High Heat Stresses Your Bulbs, Too

        High heat has plagued much of the country this summer. Some bulbs like it, but others suffer. Dahlias, for example, have struggled or failed in many gardens where they usually thrive. That’s because they come originally from the mountain plateaus of Mexico where days are hot but nights are dramatically cooler. When nights are too warm, dahlias just can’t grow well. Some varieties are more sensitive than others and can even die. The good news is that if you can keep them going till temperatures cool (which has to happen sometime, right?), they’ll kick back into gear and bloom gloriously till frost.
        Glads may develop kinked stems in unusually hot weather as they sag a bit during the day, unable to fully replenish the water evaporating from them, and then grow upright at night when evaporation slows. This is most often a problem with glads like ‘Atom’ that have thin, wiry stems. To help, keep your glads well-watered and protect their shallow, wide-spreading roots from disturbance. Tiny sucking insects called thrips proliferate when it’s hot, too, and can leave glad leaves and blossoms mottled, or even prevent buds from opening. For tips on control, see oldhousegardens.com/Thrips.asp
        Heat affects flower color, too. Deep-colored lilies such as ‘African Queen’; may be paler in high heat, bicolor dahlias such as ‘Deuil du Roi Albert‘ may bloom temporarily as solids, and the rosy tones of ‘Kaiser Wilhelm‘ and others won’t develop fully until the weather cools.
        Of course some bulbs love the heat. In many gardens this summer, cannas, tuberoses, and rain lilies have been especially happy – and we hope you’ve been enjoying them. (August 2010)

How Winter-Hardy Are Your Glads? Our Readers Report

       Although most experts say gladiolus won’t survive winters north of zone 8, our customers kept telling us that theirs were returning like perennials in zones 7, 6, and even 5. So we asked our readers, “Have your regular glads survived zone-6 or colder winters? And what do you think made that possible?” Many replied (thanks!), and now you can read what they said along with our conclusions at oldhousegardens.com/Hardy-Glads.asp.
       Although warmer, shorter winters are probably the biggest reason why so many glads are surviving in colder zones, other important factors seem to include reliable snow cover, winter mulch, deep planting, good drainage, micro-climates, plenty of sun, and the time-tested vigor of heirlooms. To add your two-cents to the discussion, email charlie@oldhousegardens.com. And if you’d like to experiment with glads as perennials in your own garden, we suggest starting with the tough little one our readers recommended most: ‘Atom’. (August 2010)

The Frugal Gardener: To Multiply Your Glads, Plant Cormlets

        If you dug and stored your glads last fall, you probably noticed lots of tiny cormlets (or cormels) clustered around the bases. Ranging in size from a BB to larger than a pea, these mini-corms will grow to blooming-size in a year or two.
        Getting them to sprout, though, can be a challenge, due to their nearly impermeable shells. You can nick or gently crack the shells, but it’s easier to dissolve them by soaking in full-strength household bleach for a few hours just before planting. Plant in full sun, 1-2 inches deep and 1-2 inches apart, depending on size. Keep the soil moist but not soggy till grass-like foliage emerges and, for optimal growth, throughout the summer. With good care, any cormlet larger than a pea will grow to blooming-size by the time you harvest them in the fall, and the smaller ones by the following fall. Good luck and have fun! (May 2010)

Garden Tips for Right Now

        Crocus, snowdrops, and other bulbs start to emerge earlier than many gardeners realize, especially in warm spots where the snow melts first. Matted leaves and winter mulch can distort their growth, so get out there EARLY and gently loosen or remove.
        Rabbits and other animals love to eat crocus, so you may want to spray emerging buds with a repellant like Ro-pel. Check to see if you have some on hand before you need it. Tulips and lilies are two later-emerging animal delicacies that may also need spraying.
        Now is a good time to wash any pots that you’re planning to start dahlias or cannas in, too. Finish by sterilizing them for a couple of minutes in a mix of 10% bleach and water. (March 2010)

Daylilies Unfazed by Sidewalk Salt

        “Sidewalk salt has a way of killing almost everything it touches,” writes Diane Selly of Minnesota’s Earthworks Gardens, and “with the extra snow and ice this year, you may be using more than usual.” Diane recommends switching to sand whenever possible, and adds that “some plants are salt tolerant and work great as edging plants along sidewalks or driveways: most daylilies, some hostas, some roses, some heucheras, and some ornamental grasses.” (Feb. 2010)

How Many Bulbs Do I Need for This Space?

        To easily answer that question, check out our new web-page, “Bulbs per Square Feet: For Pattern-Beds or Anywhere.” There you’ll find a few simple charts and formulas to help you figure out (a) the square footage of any planting area and (b) how many bulbs you’ll need to fill that space, be they crocus at 3 inches apart, lilies at 18 inches apart, or anything in between.
        But we didn’t stop there. Hoping to inspire you to try a bit of historic pattern-bedding, we added . . . (Oct. 2009)

Bulls-Eyes and Stars: Planting a Victorian Pattern Bed

        With antique images and advice from historic catalogs, our new web-page “Bulbs per Square Feet: For Pattern-Beds or Anywhere” will show you how to plant bulbs in true Victorian style. It’s easy and fun – and not just for Keukenhof or the lawns of Victorian mansions. Take a peek! (Oct. 2009)

Crocus in Lawns: Our Readers Teach Us How to Make it Work

        Last month we asked, “Have you ever had long-term success growing crocus in your lawn?” So many readers responded – thank you very much! – that we ended up with a dozen single-spaced pages of information to sift through trying to figure out why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. You can read our conclusions and a condensed version of what gardeners from across the country told us at oldhousegardens.com/Lawn-Crocus.asp. But beware: It may tempt you to plant a few crocus in your own lawn this fall. (Sept. 2009)

Divide Iris and Defeat Borers: Now is the Time!

