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Tulips (Tulipa spp.) are perennials in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 7. By giving the bulbs the correct environment and nutrients, you will be rewarded by their return each year. Even though these "turban" delights are among the easiest perennials to grow, following some tips will help your tulip bulbs survive, thrive and replicate so their spring blooms will be vibrant and healthy.
Spring in the northeastern United States is characterized by stands of bright yellow daffodils (Narcissus x hybridus) or swaths of purple crocus (Crocus) dotting front lawns, roadsides and slopes. Together with tulips (Tulipa) and several other species, they get the season off to a bright start, serving as a colorful reward for time spent planting them in the fall. Hardy from U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 to 9, bulbs need winter cold to store the energy for flowering.
The best time to plant spring-flowering bulbs in Massachusetts depends on your U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone. Areas along the coast are primarily in USDA zones 6 or 7, while inland locations can be in USDA zones 5 or 6. Summer- and fall-flowering bulbs should be planted on different schedules. Proper site selection and preparation prior to planting the bulbs will help them continue to produce flowers for many years.
Hyacinths (Hyacinthus spp.) are bulbs with clusters of flowers that bloom in bright and pastel colors in the spring. Because most kinds require a 12- to 16-week chilling period to bloom, hyacinth and other spring-flowering bulbs must be planted in the late fall, no matter when you purchase them. Garden stores typically have flower bulbs available for sale in late August, September or October, but if you get them in spring, they must be stored until planting time.
A flashlight is a handy item to have around the house. However, the effectiveness of the flashlight is dependent upon its bulb, and there are several types of flashlight bulbs available. Each of the different types is useful and usable, but each has slightly different qualities -- so one may be more suitable to you than the others, based on what you think you need the flashlight for.
Planting an instant tulip garden with plants already in bloom is something that you might need to do around April or May. Plant an instant tulip garden with plants already in bloom with help from an experienced gardener in this free video clip.
The main reason for digging up bulbs in the fall is that some cannot withstand freezing winter temperatures. Bulbs and bulb-like structures, such as corms, rhizomes and tubers, are nutrient storage units and are essential for the following year's plant growth. Gardeners need to dig up the bulbs of gladiolas (Gladiolus spp.), dahlias (Dahlia spp.), canna lilies (Canna spp.) and calla lilies (Zantedeschia spp.) each fall. Although tulips (Tulipa spp.) can withstand frost, some tulip bulbs also benefit from being dug up after their foliage fades. In warm climates, cold-hardy bulbs, such as daffodils (Narcissus spp.) and tulips, need to…
Think of spring bulbs as parchment-wrapped magic gifts from Mother Nature; if you follow the directions, wonderful things happen. Even if you are a novice gardener, you can succeed with hardy spring bulbs as long as you remember that spring is when flowers appear, not when you plant them. Select cultivars of familiar favorites like tulips (Tulipa spp.) and daffodils (Narcissus spp.) in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 though 9, or pick any of the dozens of other species available for autumn planting, and buy the biggest and healthiest the garden store offers. Planting is a little…
Grecian windflower (Anemone blanda) grows from a type of bulb called a tuber, a swollen underground stem that stores nutrients for the plant. Best planted in fall, this flower is one of the first to emerge and bloom in the spring, bringing cheery white, purple and pink flowers before even the grass starts growing.
People usually think of fall as the time to plant bulbs, but you can also plant bulbs in the spring or early summer. Most of these bulb flowers will bloom in the summer and continue blooming into the fall. In cooler areas, gardeners need to dig the bulbs of some of these flowers before the first frost, store them inside and replant them in the spring. Others are hardy enough to over-winter outside. Late-blooming bulb flowers include lilies, cannas, gladiolas, dahlias, begonias and showy crocus.
Separating hyacinth bulbs requires you to slowly pull them apart from one another. Separate hyacinth bulbs with help from a garden professional in this free video clip.
Splitting bulbs and storing daffodils requires you to prevent yourself from cutting off the daffodils during the process. Split bulbs and store daffodils with help from a garden professional in this free video clip.
Lifting and storing tulip bulbs requires you to care for the plant through its entire growing cycle and not just one. Lift and store tulip bulbs with help from a garden professional in this free video clip.
