Bulbs

Gardeners Wrap Up the Gardening Season

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Okay, gardeners. We can see the finish line. It’s been a busy gardening season, but we are almost ready to wrap things up for the year. Almost.

October and November are the wrap it up, clean it up months. Now’s the time to give the last of your withering vegetable plants the heave-ho.  

I know there is still one tomato out there, but it’s a brick. Let it go. Toss healthy plants on the compost pile and bag and trash the rest.  

Are you one of those garden daredevils who cheat the season with late plantings of cool weather crops? Good for you. Just be ready with frost protection such as floating row covers or a deep layer of straw.

vegetable plant with a row cover
Floating row covers extend the growing season. Photo: UME/HGIC

Cut back any perennials that had serious disease or insect problems, but leave the rest standing to provide food and shelter for birds and overwintering pollinators and beneficial insects.  

Mums have sensitive crowns – the part where the roots and stems meet– so treat them gently. After their fall show, leave them standing to increase their chances of coming back. Not all hardy mums are hardy. 

Use leaves as mulch around trees and shrubs and in your vegetable and flower beds. Use a fine layer on your lawn and toss the rest in your compost pile. 

Collect fallen branches to start a brush pile for wildlife. Put larger pieces on the bottom and smaller ones on the top to create cover and resting places for creatures great and small. 

Yes, you can still sneak in some bulbs. Remember to plant them three times as deep as they are wide. In other words, a 1-inch daffodil bulb goes into a 3-inch hole.  

You can plant trees and shrubs until the ground is frozen, too. Earlier is better to give roots a chance to get established. Just make sure you water them deeply every week. 

red leaves on a tree
There’s still time to plant trees such as this native black gum (Nyssa sylvatica) with brilliant fall color. Photo: T. David Sydnor, Bugwood

Here’s a fact sheet that tells you how to plant trees and shrubs and lists plants that are best planted in the spring. 

Also deep water any tree or shrub you planted earlier this year to send them into the winter well-hydrated. Water until we get a ground-penetrating frost, usually around Thanksgiving.   

Water any newly planted trees and shrubs to help them overwinter. Photo: M. Talabac, UME

Want a live Christmas tree? Save yourself some colorful language by digging the planting hole now before the ground freezes. Drop in a few unopened bags of mulch to avoid losing Bowser or any holiday guests in there. 

We’re almost to the cuddle up with cocoa season. Taking care of these few last-minute garden tasks will let us smile and sigh under the afghan, reveling in a job well done.  

By Annette Cormany, Principal Agent Associate and Master Gardener Coordinator, Washington County, University of Maryland Extension.

This article was previously published by Herald-Mail Media. Read more by Annette.

Bulbs Deliver a Brilliant Spring

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Spring bulbs define possibility. Dive into a binful at your local garden center and hold one in your hand. It’s all in there – roots, leaves, stems, and flowers – all the razzle-dazzle of spring in one neat package.   

And now’s the time to plant. So get thee to a nursery or online store and start dreaming of a brilliant spring.

Pick big, firm bulbs. Avoid ones with soft or dark spots. Store them in a cool, dark place with good air circulation until you can plant them by October’s end. 

purple flowers of ornamental onions in bloom
Alliums’ spheres add drama to the spring garden. Photo:  Christa Carignan, UME

There are dozens of bulbs to choose from with bloom times from February to May. Snowdrops start the season, popping their dainty blossoms through the snow. Crocus follow and are often snow-dusted as well.  

Then comes an avalanche of other bulbs: daffodils, hyacinth, tulips, and more. Less well-known but equally rewarding are camassia, scilla, starflower, winter aconite, cyclamen, chionodoxa and allium.  Even the names are delicious.

tulips in a variety of colors
Grand sweeps of tulips are a sure sign of spring. Photo: Judy Kofoet

How do you decide what to plant? If your garden is graced by deer or squirrels, pick bulbs they don’t like such as daffodils, hyacinth, allium, fritillaria, and scilla.   

And remember that drifts of bulbs look best. So instead of a few bulbs, plant a dozen or more in a sweep. Go for the ooh la. 

Bulbs’ leaves need to die back naturally since the foliage feeds the bulbs for next year, so keep that in mind when choosing a planting site. Hide the fading foliage by mixing bulbs with perennials that are already filling out.  