        If your iris plantings have become over-crowded, or you want to share some with friends, now is the time to dig and divide them. “It’s easy, and fun,” our friend Ken Druse wrote recently at RealDirtRadio.com. “I dig up my iris rhizomes with a garden fork when they are dormant – now. Most of the soil will fall off the thick rhizome and reveal slender roots. I trim back the leaves into ‘fans’ and cut off the oldest section of rhizome (which will not bloom again). I dip the rhizome (holding it by the leaves) in a 10% solution of household chlorine bleach for about ten seconds. I set them out to drain on some newspaper, and then replant with the top of the rhizome just at the surface of the soil. Sun-baked rhizomes bloom best.”
        “Older varieties of bearded iris do not need dividing as often as newer ones,” Ken adds. To see the six heirlooms we’re offering, click here. To learn more about dividing iris and combating borers, listen to Ken’s July 3 podcast. (July 2009)

Book of the Month: The Truth About Organic Gardening

        Cool-headed, down to earth, and funny, Jeff Gillman is a hort science professor who’s trying to help gardeners make their own, educated decisions about gardening organically or not. Instead of polemics, he offers clear explanations backed up by plenty of facts and a broad context for weighing the pros and cons.
        Most of the book is devoted to an item-by-item discussion of all sorts of organic and synthetic choices for improving the soil and controlling weeds, insects, and other pests. For each option, Gilman includes its Environmental Impact Quotient, a number which quantifies (as best as possible) just what it says, and he ends his discussion of each with a handy three-part summary of Benefits, Drawbacks, and The Bottom Line.
        The Truth About Organic Gardening is currently ranked as Timber Press’s #11 best-selling book. Though I borrowed it from our local library, after reading it I was so impressed that I bought a copy for my staff to read and for future reference. I expect we’ll be using it a lot, and my guess is you would, too. (June 2009)

New Hope for Zone-Stretching Gardeners

        A brief note in the current April issue of Garden Gate magazine tells of a new development that could have North Dakota gardeners growing cannas year-round:
        “Scientists at Miami University and the University of Alabama have developed a spray called Freeze-Pruf which improves a plant’s cold tolerance by 2.2 to 9.4 degrees F, depending on the species. This solution works kind of like antifreeze by lowering the level at which a plant’s tissue is damaged by cold. . . . [It also] prevents ice crystals from forming in a way that damages plant cells. It’s been used successfully on palms, house plants, bananas, citrus plants, and a variety of flowers, . . . [and] it’s safe for vegetables, too. Spray Freeze-Pruf once in the fall, right before a freeze, to extend your tomato [or dahlia!] season. Or improve your temperature zone by about 200 miles for your favorite banana. . . . Developers expect to have Freeze-Pruf available for purchase within the year.” (Apr. 2009)

The Frugal Gardener: Multiply Your (Plant) Wealth

        Plants multiply, and when times are tough that’s an especially good thing. Our good customer Henrietta Gulish of Columbia City, Indiana, writes: “I save all the little corms that my glads produce and plant them. I also split my daffodils and daylilies, and now I have a lot more of them.”
        Iris, dahlias, cannas – lots of heirloom bulbs multiply vigorously. Not sure how to keep the tender ones through cold winters? You’ll find easy advice in the Planting and Care section of our website. (Mar. 2009)

Got Too Many Plastic Pots? Try This!

        If your pile of empty plastic pots and cell-packs is getting dangerously high because you hate to send them to the landfill, here’s an earth-friendly solution. Last fall our friends at Milwaukee’s Boerner Botanical Gardens and UW-Extension hosted a Plastic Pot Recycling Weekend. They invited local gardeners to bring in their empty plastic pots, cell-packs, garden trays, hanging baskets, fertilizer and mulch bags, greenhouse poly film, irrigation drip tape, and landscape edging to be shredded on site by a company that makes plastic lumber for decking and outdoor furniture.
        With the help of 50 Master Gardener volunteers, the event netted a staggering 21.5 tons of plastic! Another weekend is already in the works, and we’re hoping maybe you’ll be inspired to help get one started in your neck of the woods. To learn more, email patrice.peltier@ces.uwex.edu or call 414-525-5638. (Feb. 2009)

Don’t Pack Up Those Xmas Lights: Extreme Gardening in Minnesota

        Last winter when we wrote that hardy bulbs are rarely bothered by mid-winter thaws, our good customer Bonnie Dean of Minnesota offered a different perspective:
        “I live in Minneapolis. Occasionally we get a week of spring-like weather in February, once as high as 76 degrees. The bulbs are fooled – up they come! By the time the shoots are about 3 inches high, the usual teens to twenties temperatures come back and stay for weeks. In those situations, the plants do die. Or they end up blighted and stunted, taking years to recover, if at all.
        “But I found a way to circumvent this. Each year when I pack away the Christmas decorations, I make sure a few strings of the small lights are kept accessible. Then, when a prolonged mid-winter thaw is followed by even more hard, hard cold, I get out the lights. I plug them into the outside outlet and string them along the ground, around and between but not touching the emerging daffodils and tulips. (I am careful to remove dead leaves on the ground so there is nothing flammable near the lights.)
        “Then, using old pizza boxes or whatever cardboard I have on hand, I make long low ‘tents’ over the plants and lights. Over that, to keep out the wind and keep in the warmth, I put old blankets, worn out bathroom rugs, frayed towels, whatever – even old painting tarps. I keep the lights plugged in until the temperature approaches 32 degrees more consistently, as long as it takes.
        “The little bit of warmth from the bulbs keeps the soil just warm enough to keep the tender shoots alive. So, instead of shriveling in the hard winter, the shoots hold their own and even grow a bit. As a result, I have the most showy, prolific and early daffodils in the neighborhood. Some years, I have had the ONLY daffodils in the neighborhood!
        “Please share this idea with your readers. Here in Minnesota, even hardy bulbs can lose their zip when the weather fluctuates as much as it does these days.” (Dec. 2008)

If Javelinas Roam Your Garden, Plant Iris!

