Flowering bulbs brighten mid-winter gloom

By Staff
Steve Strong
Oct. 15, 2003
The past few days of misty rain are a reminder that the gloom of winter is not far away, when most of our landscape color has faded for the season.
There are a few weeks during that time where even the pansies stop blooming for a while, as cloudy days replace the sunny ones, and venturing outdoors seems downright depressing.
Southern gardeners need not be dismayed by the winter rainy season; instead, take heart in the many options flowering bulbs offer for adding color to the garden from January through the end of spring.
Bulbs such as tulip, daffodil, hyacinth, crocus and iris are favorite spring-bloomers that should be planted in Central Mississippi around mid-December, when the soil temperature is about 40-45 degrees Fahrenheit.
Tulips and a few others like anemones are treated as an annual this far south. It's easier to replant them each year than waste time waiting for them again in repeat years (skip the headache of trying to dig them up and chill them again).
Spring bulbs need their foliage to make food energy from sunlight, energy which forms the flower buds to bloom next year warm spring days kill back the leaves too fast for the plants to build up enough "flower-power," and so they are reduced to one-shot bloomers.
Winter bloomers require a high number of chilling hours below 45 degrees to help set the flower buds (programming the bulbs to think it has been a long, cold winter).
Tulips, daffodils, and others can be purchased now from garden centers and mail order companies, and placed in the refrigerator for six to eight weeks before the planting dates. The earlier the bloom time, the sooner the bulbs should be chilled, to get them in the ground in time to grow.
Bed preparation is not difficult, although bulbs perform best when planted in a well-drained soil with adequate organic matter that allows good air and water flow. Soils may be prepared to a depth of 9 to 12 inches, with a few inches of organic amendment (compost, soil conditioner) tilled in with a little sprinkle of lime. Bone meal can also be sprinkled in the bottom of planting holes to provide an extra blooming-boost of available phosphate.
A complete fertilizer blend can be broadcast after planting (5-10-10, 8-8-8), or liquid feeds can also be used.
Remember the bulbs are basically dormant until they begin to sprout, so they don't need much in the way of fertilizers until after the flower cycle begins. Spring bulbs can be fed after blooming in early spring, when summer bulbs like daylily and canna lily can also be fertilized.
Keep in mind that too much nitrogen produces more leaves than flowers, so do not be tempted to overfeed bulb crops. Division of the clumps every few years is the primary maintenance chore when growing perennial bulbs.
Remember that certain bulbs will not receive enough naturally cold weather to re-bloom as a perennial, even if the leaves do grow back each spring (large yellow King Alfred-type daffodils are a prime example rip 'em out like an annual and move on.
Contact your county Extension office for more information on bulb varieties adapted to Southern gardens, or visit the MSU Web site at www.msucares.com.
And don't forget the Fall Garden and Flower Fest in Crystal Springs this Friday and Saturday, October 17 and 18. Come on out and see what's new. I know it'll probably keep raining. Unlike tulips in the Mississippi springtime, you're not going to melt.