Siberian iris’s fountain of foliage is ideal camouflage as are the unfurling leaves of ferns or hostas.  Practice pairing, planting bulbs to come up through a froth of white candytuft or creeping phlox.  

Think outside the box and use bulbs anywhere you want a splash of color. Combine them with low groundcovers under trees. Naturalize bulbs on a hill or in a woodland. Tuck them into a rock garden or container.    

yellow daffodil flower
Daffodils are a great deer-resistant bulb. Photo: Joan Willoughby

What do bulbs need? Plenty of sun, soil that drains well, and reasonably rich soil. To our clay and rocks, add compost and bulb fertilizer and loosen the planting area to a depth of 6 inches or so.   

Then plant your bulbs about 3 times their width deep. A one-inch bulb goes three inches deep while a two-inch bulbs goes six inches down. Dig the hole with a trowel and pop in your bulb, pointy end up. 

Space bulbs according to the guidelines on their packaging. Top with soil, water, and mulch.  

Aftercare of bulbs is easy. Dig and divide them every few years either after the foliage dies back – when they’re easiest to find – or in the fall if you’ve cleverly marked their location.

Can you garden without bulbs? Yes, but why would you? They are just the ticket for jazzing up your garden beds.  

By Annette Cormany, Principal Agent Associate and Master Gardener Coordinator, Washington County, University of Maryland Extension.

This article was previously published by Herald-Mail Media. Read more by Annette.

Q&A: Where Can I Squeeze In Spring Bulbs?

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Glory-of-the-Snow bulbs flowering in a lawn in late March. Photo: M. Talabac

Q:  I want to add spring bulbs to my garden but have limited space given how many mature perennials and shrubs are already growing there. Can I squeeze them in somewhere else?

A:  Autumn is bulb-planting season for all of those spring-flowering jewels like tulip, daffodil, crocus, aconite, hyacinth, and snowdrops, and fortunately they don’t take up nearly as much space as your typical perennial in terms of the planting site. I would not dig into the root system of an established perennial or shrub – too risky for causing damage that might result in dieback or reduced overwintering success – but you can certainly fit them into spaces between. You probably don’t want too many under the canopy of a shrub. Depending on how early it leafs out, the shrub could block needed sun and rainwater from reaching the bulbs below, but around its perimeter should be fine.

Good companions for early-flowering bulbs are late-sprouting perennials, so that by the time the bulbs are looking ragged and losing foliage for summer dormancy, the perennial is hiding it with fresh foliage.

One creative option is to scatter some of the minor bulbs in your lawn, if you won’t be walking on that area too often and compacting soil or crushing foliage, and if you don’t need to start mowing soon after blooms begin. Candidates include Crocus, Glory-of-the-Snow (Chionodoxa), Siberian Squill (Scilla siberica), Winter Aconite (Eranthis), Reticulated Iris (Iris reticulata), and Snowdrops (Galanthus). Be advised, though, that a few of these species might be prone to naturalizing outside of your lawn, so use caution around woodlands and parks.

Native alternatives with bulb-like underground structures include Spring Beauty (Claytonia), Squirrel-corn (Dicentra canadensis), and Dutchman’s-Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), though the Claytonia is the only one that may stay short enough to be mown-over high and whose foliage blends-in well with the grass. Many of our native ephemeral wildflowers – early-season bloomers that go fully dormant come summer – are unfortunately harder to find for purchase.

Growing bulbs in containers would be your other option, but this can impact winter hardiness since the bulb’s root system is fully above-ground, not benefitting from the insulation of being planted in the earth. Potting mix also dries out faster than in-ground soil, so it might be challenging to make sure dormant bulbs in pots don’t get too dry while also not accidentally over-watering them. If the container is large enough, you can layer two or three tiers of bulbs at different depths so they bloom in succession, or use bulbs planted below annuals or shallow-rooted perennials to provide summer color. Bulbs are planted at different depths depending on the species, though, so take note of planting instructions when you select which to purchase and decide where to plant.

By Miri Talabac, Horticulturist, University of Maryland Extension Home & Garden Information Center. Miri writes the Garden Q&A for The Baltimore Sun and Washington Gardener Magazine. Read more by Miri.

Have a plant or insect question? The University of Maryland Extension has answers! Send your questions and photos to Ask Extension. Our horticulturists are available to answer your questions online, year-round.