Despite the fragile look of its dainty, bell-like blooms, lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) is a sturdy perennial that can grow for decades -- if not centuries -- in partially shady gardens in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 2 through 8. Lily of the valley is commonly sold in bundles of "pips," sections of rhizome and root with dormant plant buds at the top. Though not true bulbs, like those for tulips or daffodils, rhizomes are classified as bulbs since they are underground storage systems for plant nutrients. Grow lily of the valley indoors in the winter…
Forcing bulbs allows you to enjoy spring blooms at any time of year. What to do with the bulbs after forcing is a problem many gardeners face, though. It seems wasteful to discard them, but forced bulbs are not suitable for forcing indoors again. The forcing process robs the bulb of energy and it will not bloom the second year. Forced bulbs can be planted outdoors if the bulb is hardy in your area. Caring for the bulb after it blooms is critical if you want to recycle forced bulbs for the garden.
Alpine bell (Allium oreophilum) is also known as alpine rosy bells for its bright pink to purple bell-shaped blooms that appear in late spring. Alpine bells are also sometimes referred to as ornamental garlic or onion because they hail from the same family. These colorful, dainty flowers thrive in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 9.
Cold stratification forces a period of winter dormancy, which results in foliage and flower growth once temperatures start rising. Tulip bulbs (Tulipa spp.) require this cold treatment for blooming; otherwise, the plants may fail to grow or only produce foliage. Tulips can grow in the garden in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 9, depending on the variety. In warmer areas, they may need specific cold treatment practices for stratification.
Bulbs are actually a complete plant within a small package containing future roots, stems, leaves and the flower of a plant, so technically speaking a bulb is simply one part of the plant. On the other hand, numerous plants grow from a variety of bulb types. Plants from bulbs grow from these underground self-contained packages that serve as storage lockers, supplying nutrients and energy for the plant to grow and bloom today and in the future.
Catharanthus roseus “Pacifica Polka Dot” or “Titan Polka Dot” are the botanical names of a variety of flowering plant commonly known as vinca. It may be confusing while shopping for the plant as the Titan and the Pacifica look identical. The Titan Polka Dot, however, blooms earlier than Pacifica and withstands cooler spring temperatures. Polka Dot is typically listed as an annual but is hardy to U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 and above, where it can be grown as a perennial.
Fall is the time to plant many spring-blooming bulbs, but summer- and fall-blooming bulbs need different timing. For summer bulbs, fall planting can actually confuse their little internal clocks and cause them to bloom at the wrong time -- or kill them if they're tender. It is, however, possible to plant many hardy bulbs “out of season” if you’re willing to wait for blooms.
Paperwhites (Narcissus papyraceus) slow their metabolism to conserve resources during periods of unfavorable growing conditions, such as cold winters, and enter a dormant period. During dormancy, paperwhites, which grow in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 through 11, store available nutrients in underground bulbs, where they’re protected until the warmth of spring awakens them. Although paperwhite bulbs grow in a wide range of mediums, including water and soilless mixes, they transplant easiest and experience the least shock when moved from potting soil to outdoor soil with a pH between 4.5 and 8.5.
Wildflowers are a sure sign that spring is just around the corner. Numerous wildflowers grow from bulbs, and bulbs are easy to grow in a garden. Some of these wildflowers bloom while snow is still on the ground. This might seem a bit early, but the wildflowers provide an important source of pollen and nectar to a variety of native pollinators and are a great way to add an unexpected splash of color to your garden.
Variegated plants offer a distinct beauty not present in green-leaved plants. White variegation can appear as stripes, spots, mottling or edging on leaves. While variegation is a desirable characteristic in indoor plants, it is not often found in the wild since it offers no evolutionary advantage. The variegated portion of the plant cannot create food for the plant due to lack of chlorophyll, and intense outdoor light is likely to damage the foliage. An indoor environment offers lower light intensity and offers more environmental stability, so variegated plants make ideal houseplants.
