Spring Planted Bulbs for Summer Bloom

Gloriosa 'Rothschildiana' courtesy of Brent and Beck's Bulbs

The last planting season of the year is late fall when gardeners are racing to get in all the crocus, daffodil, scilla, snowdrop and tulip bulbs in the ground so they can look forward to an early spring full of color. But fall is not the only bulb planting season. There is a whole array of bulbs that need to be planted in the spring to bloom gloriously and often exotically in the summer.

Many summer blooming bulbs are native to tropical places that have a long hot growing season. Many will be happy in a container, while others are more commonly grown in the ground, but for the most part they are not winter hardy in our climate and cannot overwinter outside.

I have just ordered a Gloriosa ‘Rothschildiana’ from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs. Sometimes called a climbing lily, this unusual lily will grow to a height of about six feet and its tendrils need some kind of trellis or support to latch on to. The crimson flower itself has strongly reflexed slim petals, curving back from a green center with long graceful ‘eyelash’ pistils and stamens. Some gardeners have described this vining plant as looking as if it is covered with butterflies when it is in bloom mid to late summer.

Rothschildiana can be grown in a container or in well drained soil. It needs full sun, and since it is a tropical plant it is wise to place it where it will not only get bright sunlight, but where heat will collect and it will be protected from wind. The vital thing to remember with any container planting is that it must be kept watered, probably every single day, and they must get regular fertilization, often every other week with a half strength solution.

Crocosmia, also known as montbretia or sword lily grows from corms that are native to South Africa. Lucifer is the variety most seen in our area because it is hardy to zone 5 or minus 10 degrees. However, in zone 5 it should be heavily mulched for the winter. Lucifer is a dramatic plant with its strappy, iris-like foliage, and brilliant scarlet flowers on two to three foot arching stems. They are not only stunning in the garden, they work well as cut flowers and have a long life in a vase. New corms may take two years to bloom, but a large clump is a magnificent sight. It is a plant that gets lots of attention on the Bridge of Flowers.

Crocosmia 'Lucifer'

Crocosmia and the Gloriosa lily are both pest resistant. Rodents will not turn these bulbs and corms into lunch.

I love Oriental lilies with their recurved petals, but all lilies are beautiful. Gaining in popularity are what some are calling pot lilies, compact plants that do well in a container. B&D Lilies offer several of these smaller lilies including After Eight, a fragrant garnet-red lily with white banding that resembles some of the Stargazer lilies. It only grows to about 18 inches tall. B&D recommends at least a gallon potting soil for each bulb and warns that potting soils with fertilizer included must be avoided. Too much nitrogen will not help lilies and can hinder blooming. They also recommend using a rose fertilizer during the growing season, which is to say a fertilizer that has more phosphorous than nitrogen or potassium.

Rodolpha is pure white lily, similar to the magnificent Casa Blanca, but it will only grow to two feet, so it will be happy in a container, or in the front of a garden border.

Lilies love the sun, but they are hardy to zone 4 so they have no trouble coming through our winters. Even here in Heath.

Caladium 'White Queen' courtesy of Brent and Becky's Bulbs

Of course not all bulbs or corms or tubers produce beautiful flowers. Caladiums are big showy foliage plants that like the shade. Caladium foliage is prized because of its unusual colors and patterns. Moonlight is nearly white, lighting up a shady spot. White Queen is equally pale but vividly veined in red. Candididum Sr. has white leaves but the veins are green. Some foliage is wine red with dark green margins, some is green splotched with red. Not many plants can boast of foliage that comes in a full range of white, green, red and pink. A selection of cultivars will be available at local garden centers in the spring, but catalogs like Brent and Becky’s Bulbs will give a larger selection of bulbs that you can start early indoors.

I was interested that although caladiums like cool shade, they need warm soil to begin growing. Gardeners are advised to start them indoors in small pots that can be kept on a heat mat.

Caladiums do well in containers by themselves, or in a mixed planting with other annuals or perennials. They are also useful in cut flower arrangements, their handsome foliage showing off blooms to best advantage.