        Though we didn't include bearded iris on our recent list of animal-resistant bulbs, our good customer Louise Coulter of Payson, Arizona, emailed us to vouch for them:
        “In my area which is at 5,000 feet in Arizona’s northern section there is an animal called javelina or wild pig. With cloven hoofs, tusks, and large foraging families, it devastates unprotected bulbs in gardens – except for iris. Seems they can’t eat iris. So at thousands of homes here, where the yards are unfenced, iris naturalize and are ubiquitous. Seems the local nurseries obtained a limited color palette of them each year, so one can almost tell how old the bulbs are by their color. For years one could only get shades of variegated purple and a lovely pale salmon.” (Nov. 2008)

And You Thought You Had Animal Problems!

        On her fall order, our good customer Frances Webb of Tuolumne, California, added:
        “Your bulbs all bloomed well and were spectacularly beautiful. I lost one dahlia to a gang of thug quail, though. Charlie may want to visit.”
        Charlie is a very tough cat, but even he’s afraid of California’s quail gangs. Does anyone have any suggestions for controlling these terrifying thugs? (late Oct. 2008)

Do Animals Eat Your Bulbs? Try These!

        For a quick list of bulbs that animals rarely eat, click the “Animal Resistant” box at our easy Advanced Bulb Search.
        Daffodils and snowflakes (Leucojum) are usually completely animal-proof, and other bulbs that most animals won’t touch include alliums, Camassia, glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa), Colchicum, Crocus tommasinianus, winter aconite (Eranthis), crown imperials, snowdrops (Galanthus), hyacinths, Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides), Ipheion, grape hyacinths (Muscari), silver bells (Ornithogalum nutans), and Scilla siberica.
        Tulips and lilies, unfortunately, are a favorite on most animal menus. For tips on keeping them safe, see “Protecting from Animals” in our online Planting and Care. (Oct. 2008)

Easy Tips for Making Your Bulb Bouquets Last Longer

        We found the expert, down-to-earth advice in Garden to Vase: Growing and Using Your Own Cut Flowers so helpful that we asked author Linda Beutler if we could post excerpts from it at our website. She was glad to help (thank you, Linda!), so check out our new “Bulbs as Cut Flowers” page at oldhousegardens.com/bulbs-as-cut-flowers.asp . There you’ll find both cut-flower fundamentals and bulb-by-bulb specifics (“harvest peonies in the ‘soft marshmallow’ stage,” for example) for everything from Abyssinian glads to tulips. (Sept. 2008)

“So Natural an Act”: Words of Wisdom from a Garden Artist

        Robert Dash is not only a highly regarded artist but the creator of a remarkably personal and inventive garden on Long Island called Madoo. In an April 2006 article in Horticulture, Dash offered the following “best advice for fellow gardeners” and we liked it so much that we’ve been trying to squeeze it into our newsletter ever since.
        “To garden is so natural an act that you need only follow your instincts; have no fear and plunge right in.
        “Follow your first, not your second, idea.
        “Expect mistakes; mistakes are not errors if you learn from them.
        “Walk your plot in all kinds of light, all times of day, all kinds of weather, as often as possible – paying particular attention to slight changes of level and, above all, shadows.
        “Gardening, remember, at its best, is a form of autobiography, an art of the wrist, like painting, enacted on the earth.” (Jul. 2008)

Book of the Month: Garden to Vase

        If you like picking bouquets from your own garden — and who doesn't? — here’s a refreshingly down-to-earth guide full of great advice for getting all sorts of flowers to look better and last longer when cut. Did you know, for example, that your daffodils will stay in top shape much longer if you let them sit for twenty minutes in a bucket of water while their gooey sap drains out? And Garden to Vase goes way beyond technical advice. Author Linda Beutler writes as if she were your next-door neighbor, offering tips for collecting vases, using what you already grow, and making cut flowers an everyday pleasure in your home. She’s funny (did you catch her OHG-inspired Christmas carol in our December newsletter?), encouraging, irreverent, and real. “Don't be afraid to get this book dirty,” she writes, and we plan to do just that. (Jan. 2008)

Tip of the Month: Storing Glads in Egg Cartons

        Here’s a creative and earth-friendly suggestion for storing gladiolus bulbs from Lena Hart of Bayfield, WI, writing in Fine Gardening magazine:
        “I have discovered an excellent storage container [for glads]: an egg carton. I simply fill it with a dozen cleaned bulbs and write the variety name with a permanent marker in the corresponding spot on the cover, the way candies are labeled in a box. The individual cells keep mold and diseases from spreading, and the carton takes up just a little space on a basement shelf.” We’d only add that, if you're using styrofoam egg cartons, be sure your bulbs are good and dry before storing them.
       For more advice on winter storage, see our “Planting and Care”. (Nov. 2007)

Trim Your Flower Beds with a “Victorian Edge”

        Writing in the May 2007 Fine Gardening, Kate Feely recommends an edging technique that’s been used by generations of gardeners:
        “Your best bet is the natural or Victorian edge, also referred to as a Victorian trench. This is the most cost-effective edge available, requiring only time and elbow grease.
        “To attain this edge, use a sharp spade to make a vertical cut in the turf at the edge of a bed. Remove soil to a depth of 3 to 4 inches, at a 45-degree angle to the freshly cut vertical edge. With a rake, smooth the soil to slope toward the border plants; this creates a beveled cut. Smooth out the remaining soil. If need be, you could rent a bed trencher for a day or hire a local landscaping company to create a trench for you.
        “To maintain a clean line, the beds should be retrenched in spring or as needed. A Victorian edge will blend into any landscape and is as effective as any product for providing a barrier to grass and weeds and for containing mulch.” (Nov. 2007)