One of the best features of flowering bulbs is their capacity to multiply every year and provide an even more stunning floral display in the next season. The greenhouse gives you an added dimension for ensuring an early display of flowering bulbs and, if you stagger your plantings, you can achieve a continuous display of color from bulbs throughout the gardening year. Many hardy varieties of bulbs can still be grown in the greenhouse for early flowering.
Bulbs of summer-flowering tropical or subtropical plants are tender and cannot survive winter in areas where the ground freezes, which is anything north of U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zone 9. The tender bulbs of flowers such as gladiolus, dahlia and caladium must be dug up and stored in a location protected from sub-freezing temperatures until spring planting time.
When doing bulb photography, you're always going to need to keep a few key things in mind. Do bulb photography with help from the owner and photographer at Tamyra Campbell Photography in this free video clip.
Cutting indoor plants is one great way to get additional fullness, so long as you follow the right steps. Cut indoor plants to get fullness with help from a gardening professional in this free video clip.
You can't just throw perennial bulbs into the ground and call it a day. Prepare for the planting of perennial bulbs in the proper way with help from a bulb and garden expert in this free video clip.
Digging Dahlia bulbs in the fall is something that you might have to do if the ground begins to freeze. Learn about how to dig Dahlia bulbs in the fall with help from a bulb and garden expert in this free video clip.
Continuously flowering bulb gardens will provide you with treat after treat all year long. Plant continuously flowering bulb gardens with help from a bulb and garden expert in this free video clip.
Makeup can be applied in a very particular way to actually reduce a bulb on your nose. Find out how to use makeup to reduce a bulb on your nose with help from a certified professional makeup in this free video clip.
Chinese narcissus, also called paperwhite narcissus, Chinese sacred lily or the scientific name Narcissus tazetta var. orientalis, is a spring- or winter-flowering plant that grows from bulbs. It is not actually a lily, but is a type of daffodil. Bulbs can be collected from plants and re-established indoors or outdoors as desired. Indoor forcing of the bulbs is a popular method for growing and results in blooms that appear earlier than if grown naturally. The result is large clusters of fragrant, white flowers. You can also set the bulbs directly in a garden bed or in pots.
Too much or not enough water, poor soil, even disease leads tiger lilies to wilt. If your first instinct is to douse the plant with extra water and fertilizer, stop and let the wilting process run its course. Wilting leads to dormancy, which is a rest period for lily bulbs. This process is completely natural and may be the tiger lily’s way of saying it needs some time to recuperate. Gently guiding the tiger lily into dormancy may just save its life.
A bulb planter will come in handy year after year as you plant new flowers in your garden or yard. Use a bulb planter with help from an expert with over two decades of experience working in Garden Centers in this free video clip.
Daffodils, crocuses, tulips and hyacinths are forced into blooming by savvy gardeners and nursery workers to be given as gifts during the holiday season. Some people choose to simply discard the plants once they are spent, but these bulbs can be planted in the garden, where they will bloom for many years. Given proper care, daffodils are the easiest to move to the garden, followed by crocus and hyacinth. Tulips sometimes fare poorly after being forced, but if you have a small pot or bare patch in the garden, it's certainly worth trying to preserve them.
Dimmers help adjust the light in a room by changing the current to the light bulb. Dimmers work best with incandescent lights, but you can also use certain types of other bulbs to adjust the light in a room. Since many different types of dimmer switches are available, you may find that a certain type of light bulb works better than another kind.
Chives produce bulbs similar to their onion family relatives, including onions, leeks and garlic. Unlike their relatives, however, chives are grown for their foliage instead of their underground bulbs. Other small bulbs atop chive stems hold seed-bearing flowers. Gardeners can remove these flower bulbs or let them blossom, depending on their reason for growing chives.
Most chainsaws use a 2-cycle gas engine to power the saw blade. The primer bulb is attached to the carburetor. The bulb squirts a small amount of gasoline into the carburetor, which primes the engine, making it easier to start. Primer bulbs should move freely to prevent problems with the engine. A primer bulb that sticks may prevent proper priming of the engine. There are several ways to solve the issue.