There are other familiar summer blooming bulbs and tubers. The Swan Island Dahlias catalog give a hint of the size and variety of dahlias. There are dwarf plants and small blossoms and large plants that will need staking to support stems that carry many blossoms. Dahlias are wonderful because the more they are cut for bouquets, the more they will bloom. Sun and well drained soil are the main requirements. Like lilies, dahlias do not like fertilizer with a lot of nitrogen.

Summer blooming bulbs can add color to your sunny garden and to your shade garden. The only difficulty is making choices among the hundreds of cultivars available.

Between the Rows  January 21, 2012

Fall Planting Season

'Alma Potchke' aster

The gardening year really has two planting seasons, spring and fall.

Spring planting season is all a-rush with excitement because you can finally get your hands in the dirt, carefully chosen plants are arriving and a casual browse through the local nurseries has sent you home with a truckload of new plants and plans. And then there is the bliss of working beneath an ever warmer and brighter sun.

Fall planting season tends to be less exuberant, with thoughts arising as perennials are cut back, and dead annuals pulled out and tossed on the compost pile. Some plants will need to be divided which means new locations in the planting scheme of things. Some locations will demand an entirely new plant. It’s time to make a final pass through the local nursery to see what might be on season-end sale. Nursery plants at this time of the year may not look as vital and lush as they did in the spring, but that does not mean that once their roots are loosened and in the ground they will not revive and greet the new spring with great energy and beauty.

Fall planting is always at least a small part of fall clean-up because generally speaking, perennials need dividing every three or four years. Dividing a perennial clump gives you a chance to pull out any weeds that have inveigled their way in, and to think about potential new sites for the plant. It also gives you a chance to think about who else might enjoy or benefit from the divisions.

Years ago I interviewed a wonderful woman who had a special holding bed for divisions. Then, whenever someone admired her garden or a specific plant, she could take them to that bed and send them away with a generously sized healthy plant.  Having a holding bed for some divisions means you won’t have to disturb your own garden when the generous impulse hits – as it inevitably does.

I don’t have a permanent holding bed even though I keep promising myself that I will make one, but I have planted fall divisions in an empty vegetable bed. In the spring I dig them, and pot them up for the Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale. Recently I read that divisions that go directly into pots and then sunk in the garden for the winter, do even better when they are unpotted in a new garden. I am going to try that.

Of course planting techniques are no different spring or fall. If you are planting a pot bound nursery plant, make sure that you loosen all the roots. You do not need to be gentle. You can even drag a cultivator claw through the root ball. Those disturbed roots will finally be able to breathe and grow new roots that can reach into new soil.

The planting hole should be generous with a good helping of compost added. Planting and transplanting are always opportunities to enrich the soil. Make sure the roots are spread out and that they are situated so that the plant is neither too deep, or too high above the soil level. Then give a soaking watering. One of the advantages of fall planting is the gentler sun, cooler temperatures and adequate rainfall.

If the rains do not arrive, as we all know they should, keep any new plant well watered until winter temperatures begin to freeze the ground.

Fall is an excellent time to plant container grown or balled-and-burlapped trees and shrubs. You might find a bargain at the nursery, but make sure to loosen the burlap. Some trees will come with wire to hold the roots together. This heavy wire will strangle the roots and kill the plant. Make sure to remove wire if it is present.

Soil temperatures at this season are warmer than in the spring, and soil is apt to be less waterlogged making it easier for roots to grow into their new home. A young tree with thin bark will benefit from having its trunk wrapped once the ground freezes. That wrapping will need to be removed in March.

Mulch can be applied to any plant once the ground is frozen. This will help prevent freezing, thawing and heaving.

With a little luck vegetable gardens can still be producing cool weather crops like kale, Brussels spouts and beets, but October is also time to plant garlic in the vegetable garden. I chose the eight biggest bulbs from this year’s crop to plant before the end of the month.

I enjoy cleaning out the planting bed, adding some compost and then planting single big cloves about four inches deep, and eight inches apart. Then I mulch well  using a deep layer of straw. It is a happy day in the spring when those grassy garlic shoots make their way through the mulch.

Spring blooming bulbs can be planted all through October. What would you choose, early bloomers like snowdrops and scillas or sunny daffodils? All of these will multiply wonderfully year after year. For me the easiest way to plant bulbs is to dig a hole that will accommodate several bulbs for a good clump.