Save Water: July is Smart Irrigation Month

        July is a peak month for watering, so it’s a good time to think about using water wisely. Here are some tips from the Irrigation Association:
        “Water only when needed. Saturate root zones and let the soil dry. Watering too much and too often results in shallow roots, weed growth, disease and fungus.
        “Consider drip irrigation which allows water to seep into the soil, minimizing runoff and putting moisture at the root zone where plants can use it.
        “Water when the sun is low or down, winds are calm, and temperatures are cool to reduce evaporation.” Mid-day watering can waste up to 30%! (July 2007)

If You Mulch with Starbucks, Will Your Bulbs Bloom Sooner?

        Here’s a timely tip from our good customer Marianne Montgomery of Fort Wayne, IN:
        “Where I live there aren’t many trees so I mulch my newly planted bulbs with a mix of top soil, peat humus, and composted cow manure mixed with a balanced, slow-release fertilizer and Starbucks coffee grounds. Does everybody know that Starbucks bags their used coffee grounds into ten-pound bags and GIVES them away? They’ll even carry them out to the car for you!” (Oct. 2006)

Extra-Easy Refrigerator Forcing

        Here’s an almost unbelievably easy way to coax fragrant hyacinths into bloom on your winter windowsill. Though books and experts may tell you it’s impossible, our customers showed us that it really works. Simply refrigerate your bulbs DRY IN A PAPER BAG for at least ten weeks, then put them on water AT NORMAL ROOM TEMPERATURE to grow roots and leaves and bloom. Easiest of all are ‘Lady Derby’ and ‘L’Innocence’; other varieties may need more time in the fridge. We’ll send instructions with every order, or you can read them online right now. (2006-07 catalog)
       For more info on forcing, see the “Forcing Bulbs” page in our Newsletter Archives.

Patriotism Helps Protect Cemetery Bulbs

        Here’s a seasonal tip from our friend Marty Ross, a terrific garden writer from Kansas City and now Virginia:
        “One of my editors told me this trick for establishing bulbs around gravesites: When the daffodils come up, he pokes an American flag into the soil among them, and leaves it there for a couple of months. The mowers go around it.” (March 2006)

Link of the Month: Your Hardiness Zone Has Changed

        Have your winters seemed warmer lately? They probably are! An updated version of the USDA Hardiness Zones Map shows dramatic changes. Most gardeners will find they’re now in a warmer zone than on the old map, which hadn’t been updated since 1990. Developed by the National Arbor Day Foundation, the new map is based on 1990-2004 data from the same 5000 National Climatic Data Center stations used for the old map. You can see the changes and check out your new zone at arborday.org/media/zones.cfm. Scroll down for links to a full press release as well as a comparison map that morphs from old to new, showing the northward march of warmer temperatures.
        Global warming is nothing to celebrate, but what gardener hasn’t longed to grow some plants in his or her garden that weren’t quite hardy there? Now, perhaps, you can. (Jan. 2006)

Mid-Winter Thaw and Your Bulbs are Emerging? No Problem!

        Our usual high in mid-January is 30 degrees, but tomorrow it’s supposed to reach 50 here and some of our bulbs think it’s already spring. Are we concerned? Not at all, and if your bulb foliage emerges earlier than you think it should, you generally don’t need to worry either. Bulbs have been around for eons and they’re built for unpredictable weather. Even when it snows on tulips and other hardy bulbs in bloom, they’re rarely damaged, and emerging foliage is even tougher. So relax and have faith in Mother Nature. (Jan. 2006)

Tips for Storing Tender Bulbs (But Only If You Want To!)

        Not sure how to store your favorite tender bulbs this winter? Our best advice can always be found under “Planting and Care” at our website, where bulbs are listed in alphabetical order by season. Remember, though, that temperatures and humidity vary from region to region and even house to house, so you may have to experiment to find what works best for you.
        For dahlia storage recommendations from four other experts, check out http://dahlias.net/seabox/savem.htm at the Colorado Dahlia Society’s excellent website. And send us your best tips! We’re always eager to learn. (Nov. 2005)

Oops! How to Avoid Damaging Bulbs When Digging

        Here’s a tip by Diane Jeffery clipped from an old issue of Fine Gardening:
        “After digging up one lily bulb three times last spring while planting new perennials, I came up with an idea to prevent this in the future. I took a clear, liter-size, plastic pop bottle and cut the top and bottom off. Then I cut the tube into circles about an inch wide. Now, after planting bulbs, I sink one of the clear plastic circles into the ground in the spot where the bulbs are planted, pushing it down so that it’s level with the ground. Next spring, when I’m ready to plant or move my perennials, I’ll dig up the plastic ring rather than a lily bulb.” (Oct. 2005)

Got Frost Already? No Problem!

        The first killing frost does NOT mean you have to rush and get your bulbs planted. Soil cools down much more slowly than the air, and it’s usually weeks after the first killing frost before it’s ideal for planting most bulbs. Here on the border of zones 5 and 6, for example, we routinely plant until Thanksgiving, though we often have a killing frost in early October. So relax. You’ve got plenty of time. (Sept. 2005)

Counterpoint: When Is Animal Control Just Plain Cruel?

