year. How much sun do yours get, how often do you water them? I'll probably have to keep mine indoors because I get constant sun and wind.
Click to expand...

I would like to be able to grow dutch irises like the ones you have! I tried some the same year I tried the tulips, and they were poor, spindly looking things. I believe I got a couple to bloom, but they didn't look nearly as spectacular as the ones in the pictures you posted.

My bearded irises get lots of sun. They're right in front of the trailer, which faces due west. There are a couple of trees that provide a little shade when the sun's just right, but from noon on, they're mostly in full sun. I watered them fairly regularly during the dry spell we had, but couldn't say exactly how often. Maybe once or twice a week. Most of the water was going to Jan's and Anna's flowers (we each have our own flower beds). They're all pretty close together, though, so I think my flowers were getting water even when it wasn't falling directly on them. Except that one period, it wasn't too dry this year, so mother nature did most of the watering.

One thing about planting bulbs down here is that it's better to keep them in the refridgerator during the winter and plant them in early spring than to put them in the ground in the fall. They need more cold weather than we get. The amaryllises don't seem to mind the warmer weather, but the tulips, crocuses and dutch irises do.
 
We had some beautiful tulips in the flower bed we have at the cemetary where my dad is buried. That was last year though and I never came up this year. And when my mom dug up the garden to plant the new flowers she found no bulbs. Our guess is that they were eatten :(
 
Ards, I'd like to say those pictures were of my own iris but it's just shots of the bulbs I ordered. I get full southern sun from 7am till about 4pm. I have no trees on my property and the only shade I could give them is on the side of the house and then I won't be able to enjoy them. I'll see how they do in each area.

We got no rain this summer. It was dry as a bone up here, so I was watering my plants every morning, without fail. I got sick of it, frankly. I'm hoping next year is better.

Nixy, it's possible something ate the bulbs, apparently tulip and crocus bulbs are yummy for squirrels and chipmunks. But if you plant them with some daffodil bulbs, they won't get eaten because daff bulbs taste really bad. You can also put a layer of chicken wire above where the bulbs are, the flowers will grow around them and the squirrels don't know enough to dig around the sides of it.

If the site where they were is watered too much and doesn't drain well, they may have rotted away too. I didn't water the lawn at all this summer so my tulips should come up beautiful! :)
 
It was watered quite a bit but i think it drains well also since it's ALWAYS dry.

Our bet is on something eatting them....:(

Oh well, we had some VERY pretty Marigolds there this summer.
 
That's funny, I never noticed that. You're right... I should take all the leaves I just cut off, dry em, cut em up and roll them. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top