An afternoon spent under the autumnal sun with a bag of bulbs and bulb fertilizer will give you years of early spring pleasure.

Between the Rows   October 1, 2011

Bloom Day August 2011

My husband was amused to wake up yesterday morning and find me – and the gray cat – out in the garden weeding in between drizzly sprinkles of rain. I have been trying to weed for weeks, but somehow there hasn’t been time. And there wasn’t much time yesterday either, but you can get an idea of what is blooming right now: Miss Lingaard phlox hasn’t quite given up, a pink phlox is in full flower, as is Blue Paradise phlox in the next bed along with a deep blue aconitum. The pink echinacea, an airy Russian sage, artemesia lactiflora, coral bells, and a small allium that was all but lost in the weeds are in bloom.

Thomas Affleck

A few roses are still in bloom, most notably ‘Thomas Affleck’ which I pass dozens of  times a day as I go in and out of the house.

Meidiland red rose

This Meidiland red rose is the rose I used on the cover of my book, The Roses at the End of the Road. Pink Grootendorst, Carefree Beauty, the Knockout double red roses, and the white rugosas are still putting out blossoms.

Roses and lilies are a standard combo. These Stargazer lilies are hardly more than a foot high this year. What happened? I think they need more sun; they are growing next to and in the shade of a cotinus.

The ‘Black Beauty’ lilies and crimson bee balm in the Herb Bed are looking raggedy, as is the lawn, but they are putting up a good show – especially the lilies.  This year the Casa Blanca lilies have escaped the deer which makes me very happy, although I don’t have a good photo this morning.

The scarlet bee balm down in the Potager will need a major dividing this fall. Maybe the flowers will then be a bit more substantial.

Renee’s hot color zinnias, right next to the bee balm are looking great.

The Daylily Bank is still going strong, with strong colored daylilies, and a few tender yellows and pinks.

Tansy

Tansy is such a pretty plant – but horribly invasive. Never plant it! I have a field of tansy and it is coming up through the layers of cardboard and wood chips in the Potager paths. It is a nightmare.

For other beautiful garden in bloom around the world log on to May Dreams Garden. Thank you Carol!

My Second Garlic Harvest

Garlic

Last fall my neighbor gave me several of his famous garlic bulbs to use as seed so I could plant my second garlic crop in the vegetable garden.  My first crop was not very successful, mostly because I did not pay attention to cutting off all the scapes in the spring. My harvest in July was puny. This time I planted each clove in well tilled soil and mulched heavily with spoiled hay in mid-October. You can read about Rol Hesselbart and the advice he gave me here.

Drew with garlic and scape

Having heeded all of Rol’s advice planting the garlic, I also obeyed him by carefully removed all the garlic scapes in the spring. Well, almost all of the scapes. One escaped  (pun intented) my notice and grandson Drew found it as he helped with the harvest. It is just a little taller than he is, and we all marveled to see the seed head with its tiny tiny garlic bulbules. I just found a website that explains how those bulbules can be left to ripen and then planted. This is something I might have to try next year.

The garlic bulbs are now drying in the Great Room but I assured daughter Kate that I will not have to buy any garlic for several months. I will save out six of the biggest and best bulbs and use those cloves to plant in October.

Lily Season

Daylily Bank

I have not done with posts about my great trip to Seattle to tour amazing gardens with 70+ garden writers  and bloggers, but I am so happy to be home and to see the glories of lily season.  Our Daylily Bank is now in full bloom and it got a lot of attention when the Heath Gourmet Club was here on Saturday night to enjoy a delicieux dinner a la Francais.

Black Beauty lilies

The Black Beauty lilies have been blooming in the Herb Bed right in front of the house for several years, along with a crimson bee balm. A great, but unintentional combo.

Last year I got a little bloom from Lilium henryi (gold) and the White Henry lilies, but this year they are putting on quite a show. There is another white lily with a deep red throat in this group. I don’t know what it is, but I think it was a bonus that came along with a big order I sent Old House Gardens that does have wonderful bulbs.