Delightful Daffodils

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Dutch Master Daffodil
‘Dutch Master’ Daffodils in Bloom. Photo: Rachel J. Rhodes

The signs of spring are everywhere from the sounds of spring peepers in the woods to the red hues of maple buds to the yellow blooms of daffodils. The tidbits of spring trickle in like the mist of early morning fog slowly then all at once. As if waking up from a long winter’s nap, you see buds on trees swell or the tiny green stems of bulbs that gently peak through the mulch. The next day, you hear the sounds of spring peepers. Then, all at once, the baby pink blooms of cherry trees are floating like confetti in a ticker-tape parade while crocus shine like amethyst and daffodils glitter like drops of gold in flowerbeds and all of a sudden, spring is here.

daffodils near the woods
Photo: Rachel J. Rhodes

As the daffodils I planted last fall leisurely woke from their long winter’s nap, I began to think about how beautiful they would be in a few weeks with their golden yellow cups and their egg yolk petals, my mind wandered to their name “Daffodil.” When I became a mother, names and the meanings behind them captivated me. As a parent, when you name your child you research everything: the meaning behind a name, where it originated from, the many spellings, and so forth. When the time came to hold my sons for the first time, I was completely and utterly prepared with names that would suit them. The names that would help define them and would help guide them as they traversed through our uncertain world. Did I put too much
weight on a name? Maybe.

As Juliet said to Romeo, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” There is a great name debate between Daffodils, Narcissus, and Jonquil. Daffodil refers to the common name for the spring-flowering bulbs in the genus Narcissus. Jonquil is the common name for Narcissus jonquilla within the Narcissus genus. To avoid any ambiguity, you can never go wrong by calling these flowers by their genus name Narcissus.

According to the American Daffodil Society, there are between “40 to 200 different daffodil species, subspecies or varieties of species and over 32,000 registered cultivars (named hybrids) divided among the thirteen divisions of the official classification system.” Daffodils range from the tried and true yellow trumpet to ones with double flowers and clustered flowers, to small cups, and ones with open cups. Flower colors come in an array of white to yellow to orange. There are even some with splashes of pink.

daffodil in bloom
Photo: Rachel J. Rhodes

Daffodils are hardy spring-flowering perennial bulbs that should return year after year. During blooming, they require generous amounts of water. After blooming, always deadhead the spent flowers. Even though daffodil foliage can get unruly, allow the leaves to remain for at least six weeks. You will see people braid or tie the leaves together with rubber bands. This timely endeavor results in the leaves manufacturing smaller amounts of food for the bulb, which in turn results in smaller blooms the following year. After the allotted six weeks have passed, you may remove the leaves.

For Maryland’s hardiness zones, plant daffodils in the fall (from late September to late November). The soil needs to be cool but the ground should still be workable and not frozen. Picking out bulbs is just like picking out the perfect apple. You want a bulb that is firm without blemishes. Bulbs should never be soft, damaged or moldy.

Daffodils are an easy dependable flower that is ideal for the beginning gardener. Don’t forget to pick some up in the fall for your garden!

By Rachel J. Rhodes, Master Gardener Coordinator, Queen Anne’s County, Maryland, University of Maryland Extension. Follow the Queen Anne’s County Master Gardeners on Facebook. Visit the UME Master Gardener webpage to find Master Gardener events and services in your county/city.

February Tips and Tasks

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Houseplants by window

  • Day length is increasing and the sunlight is more intense. Houseplants will begin to show signs of new growth. It is time to start fertilizing your indoor plants.
  • Leaf yellowing and leaf drop from houseplants can be a result of low light conditions combined with overwatering. Spider mites are another possible cause.
  • Spring bulbs can still be planted if the ground is not frozen. Inspect the bulbs and plant only the solid, healthy ones as bulbs can deteriorate when stored.  They may still bloom this year but will not be as vigorous. Do not cut back the green foliage that emerges, let it die back naturally.
  • Keep garden beds covered with shredded leaves, straw, or bark mulch to minimize the risk of soil erosion and nutrient run-off.
  • The Maryland Lawn Fertilizer Law prohibits anyone from using fertilizer products to melt ice and snow on steps, sidewalks or driveways.

Find more February Tips and Tasks on the HGIC website.