        A while ago we published some tips from our readers for protecting bulbs from animals. This response from our good customer Denise Cowie of the Philadelphia Inquirer made us think twice about some of those suggestions:
        “I was dismayed by the ‘helpful hints’ to get rid of ‘pests’ by using liberal amounts of cayenne pepper and, even worse, habanero peppers. If the gardener has to wear gloves to handle this stuff, and has to be warned not to get it anywhere near face or eyes, imagine what this does to innocent animals who have no intention of harm, but are just looking to do what nature dictates. I want to protect my bulbs as much as the next person, but some of these suggestions seem potentially cruel. A squirrel or cat that gets this stuff on its paws, then possibly into its eyes, would be in agony.” (Aug. 2005)

Brutal Weather Affects Your Bulbs, Too

        Much of the country has suffered through high heat this summer, with torrential rains in some areas and severe drought in others. All of this affects your bulbs, of course.
        DAHLIAS come originally from the highlands of Mexico, so they tend to slow down when the heat cranks up and then pick up the pace when it starts to cool down again. Some are more sensitive to heat than others, and if it’s bad enough they can die from it.
        CANNAS, on the other hand, thrive in heat, as long as they have plenty of water. Many Northern gardeners are enjoying cannas this summer like they haven’t seen in ages.
        GLADS may grow with kinked stems in extra-hot weather as they sag a bit during the day, unable to keep their cells full of water, and then grow upright at night. Thrips (tiny sucking insects) often proliferate when it’s hot, leaving glad leaves and blossoms pale or mottled, and even preventing buds from opening. Insecticidal soap is one mild control.
        Heat affects flower color, too. ‘Black Dragon’ and other lilies may be paler in high heat. Bicolor dahlias like ‘Deuil du Roi Albert’ may bloom as solid colors in extreme heat, while ‘Kaiser Wilhelm’ and others often turn rosier as temperatures cool.
        Ample rainfall is hard on dormant TULIPS, HYACINTHS, and other bulbs that are originally from parts of the world where summers are dry. So if your summer has been wet, expect a reduced display from them next spring. Summer drought, on the other hand, often leads to glorious spring bloom from bulbs, especially tulips. (Aug 2005)

Cool Yourself Off with These Must-Have Whites

        We can’t offer you a popsicle in this July heat, but white flowers can be almost as cooling, so here are some of our favorites for your consideration. White flowers are especially lovely in the early evening and diverse enough to devote a whole garden to, as Vita Sackville-West proved to the world at Sissinghurst. (July 2005)
        [Our Advanced Bulb Search will give you a complete list of all of our white flowers. How simple is that? Enjoy!]

They’re Also Great in Pots

       Most of our spring-planted bulbs are as easy and fun to grow in pots as they are in the garden.
       Pots on decks and paving can get very hot, and CANNAS like that. They’ll want lots of water, so try mixing hydro-gels into the soil or keeping their saucers filled with water. They’ll also get big, so plant accordingly.
       We often plant GLADS in black plastic nursery pots and then when they bloom we set them into the border wherever a fresh burst of color is needed.
       We do the same with TUBEROSES, and always advise growing them in pots in the North to give them maximum heat and sun. When they bloom, set pots wherever you can best enjoy their fragrance. In winter, simply store pots dry inside. Then when spring returns, bring them back outside to bloom again.
       We grow all of our ELEPHANT EARS in pots so we can soak them daily without wasting water and drenching their neighbors. ‘Illustris’ and ‘Fontanesii’ thrive when their saucers are constantly full of water, or grow them in glazed pots without drainage holes.
       RAIN LILIES are great in pots, too, even in the North. See our website for one Wisconsin gardener’s 100-year-long success story with the pink ones.
       DAHLIAS like cool soil and they grow big. For best success, keep both in mind when potting and placing them.
       Tempted? Got pots? To get started, order a few bulbs now! (2005-06 catalog)

Tips for Success: Earwig Control

        Our good customer Laura Baxter or Zillah, WA, writes:
        “One of the best and most organic ways of controlling earwigs is to get a cottage cheese or similar container, use a hole-punch to make holes just under the rim, put a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in the bottom, fill it a third of the way up with soy sauce, put the lid back on, and bury it up to the holes. The earwigs love this even more than flowers, and when they fall in they drown. It really works, and without poisoning the earth.” (2005-06 catalog)

One Customer’s Vibrant Bedding Plans

        Our good customer Diane McCue of Wethersfield, CT, wrote in response to the Victorian bedding plans we offered in our last newsletter:
        “My summer garden plans include a giant circle planted with tall cannas in the middle, then dwarf Mexican sunflowers, and then about 40 dark-leaved basil plants. Another circle will be peach-colored cannas in the middle with ribbon-grass bunches around the outer rim. Last year the giant circle was red and bronze ‘Roi Humbert’ canna in middle surrounded by a shorter canna, then some spider plants (cleome), and then large yellow marigolds. Every year it’s different!” (April 2005)

Get Inspired by a Real Victorian Pattern-Bed

        A hundred years ago and more, Victorian gardeners were enjoying many of the same, vibrant, spring-planted bulbs and annuals that are thrilling gardeners again today. So how about jazzing up your lawn this year with a Victorian-style island bed?
        For inspiration, take a look at a real 1880s pattern-bed. You could reproduce it in the middle of your own lawn with castor-beans in the center ringed by cannas (our heirlooms, of course!), then elephant ears, coleus, and finally dusty miller.
        Or experiment with other plants, old or new, of similar stature and flair, planting the tallest in the center and working outward in concentric circles until you finish with a low-growing annual for a colorful, clean edge. We’ve made some alternative plant suggestions online, but we’d love to hear yours, too. Or email us a photo of your results this summer! (March 2005)

Link of the Month: Finding Expert Local Advice

        A great local resource for gardeners is your Cooperative Extension Office. Every county has one; there’s even one in Manhattan! Most have a help line staffed by Master Gardeners who can identify plants and pests for you and answer many, many gardening questions. For the phone number of your county’s, go to the new www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/index.html and click on your state. (Dec. 2004)

Do Rodents Eat Your Crocus? Here’s a Solution!