Seattle skyline

If you do want to see some of  the wonderful sights of Seattle log on to my friend Layanee de Merchant’s post.

Japanese Garden at the Bloedel Reserve

Or see what Francis at Fairegarden had to say about other damp scenes at the Bloedel Reserve.

Martagon Lily

For the past couple of weeks I have been looking at a budded plant in the Lawn Grove. It seemed to have lily foliage, but  I couldn’t remember planting lilies in that spot. And I never found time to go back and check my records for last fall.

Lilium martagon "Album"

The other day the buds opened into these beautiful martagon lily blossoms.  But the plant was not quite three feet tall. Is there such a thing as a miniature martagon?

Not exactly. I don’t remember ordering or planting this lovely thing but I can imagine myself falling for a description like this from the Old House Gardens catalog: “As if made by fairies, the tiny, luminous blossoms of this mountain wildflower are, well, bewitching. A cold-loving perennial, it’s slightly bigger, stronger, and some say even lovelier than the purple martagon.”

This  petite white martagon blossom with its recurved petals and golden stamens is fairy-like and I am thrilled to have it. I doubted its name because it is not quite three feet tall. This likely says something about my soil, but maybe it needs another year to mature into that space.  The catalog description does go on to say that this 1601 heirloom “isn’t for beginners.” Obviously that didn’t stop me. However, Heath is a ‘cool spot’ (although we have been promised unseasonal 90 degree temperatures this week) and I have provided filtered sun for part of the day. I can also practice my patience – providing all that OHG says is required.

Encyclopedia of Container Plants

The garden centers are putting out their trays of blooming annuals, many of which will find their way into planters and containers of all sizes and shapes. They’ll be hung on porches, set out on decks and placed by doorways.  It is hard to resist all that color and frilly form. Fortunately for us we don’t have to resist because those familiar annuals, impatiens, petunias, begonias and geraniums are inexpensive and put on a good and cheerful show all summer long.

And yet our container plantings can give us drama and surprise as well as cheer. “The Encyclopedia of Container Plants: More than 500 Outstanding Choices for Gardeners” by Ray Rogers with gorgeous photographs by Rob Cardillo (Timber Press $34.95) show us how we can add perennials, shrubs, edibles, bulbs and tropicals to the annuals we love to make some creative arrangements.

The book begins with an Introduction that lays out all the basic principles of care for any container plant, the types of soil or soilless medium, the container, light, heat, water, fertilization, pruning, supports and troubles. Container plantings are not immune from disease or pest. Rogers then goes on to explain how to understand all the elements of the encyclopedia entries which are arranged alphabetically, no matter if he is talking about dramatic Alocasia (elephant’s ear) or the humble lettuce.

Finally he gets down to the topic of design. He does not pretend to give a primer, but he does remind the reader that there are differing ways of looking at color, line, form and texture. He waits until the individual plant listings to touch on the design attributes of each and give some suggestions for combinations or how to handle the plant in a single pot.

Each encyclopedia entry begins1 with basic information about all aspects of the plant and concludes with more of his own opinions about the various cultivars or what he considers special attributes, like the baby plants that are borne on the sculptural fronds of Asplenium, the bird’s-nest fern.

Rogers has a lot of experience to back up his opinions and suggestions. He spent years working at the Morris Arboretum in Pennsylvania and with the American Horticultural Society. He has won over a hundred top awards for his plant displays.

I confess that I often forget that what I consider ‘houseplants’ like Diffenbachia or gold dust plant can be put to good use in outdoor containers, either alone, or in combination with other plants. Those striking types of foliage can be an important design element.

One of the most important pieces of advice Rogers, and I, would give to the gardener putting together a multi-plant container is to consider the needs of each plant for light and moisture and make sure they are all compatible.

If putting a lot of plants in a single pot sounds difficult, but you like the idea of a mixed planting, Rogers suggests a grouping of pots with different flowers or foliage types. Such a grouping does not require pots of the same design. Different sizes and types can be attractive together.

While Rogers does talk about how important the container itself can be, the striking and clear photographs by Cardillo show that he does not think fancy or unusual containers are vital to the success of a planting. Many of the containers are plain terracotta, and classic glazed pots are not hard to find at garden centers like the Shelburne Farm and Garden.

