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Spring-Blooming Bulbs

© Keith Muraoka

You really have to be an avid gardener to fork over $50 on plants that won't bloom until the year 2000. But that's precisely what many of us are doing right now when it comes to buying spring-blooming bulbs. Planted now -- and throughout fall and even winter in most of California -- spring bulbs will bloom as advertises next spring.

You've heard it from me before, but it bears repeating. Fall is the best time to plant, particularly bulbs, trees, evergreen landscape shrubs, lawns and groundcovers. Spring-blooming bulbs available at garden centers now include daffodils, tulips, ranunculus, crocus, iris and lilies, to name a few.

Rod Brown, president of Dutch Gardens, maintains, "Planting bulbs now is like planting buried treasure. Bulbs are especially fun for kids to plant because they tend to forget about them over winter, and then are surprised and delighted by the bright-colored flowers in early spring."

Bulbs can be expensive, particularly the larger ones like daffodils and tulips. Also, let it be known right upfront that many bulbs are short-lived in parts of California. Tulips, for instance, should be treated as annuals because the weather in most of California is too mild for them to come back.

Yet, you don't have to empty your wallet or purse to buy dozens and dozens of bulbs. I stagger my bulb plantings around the holidays. The first planting goes in around Halloween, then Thanksgiving and finally Christmas. This way, I have bulb color from early spring through late spring.

If you are planting a modest number of bulbs, don't try to cover your entire garden by planting one bulb here and there. Instead, plant by variety in clumps, strategically placed where they will be seen and enjoyed. I always plant a clump of bulbs near my front door and right outside the sliding glass door in the backyard. If you don't have space in the garden or no ground space at all, consider planting bulbs in containers. One large ranunculus bulb will bear dozens of flowers. Just think what a half dozen of them will do in a container.

If your garden is frequented by deer or gophers, you might want to avoid crocus, tulips and lilies. Instead, go with daffodils, alliums and other critter-resistant bulbs. If you have squirrels and must have tulips, place metal mesh over the planted bulbs. Make sure the holes in the mesh is large enough to permit the tulip stalk to grow through.

The copyright of the article Spring-Blooming Bulbs in California Gardening is owned by Keith Muraoka. Permission to republish Spring-Blooming Bulbs in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.