        Joe Eck, writing in Horticulture (March/April 2004), says:
       “Crocuses . . . gladden hearts of gardeners and bees, who travel great distances to find their pollen-rich anthers, almost the first, for them, of the year. But Crocuses can be heartbreakers, since far less benign creatures than bees are partial to their corms. . . . For this reason, we learned years ago to plant all our crocuses in black plastic nursery cans [pots], each covered with a lid of hardware cloth, its corners bent down to clasp the edges. The cans are buried so that the rims and lids lie about two inches below the surface of the soil, and the crocus corms are planted deep, up to eight inches, which prevents them from splitting into tiny cormlets too small to flower. A two-gallon can will hold a dozen species crocus corms comfortably and still leave room for multiplying. Our oldest crocuses planted in this way have been in their cans for 15 years undisturbed, and still flower abundantly each spring. Also, the perennials that come later grow happily over and into the cans, seeming to cause the crocuses no discomfort at all.” (Oct. 2004)

Voles, Yellow Labs, and Bulb Safety

        Our good customer Faye Bailey Timm of Chesapeake, Virginia, writes:
        “Our problem with voles has been alleviated by planting EVERYTHING with Permatil (ground up slate). We also keep our yellow lab away from young flowers by posting two-foot-high green stakes by them. This provides a visual barrier until the plant is large enough to speak for itself. The dog’s presence has slowed down the rabbits, though now we have the dog issue instead!” (Oct 2004)

Too Much Heat? How Will It Affect Your Bulbs?

        The thermometer hit a record high of 85 here this past Sunday, 25 degrees above normal, and we bet you’ve had some sizzling days this spring, too.
        High heat affects bulbs in many ways. It rushes them into bloom, which is fun, but it rushes them right out of bloom, too. Hyacinths that might last a week or two in cooler temperatures topple in a couple of days. It may also keep bulbs from reaching their normal height, especially first-year bulbs with under-developed root systems. The rims of daffodil cups or tulip petals may wither to a crisp, and normally jewel-like colors may fade.
        If the heat persists too long, bulbs may think summer is coming and head into dormancy before they’ve fully recharged themselves. This is one reason the Dutch excel at bulb-growing. Spring there stays cool a long time, giving bulbs plenty of time to bulk up for the future.
        Though you can’t air-condition your garden, you can help your bulbs by keeping them well-watered when it gets too warm. And try not to worry. Bulbs have been dealing with erratic spring weather for millennia. (April 2004)

Protecting Your Plants from Armadillos

        Our creative customer Sharon Black of Paris, Texas, writes:
        “I finally found a solution for armadillos. In the spring, I place what we Southerners call hog wire on top of the prepared soil in my beds. This wire is constructed with 4 x 4 inch square openings and can be cut to fit with wire cutters. I place decorative flat stones over the edges of the wire. Most annuals do OK when one is planted in each square. For larger plants, I just skip a square. Once the plants grow a little, the wire can’t be seen or it can be covered with mulch right after planting. The ’dillos can’t break the wire that is between the plants and soon get frustrated and give up.” (April 2004)

Seasonal Tip: Fertilize Early, Before Bulb Foliage Emerges

        Like all plants, your bulbs will do better when their nutritional needs are met, and that usually means fertilizing them every now and then. If you didn’t scratch some fertilizer into the soil above your newly planted and EXISTING bulbs last fall, early spring is another good time to do it, before or as soon as the foliage emerges. Don’t wait too long or you’ll find it’s hard to keep fertilizer granules from lodging in the whorls of emerging leaves where they can burn the tender foliage. Balanced, slow-release fertilizers are best (aim for 8-8-8), but anything other than high-nitrogen lawn fertilizers will work fine. Fertilizing is especially helpful in revitalizing old, crowded clumps of daffodils that no longer bloom well. (Feb. 2004)

Record Cold – How Will It Affect Your Bulbs?

        Our condolences to our friends in the Northeast as they struggle with record cold! Yes, you can expect some losses, especially among newly-planted bulbs. The colder the weather is, the longer it lasts, and the barer the ground is, the deeper the soil will freeze. We’ve had bulbs survive 20 degrees below zero here for one night with a foot of snow blanketing them that years later were killed by temps that never got below zero but that simply lasted for an unusually long time.
        Though heart-breaking, winter losses open up new opportunities for the gardener. And hopefully you’ll lose less than you might expect. All of our tulips, lilies, crocus, and many of our diverse treasures, if well-established, are recommended for zone 5 with its ten-year-average lows of minus 20 F, and many will be fine in zone 4 — or even zone 3 at 40 below! Remember plants have been facing brutal, unpredictable weather for eons, and no matter what, spring WILL be beautiful. (Jan. 2004)

How Are Your Forced Bulbs Coming Along?

        While the bulbs you’re forcing are rooting, a temperature between 35 and 50 degrees is essential. If it’s not cold enough long enough, the bulbs can’t do the chemical reactions they need to do to grow and flower. You’ll know you’ve short-changed them if the flower stems are weirdly short, sometimes blooming while barely out of the bulb itself. But if the temperature is too low, rooting and growth can be VERY slow. A max-min or high-low thermometer (available from many good garden centers) is one easy solution.
        Also be careful that bulbs you’re forcing in soil stay evenly moist. Early on or when temperatures are low, bulbs often grow slowly and use little water. Later they often grow more quickly and pots can dry out quickly. So check your pots regularly and keep a finger on the soil. (Jan. 2004)
        For more info, see the Forcing sections of our Archives and Planting & Care.