Rogers style is chatty and he  presents plantings in so many styles it is bound to be useful to any gardener, novice or experienced, one who prefers traditional arrangements or one who wants to be more experimental.

I was disappointed that there was no list of sources for some of the more unusual plants, but decided that visiting the websites of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs (www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com), Logee’s Greenhouses (www.logees.com) and Stokes Tropicals (www.stokestropicals.plants.com) will give you a good start on locating plants you cannot find at local garden centers. But do begin your search locally because more and more unusual annuals are showing up at modest prices right in our own neighborhood.

Between the Rows   May 14, 2011

A Devil of a Plant

Crocosmia in Buffalo 2010

I first noticed, really noticed, crocosmia or ‘Lucifer’ while visiting gardens in Buffalo last July with 70 other garden bloggers. Crocosmia is a stunning plant in a devilish shade of scarlet.  I came home and what did I find? Crocosmia growing on the Bridge of Flowers.

Crocosmia "Lucifer'

Yesterday we sold several potted up crocosmia at the Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale.  They don’t look like much now, but just wait until July when they are three or four feet tall and waving wands of scarlet flowers.  Crocosmia is a bulb and it has usually overwintered without any trouble on the Bridge. But sometimes it dies. It is not reliably hardy in Zone 5, although people say that if it is mulched well in the fall it will come through.  I planted crocosmia last year – after my Buffalo trip – and never thought about checking what it needed for winter care. It did not come back this spring.  Take care!  Crocosmia needs winter mulch in our climate.

Bloom Day May 15, 2011

I don’t think I have ever had this Bloom before on my blog. Several forsythia bushes were here when we bought they house : they are so old and entrenched that we have never been able even to contemplate the work it would take to pull them out. They rarely bloom, but they sure do grow.  But this year!  Not spectacular, but a regular profusion. A milder winter?  Global climate change? I have no idea why, but the blossoms are very welcome.

Ice Wings daffodil?

There are lots of daffodils in bloom right now. I must have at least eight varieties in various shades of yellow and white, but I will let this one stand in for all the rest. I think it is Ice Wings and it is the most unusual of my collection. If it is Ice Wings it is a tazetta. The daffodils grow in the lawn and you can see the hawkweeds budding up.

Primroses

I love the yellow primroses that has been blooming in this weedy spot under the trees near our blueberry patch for probably 20 years, ever since I stuck the pot that I bought at the supermarket in the ground.

Cherry blossoms

We planted this sour cherry tree years ago.  I love cherry pie.  But we never get the berries, the birds do.

There are thickets of wild cherry trees around the hen house. When I look from a distance they are not impressive, and when I look up close they are just beautiful.

Cotoneaster

Last year for the first time the cotoneaster bloomed.  Or at least I noticed it for the first time. The blossoms are quite quince-like.

Muscari

Three blooms in one photo.  Muscari or grape hyacinths growing in the lawn, as well as dandelions, of course, and if you look very carefully in the top left corner, a yellow daffodil.

Bluets

We’ve been planting our windbreak and saw the first clump of bluets just starting to bloom.  These must be a wildflower, surely.

Viburnam

The vibrunams growing in our woods where they can get a few rays of sun have started blooming.  Can I call this plant a wildflower, too?  They seem to grow wild in the local woods.

There are other plants blooming, white and purple violets in the lawn as well as ground ivy, johnny jump-ups, sweet violets (not the lawn kind)-  and the lilacs have fat buds, but no bloom yet.

Thank you Carol for inventing this wonderful way for us all to keep a good bloom record of our gardens, and for making it possible to visit the blooms in gardens across the country. Click here to visit Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens.

The Flower Brigade

L to R Tish Murphy, Judy Harlow, Penny Spearance, Joanie Greenfield

The Bridge of Flowers is a blooming wonder. Starting in April and through October it is in flower from the bright crocus and daffodils of early spring, through rose season and then dahlia season. I could not possibly give you a list of all the flowers that take their turn on the Bridge, bulbs, annuals, perennials, blooming shrubs and trees, all making life in Shelburne Falls a delight and attracting over 35,000 visitors from across the country and all over the world.