Hyacinth bulbs gather energy from nutrients in soil and bright sunlight, and use that energy to produce the next year’s blooms. It is very difficult to re-create optimal conditions when forcing bulbs indoors, and when planted outdoors, forced bulbs don't have enough energy to bloom the following season. In a year or two they'll produce small, short-lived flowers, and by the third season the bulbs should have enough stored energy to make a good showing. But they may never equal the size and brilliance of fresh bulbs. For best results, plant the bulbs outdoors in a location with full sun…
The Roto Gobo by American DJ is a rotating gobo projector used for special lighting presentations. A gobo is a disc or plate with one or more shapes carved into it that is placed in front of a light source to project the shapes. You can replace the Roto Gobo lamp if it burns out, or the preinstalled gobo that comes with the unit, if you want to project different shapes.
Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica) is a spring-flowering biennial with a short, mounded growing habit. They mix well with other plants, including bulbs, provided their tiny blue flowers are not overwhelmed by other plantings. Forget-me-nots are good in containers, grown in beds and as part of a rock garden because of their low-maintenance requirements. When choosing bulbs that go with forget-me-nots, color and size make a difference between forget-me-nots that pop from the landscape and those that are smothered by it.
Purple heart plants, or Setcreasea purpurea, grow as trailing outdoor ground cover in frost-free climates. The plants also grow well as indoor plants, allowing you to enjoy it year-round regardless of the outdoor temperature. Deep purple evergreen foliage provides year-round interest, while the small lavender flowers supply additional summer beauty. Planting in a hanging basket allows the vines room to trail without the need for a large pot.
Low-maintenance plants, gladiola, or gladiolus, range from 2 to 5 feet tall with trumpet-shaped blossoms in a double row along the stem, making them excellent back-of-the-border plants. Their blossoms emerge in an array of bright colors. Technically, gladiola grow from an underground swollen section of their stem, called a corm, rather than from true bulbs. Because gladiola corms are tender and do not survive winter cold, they must be dug up each fall.
Houseplants rarely have serious problems due to their relative isolation from the world of diseases and pests. Occasionally, however, mold will invade the soil of a plant that has been chronically overwatered. When that happens, conditions are right for the fungus gnat to lay their yellowish eggs in the wet soil where their larva will thrive.
Asiatic lilies look similar to day and oriental lilies, with 1- to 4-foot tall, erect stems and 4- to 6-inch blossoms in yellow, orange, white, pink, and red, sometimes featuring two colors. Flowers and stems grow from bulbs and bloom during early summer, from June to July. Asiatic lilies continue to bloom for up to three weeks and have no fragrance.
Paperwhites, a type of narcissus that is not winter hardy, are easily forced into bloom indoors. The best forcing method is to place the bulb on top of a bed of gravel in a non-draining container, keeping the bulb dry except at its base. The risk of rot is much greater with paperwhites planted in soil because the soil often stays too wet. If your paperwhites are potted in soil, be sure the container has drainage holes and let the soil dry between waterings.
Residents of Waynoka, Oklahoma, may want to plant flowers in their gardens. For the best chance at success, look at which flowers grows naturally in the northern region of Oklahoma. The wildflowers that grow in the prairies of Oklahoma are both colorful, perennial, and thrive in the heat and dryness of the area.
Gladiolus thrive in temperate climates and gardeners use these flowering plants for flower cutting and ornamentation. Also known as “glads,” the gladiolus plants are native to South America, but U.S. gardeners grow them as cultivars. Gladiolus are deciduous, meaning their leaves drop in the autumn or winter. Gardeners plant larger gladiolus varieties on a garden's borders, which grow next to sidewalks or driveways.
Some gardeners love the challenge of cultivating flowers whose delicacy requires continual care and attention; others want to plant hardy flowers that return every year and require a minimum of fuss. If you fall into the latter category, yellow or white daffodils are an excellent choice. Harbingers of spring, daffodils add beauty to any landscape and are versatile enough to be used in borders or in groupings by themselves.
The bulb structure at the base of a daffodil plant collects and provides nutrients and energy to the flower. This self-contained system makes daffodils and other bulbs well-suited to being periodically dug up and moved. Digging up the bulbs also improves their health since it's a good opportunity to divide the flowers and prevent overcrowding.
