Time to Plant your Spring Bulbs

The garden season is winding down for the year. Now is the time to plant spring bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and crocus, if you want reliable color and fragrance in your spring garden. Spring bulbs need a couple months of cold temperatures and several more to grow. It is best to plant them early enough to allow the roots to grow before the very cold weather arrives and the soil freezes.

The selection of high quality bulbs is important. You want to select firm, plump bulbs. Size is also important. Large bulbs are the best. The flower bud has already been developed in large bulbs and the larger bulbs have a much better flower display. Avoid bulbs that are discolored, shriveled or have soft spots.

Selecting the site to plant your bulbs is as important as bulb selection. Things to consider are soil, sunlight and temperature. Bulbs should be planted in well drained fertile soil. Hyacinth and tulips especially need loam or sandy soil. Bulbs planted in wet soil or poorly drained soil will be short lived. The better the soil, the longer the bulbs will last. Most bulbs prefer a sunny site. This does not mean that they must be planted in a site that is sunny all year, most bulbs flower before deciduous trees leaf out.

Bulbs should be planted at a depth of 21/2 times the height of the bulb.Tulips and daffodils are planted 6-8 inches deep. Smaller bulbs like crocus are planted 3-4 inches deep. Remember to plant the bulbs right side up, this means the pointed end up. You can add Bone Meal or Bulb booster but these fertilizers are more important to the formation of the flower the next year. Be sure to water the bulbs thoroughly to provide enough moisture for root growth. A light layer of mulch will moderate the soil temperature and give the bulbs more time to grow roots.

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy plants bulbs at its gardens at the Fort Pitt Tunnel, Squirrel Hill Tunnel and Downtown Pittsburgh. Today's photo shows tulip bulbs being planted in one of WPC's downtown gardens at the intersection of Stanwix, Penn and Liberty Avenues. The garden is named Faith's Garden, in the memory of former Director of City Parks Faith Gallo. To read more about Ms. Gallo, and to see the tulips in full bloom, click here to view a past WPC Daily .

Today's photo was taken on October 31st by WPC's Art DeMeo.

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