The Bridge of Flowers email often brings the question, when is the best time to visit the Bridge? The answer to that is easy – there is no best time. Through the skill of the Head Gardener, Carol Delorenzo, and her assistant, Tish Murphy, the Bridge is designed to be in full flower in every season.

Last summer my garden friend and sister blogger, Layanee DeMerchant, visited me and I brought her to the Bridge of Flowers as a last minute surprise. She was stunned. She later confessed that when I mentioned the Bridge of Flowers she imagined some little bridge hung with window box type planters. She asked how such a magnificent public planting came to be.

I explained that the bridge was originally a trolley bridge, built in 1908 to carry loads too heavy for the Iron Bridge to the railway yards. Time and the motor car brought the railway company to bankruptcy in 1927, leaving the bridge to become a weed choked eyesore.

Women cannot stand an eyesore. In 1928 Antoinette Burnham wrote a letter to the newspaper and suggested that it become a bridge of flowers. The Shelburne Falls Women’s Club sponsored the project and the Shelburne Falls Fire District purchased the bridge. Even with the trolley gone, the bridge is important because it contains the water main which brings water to Buckland.

In 1929 eighty loads of loam  and fertilizer were put on the bridge. All the work was donated.

To this very day the Bridge of Flowers depends on donated labor. Those laborers call themselves The Flower Brigade. Twice a week throughout the season they put on their old clothes and garden gloves and set to work. Some are members of the Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club, but many are local gardeners who enjoy taking part in making the bridge beautiful all season.

Some volunteers are not so local. Karen Winkler comes up from Connecticut to plant and weed every week. She regularly visited friends in Easthampton and heard about the Bridge of Flowers but said she always avoided it, thinking, like my friend Layanee, that it was just a bridge with a few planters. “Then I read the Recorder article about vandalism on the Bridge a couple of years ago. I went to the website and learned what the Bridge was and that anyone could volunteer. I think this is a true community garden – where everyone takes care of everything, not just their own plot.”

Maureen Flaherty of Charlemont has been volunteering for the past four years or so. “I love it. There is such a great group of people who are all interested in flowers. The head gardener Carol Delorenzo is so knowledgeable.  It is a great community effort. This is a wonderful place to work aesthetically: it almost becomes a Zen experience,” she said.

Maureen Moore said she admired the Bridge when she moved here six years ago, but never thought about how it was maintained. “I just took it for granted. Then three years ago I realized it was a volunteer effort.  I decided to volunteer so I could have some bragging rights. It is good to know you are contributing to something so special. Besides it is fun to see all the visitors from so far away,” she said.

Penny Spearance is a new member of the Women’s Club and said she “would like to be a gardener.”  There are enough skilled gardeners working on the Bridge that this is certainly a good place to share information and learn.  “I don’t like to belong to an organization without participating,” she said.

The Bridge of Flowers gives a large community of women the opportunity to bring beauty to the wider community.  Volunteers don’t need to sign up or commit to any regular schedule. All they have to do is show up on Wednesday evening from 5 to 7 pm or Friday morning from 9 to 11 am. Directions and tools will be waiting for them.

The Bridge of Flowers May 6, 2011

The members of the Bridge of Flowers committee will be very busy volunteering next week as they prepare for the big Annual Bridge of Flowers Plant Sale. This famous sale will beheld on Saturday, May 14 at the Trinity Church’s Baptist Lot on Main Street in Shelburne Falls from 9 am til noon.  I remember the first time I attended this sale and was told that I must not touch a plant until the opening bell!  Now I am early to set up the sale, and make sure no one touches.

In addition to plants off the Bridge or from local gardens, tools from OESCO, nursery propagated wildflowers from Hillside Nursery, Nancy Dole’s books, Steve Earp’s pottery and John Sendlebach’s garden art will also be on sale.  A new booth will hold cards by Michael Naldrett, Polly French, Jane Wegscheider, and Wild Art, prints by Nina Coler, Mojo beads, Don Wheeler’s birdhouses, and lavender products from Johnson Hill Farm. Something for everyone. Don’t Be Late!

Between the Rows   May 7, 2011