Get yours while the getting’s good
It’s not too early to shop for your summer flower bulbs.
It’s a bit early in the gardening game for Canadians to feel motivated about checking out their local retail garden centres.
But, in a few weeks’ time when the sun is shining, the soil beckoning to us, and all of our neighbours are out garden shopping is when the rest of us will be interested in seeing the new stock at our favourite garden stores.
Right now, though, is when you’d likely find a wide selection of summer-flowering bulbs. Many of these bulbs are a mystery to the average gardener: Why are they for sale now? How will they perform in my garden come spring/summer? What will I do with them if I buy them now?
Here are our Top 7 tips for great summer-flowering bulbs.
1. Do not confuse them. Summer-flowering bulbs, like dahlias and canna lilies, are not spring-flowering bulbs, as in daffodils, tulips and crocus. The former is frost tender and cannot be left in the ground all winter where they will rot.
Summer-flowering bulbs are planted in the fall or — if you must have the blooms this season — you plant the potted, forced version in the garden come spring.
2. Start now. We plant up our dahlia roots, or tubers, in onegallon size pots and place them in the sunniest window in the house in early March. We have a sliding glass door that faces south and west for best exposure. (Stepping over these pots to open the door is a minor nuisance and overcome with the odd swear word. Nothing serious.)
Tuberous begonias can be started any time now. They require special treatment, by giving them a “half screw” into pure, damp peat moss or seedstarting mix in a seed-starting tray.
We start ours on the top of the refrigerator where there is even, ambient heat: They are a warm season crop. After about four to six weeks, remove them from the tray, hairy roots and all, and plant into four-inch pots. Finish them in a sunny window or under grow lights until planting time in late May.
3. Start later. Summer flowering canna lilies (which are not lilies but members of the Zingiberales family, along with bananas and bird of paradise) are best started in late March or early April.
Start them earlier and you might have giant, top-heavy plants taking over your kitchen before you are able to plant them in the garden in late May. We use a loose premixed potting soil and large, two-gallon pots.
4. Start directly in the garden. Gladiolas are best saved until early May when they are planted directly in the garden. They have a rather deliberate, upright look so we keep them in the background of our sunny borders or lined out like soldiers in the veggie garden.
They’re great as cut flowers, they’re also edible (the flower petals), so plan on livening up summer salads with excess flowers from your glads.
5. Buy now. We recently advised readers to buy garden seeds early this year to avoid disappointment when it’s planting time. Last year, many Canadian gardeners stormed the seed racks and online retailers and cleaned them out of inventory early.
The same might happen with summer flowering bulbs. When you bring them home, store them out of direct sunshine and in a cool room. The basement or a refrigerator is a good location until you plant them.
6. Store them. Want to save money? Come late fall, around
Thanksgiving, use a garden fork to remove the mature roots of your summer flowering bulbs.
Cut the tops off, leaving a stem about 15 centimetres long. Allow them to dry in the sun for a couple of days and store in a paper bag filled with dry peat moss or dry potting soil until you are ready to plant the following winter/spring.
Many bulbs, tubers and rhizomes grow so large that you can divide them and share with friends, family and neighbours. (Give them a copy of this column too!)
7. Enjoy them. Take lots of pictures when your summer bulbs bloom, enjoy the pollinators they attract, cut them and bring indoors for the table. They will fill a room with joy.