Spring Bulbs

Recycling Spring Bulbs

You can recycle your spring bulbs which have been forced for bloom in the winter usually purchased from a florist.

But you must maintain the green foliage for as long as possible. Cut off the dead flower stems and yellow or brown leaves and place in a window with strong morning light. Water well when dry with a saucer underneath and empty the saucer after 1/2 hour. Give the plant a general house plant fertilizer as directed on the label every two weeks.

In the warm spring you can plant right into your 'bright shade' garden beds and allow to grow as long as they like. You may need to stake tall leaves carefully. Keep watered and fed well. This is done to provide food to the underground bulb or tuber for next year's flowers.

They will need a cold period to initiate buds so it is best to leave them in the ground until next spring when they will again come up and bloom.

Dividing Spring Bulbs

Q. I know iris get divided in July but when do you plant them again? Also I'd like to know when tulips gladiolus grape hyacinths daffodils get divided and then replanted.

A. All your spring-flowering bulbs are to be dug up after they have stopped blooming completely. They are divided and replanted with the foliage intact right then. There is no advantage to having them out of the soil for dormancy. They can go back into the soil beds and develop roots for the next spring's growth.

By keeping the foliage green and fresh you are building up the food in the bulb so that you will have more flowers next spring. By dividing them not necessarily every year you give the plants more room to grow and not crowd together as the bulbs [or iris rhizomes] split into large and small ones.

Glads are a summer-flowering corms and are treated differently as are dahlia tubers. They are planted now as the soil is workable and grow and bloom all summer. In the fall the foliage blades brown and die. You then cut off the foliage and dig the corms up. Place them in a cool dry dark spot until next spring.

Q. My spring bulbs have bloomed less and less over the past years. Why?

A. You did not say but I trust that you get cold weather where you live so that the bulbs are getting the needed cold root temperatures all winter long. Otherwise they will not bloom. Cold periods initiate blooms inside the bulbs.

Another reason is the age and planting depth of the bulbs. If you have had them several years the blossom count will drop each year until you will see hardly any flowers. You need to keep adding new vigorous bulbs to your beds mixing them right in with the older ones. That way as the older ones stop blooming and die off you will keep having new ones there to take their place.

Planting depth is important. If they have bloomed for you and just stopped blooming then the depth is not a problem. If you have planted new bulbs and they never bloomed it could be that you planted the bulbs too deep [I like "].

Feeding is essential. Are you giving them anything? Bonemeal helps bulbs make food for storing in the bulbs and the production of next season's flowers. Use a general fertilizer throughout the summer.