From Our Customers: Protect Your Bulbs with Hot Peppers

        Cayenne pepper is a key ingredient in the pest-protection arsenal of our good customer and garden writer Ethel Fried of West Hartford, CT. She writes:
        “The major threat to bulbs in my garden is tree rats (otherwise known as squirrels). To discourage them I sprinkle the planting hole liberally with cayenne pepper. Then before planting I spray my bulbs with Ro-Pel, place them in the planting hole, cover them with an inch or two of soil, sprinkle on more cayenne, fill the hole, and sprinkle more on top. This turns my planting areas a ghastly orange color – but only temporarily – and it works.
        “When new shoots appear in the spring, I sprinkle them with cayenne a few times, too. Once they’ve sniffed or tasted the hot stuff, the squirrels tend to leave them alone.” Ethel also recommends “mixing squirrel-resistant bulbs like daffodils, alliums and Crocus tommasinianus in with the more susceptible tulips.”
        Pam Sayre of Dearborn, Michigan, says ground cayenne works better than flakes, and that it needs to be renewed after rains. But for especially valuable bulbs, Pam recommends even hotter stuff:
        “Get a pair of disposable or washable gloves to wear while you work with the very hot peppers such as habanero or the African peppers grown as ornamental plants. Take a ripe pepper and slice it into strips about one-fourth inch wide. Place your bulb or tuber in its hole, cover it completely with soil, add a pepper strip, and fill in the hole. Water and fertilize as usual. Do NOT touch your eyes or face until you have washed your hands thoroughly with soap and water, and wash or dispose of the gloves carefully. Once the plants are well established, you don’t need to renew the pepper unless you dig again in the same area or the critters get real hungry.” (Sept. 2003)

Your Tips for Squelching Garden Pests

        Wow! So many of you emailed us great suggestions for dealing with pests that we’ll share them a few at a time over the next few issues. Thanks to all!
        Debbie Caldwell of Farmingdale, Maine, has a most unusual suggestion: “Praying. To the individual spirits of the animals and the plants. This usually includes planting a little extra for the animals and other pests, while talking – praying – to them about it as you do it.” Debbie also recommends laying chicken wire flat, “not on posts,” all around your garden.
        Joan Lindsey of Falmouth, VA, offered a simple solution: “Get a cat – or several cats – and they will patrol the garden and keep mice, voles and rabbits out.”
        But Esther de Ipolyi of Houston, disagrees. “Cats,” she says, “are the most destructive force in my garden.” Esther keeps both cats and dogs away organically by sprinkling cayenne pepper around the edges of her garden. “I buy it in bulk cheaply at Middle Eastern grocery stores,” she says. She also recommends buying “long thin wooden skewers at the Asian markets – 100 for $1. Break them in half and stick them into the garden every few inches” where cats may be tempted to meddle. For smaller pests, Esther says possums are great. “I’m happy when they visit at night and eat the slugs! Bless them!” (Sept 2003)

Tips from Our Customers: Stretching Your Hardiness Zone

        Joss Moroney of Boston writes: “I use the brick wall of my house that faces south to plant the really tender stuff. The east wall works well, too. I wintered over ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ last winter by mistake, and I always winter over my glads. Planting things deeply helps, and I also mulch carefully. I get bags of leaves from my neighbors in the fall. At the solstice I get Christmas tree branches from a nearby vendor and fling those over the leaves to hold them in place. Then I pray for snow!”
        Kathy Hill of Dallas seconds that advice: “We’re in zone 8a but I have successfully grown several zone-9 plants. I plant them close to the house where they get heat from the bricks plus protection from the wind. But the major thing I do to stretch my zone is mulch, mulch, mulch. I add three inches or more of cedar mulch in the fall before it gets cold, and I believe that does more to stretch my zone than anything.”
        Bev Youngs of zone-4 Sault Ste. Marie, MI, praises a different mulch: “Our first winters here were pretty “normal” – about 100 inches of snow. The last two years have been pretty mild. This year, in fact, I’ve been shoveling snow onto bare spots in the garden because the snow cover is what protects those plants I have that are on the zone edges – crocosmia, for example, and even zone-6 ‘St. Brigid’ anemones. I’ve learned to pay close attention to cultural instructions, too. Healthy plants survive the cold better.” (Feb 2003)

Tips for Success: Too Dry?

        If you haven’t seen rain in way too long, one bit of good news is that bulbs are built for drought and most of yours should be fine. Some, like tulips and hyacinths, may even perform better than ever next spring, since they prefer dry summers – as in their ancestral homelands.
        Even tulips and hyacinths, though, need good moisture while in growth – from fall till six weeks after bloom – so be sure they get that or their performance will suffer. Newly-planted bulbs are especially vulnerable.
        Cannas and elephant ears like LOTS of water. In our trial gardens here we build a ring of soil around each plant and fill it with water every day or two, or we set pots of them in saucers kept full of water. Regular fertilizing helps these heavy feeders, too. (Sept. 2002)

Stop the Flop: 5-Second Staking

        To keep a wayward hyacinth upright, cut a thin bamboo stake about 12 inches long and run it along the stem from the top down into the soil a few inches (not so deep that you hit the bulb). The florets will clasp the stake, and you’re done! (2002-03 catalog)

Keeping Cannas in Pots Well-Watered with Less Work

        Our good customer Melissa Oldsberg of Chaska, MN, writes:
        “I like to plant my cannas in large pots on the deck, but they like a lot of water and can dry out quickly there. So I use ‘rain gel’ granules in my pots. They’re a potassium-based, ‘super-absorbent polymer’ (which works much better than the sodium-based kind). Only one small teaspoon of granules will easily keep a pot of cannas moist for 7-10 days.” (2000-01 catalog)

Bone Shavings & Hartshorn: Victorian Tips on Forcing

        In his 1863 Flowers for the Parlor and Garden, popular Victorian garden writer E. S. Rand gave some unusual tips for forcing hyacinths:
       “If small bits of powdered charcoal be mixed with the earth, it imparts great depth and brilliancy of color to the flowers, and a dark, rich green to the foliage. Bone shavings or horn scrapings assist a full development of foliage and flower. If the plants are watered once a fort-night with a very weak solution of glue, or a few drops of hartshorn added to the water, the same effect with be produced.” (1999-2000 catalog)

Re-blooming Hyacinths After Forcing Them

        “Can I plant my hyacinths in my garden after I force them indoors?” That’s a question we’re often asked. Here’s one testimonial from our long-time customer Bonnie Jean Malcolm of Essex, Massachusetts, writing of gardening at her former home in the San Bernardino Mountains of California:
       “I force my hyacinths in hyacinth jars. After they stop blooming, I take them out of the water and lay them on a paper bag and let them dry. . . . In the fall, I plant them outside with plant food (whatever kind I have). . . . I had read that one should just throw away forced bulbs, as they never did well, but I couldn’t bear to throw away such lovely bulbs. . . . Mine settled in and multiplied and I got good blooms.” (1999-2000 catalog)

To Hide Yellowing Bulb Foliage, Tasha Tudor Recommends “Enthusiastic Fillers”

        Tasha Tudor isn’t just the beloved author and illustrator of 1 is One, Corgiville Fair and scores of other children’s books, she’s also an avid gardener with a special love for heirloom flowers – including our bulbs! In the April 1998 issue of Horticulture magazine, Tovah Martin shares some of Tasha’s advice for making yellowing bulb foliage virtually disappear:
        “Spring arrives late in Tasha Tudor’s New England garden, but when it comes, it arrives with an onslaught of bulbs. . . . However, the bulbs don’t last forever . . . , so Tasha plans ahead for summer.
        “Even before the foliage of the bulbs . . . begins to turn brown, an underplanting is gearing up to mount the stage and steal the show. Of course, Tasha will insist that she doesn’t underplant specifically to hide the dying bulb foliage. The forget-me-nots and Johnny-jump-ups . . . now appear in profusion of their own accord. But at one time, they were certainly planted to take up the tempo as the bulbs fade.
        “Meanwhile, other enthusiastic fillers take full advantage of Tasha’s hospitality. Feverfew seeds in wherever it finds open ground. Annuals are also tucked here and there in promising nooks and crannies. Sweet alyssum is Tasha’s favorite and most frequently employed annual for the purpose, slipped into the soil wherever it can fill a gap. Later the dianthus flushes out; valerian (Valeriana officinalis) adds flowers, and lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) adds leaves. By June, you would never guess that the garden was once running rampant with narcissus and that beneath the lush garden, bulbs are slowly slipping away.” (1999-2000 catalog)

Garden Wisdom from E. A. Bowles

        One of the greatest bulb connoisseurs of the twentieth century, E. A. Bowles was also an insightful gardener. In his 1914 My Garden in Spring, he writes:
       “Right letting alone and right meddling are the beginning and the ending of good gardening, and . . . the simplest effects are just precisely those which defy money and ambition and effort and everything but tireless patience, attention, and knowledge bought at first hand with pain.” (1998-99 catalog)

Garden Wisdom from Gertrude Jekyll

        Gertrude Jekyll may have been the most influential gardener of the twentieth century. Here’s one of her simple planting techniques that I’ve found very helpful in my own gardening, as explained in Judith Tankard and Martin Wood’s fine Gertrude Jekyll at Munstead Wood:
        “One of the secrets of the border’s success [at Jekyll’s home] lay in the style of planting. All her borders were habitually planted in ‘long rather than block-shaped patches’ because, as she observed, ‘a thin long planting does not leave an unsightly empty space when the flowers are done’ [or the bulbs’ foliage is yellowing], especially if the borders were built up in layers, using long narrow-shaped drifts that interlocked and overlapped one another.” (1998-99 catalog)

1927 Advice: What to Plant with Your Bulbs

        In his popular 1927 Book of Bulbs, F.F. Rockwell offered four lists of flowers to grow with bulbs:
        Annuals to sow between bulbs in early spring: Shirley poppies, California poppies, annual candytuft, godetia (Clarkia), larkspur, lobelia, annual phlox (P. drummondii), moss rose (Portulaca), and Schizanthus.
       Plants to set out between bulbs in spring: alyssum, pansies, English daisies, lobelia, annual candytuft, wallflowers, Siberian wallflowers, and forget-me-nots (Myosotis alpestris)
        Hardy ground-cover plants to plant with bulbs: rockcress (Arabis), aubretia, basket-of-gold (Aurinia), snow-in-summer (Cerastium), dwarf or creeping Gypsophila, creeping mint, and mossy saxifrage.
        Plants to use after removing bulbs: China asters, tuberous and wax begonias (in partial shade), cannas, godetia (Clarkia), geraniums, heliotrope, lupines, marigolds, snapdragons, verbenas, zinnias, and violas. (1996 catalog)

Companion Plants for Spring-Blooming Bulbs

        Spring can be even more beautiful when you combine your bulbs with some of these old favorites, listed roughly in the order of their flowering:
        Hellebores, aubretia, basket-of-gold, Dutchman’s breeches, bergenia, Virginia bluebells, primroses, cowslips, creeping or moss phlox, bleeding-heart, honesty, forget-me-nots, English daisies, candytuft, woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata), fringed bleeding-heart, lemon lily (Hemerocallis flava), spiderwort, Jacob’s ladder, and dame’s or sweet rocket – for a start! (1995 catalog)

For articles on other topics, see our main Newsletter Archives page.