By Bev Johnson

Master Gardener

Bunkey is checking his flower garden every morning to see if any of the tulips he planted last fall are up yet. He had had bad luck with tulips. They just didn’t want to come back each spring. Last summer he had it, so he called the Extension office to see what he was doing wrong. This is the information he got. Start with the proper bulb. There are 15 different groups of tulips. Not all of them are perennial here. Tulips come from areas that are gravely and dry in the summer. They like to be in the driest part of the garden. Bunkey’s garden slopes and he was planting tulips at the bottom of the slope, the wettest part of the garden. He should plant Darwin hybrids, Fosterinia, species tulips and the fringed types. They are more apt to come back year after year. Also, plant them in the driest area. They like to have their bulbs dry all summer.

As he was planting his new bulbs last fall, he inadvertently dug up all kinds of spring bulbs as he didn’t know where they were. To prevent slicing into a hidden bulb, mark them in the spring. The zinc hairpin markers stay where you put them. Use a marking pen for I.D. During the summer, take a picture of the flowering plant. That way, if the color clashes with a nearby plant, or if it ended up in the middle of a mum, you would know where to move it. Keep an eye out for bare spots in the summer garden that may be a good place for bulbs. Markers will inform you if it is already full of bulbs.

It takes 4 to 6 weeks for the leaves of tulips and daffodils to die. Do not pull them off or braid the leaves. They are storing up food for next spring’s blooming. If the yellowing leaves bug you, plan to hide them behind a perennial or plant a clump of annuals around them. You can plant them under a shrub, or, for the smaller bulbs, under a tree. They will be in full sun and be declining as the shrub or tree leaves out.

Feed the soil, not the bulb. Sprinkle bulb fertilizer on the soil after spring bloom. Don’t put synthetic fertilizer in the hole with the bulb. It can damage the roots.

Never plant tulips in a row. Plant odd numbers in a clump-3-5-7. Spacing information should come with the bulb. One trick daffodils do is pull themselves down in the soil to where they are most comfortable. Do plant tulips deep and add a handful of chicken grit to the top of the bulbs to deter squirrels from digging them up and eating them. Rabbits and deer think tulips are salad. Spray the leaves after each rain and change the spray weekly so you can enjoy the flowers. Those leafless and flowerless stems are just not that attractive. Do plant minor bulbs around and even in the clumps of tulips. Some of them will be dying as the tulips start to bloom. If all fails and the deer and rabbits chomp the tulips to the soil level every spring, plant daffodils. All parts of the plant are poisonous. And they come in a myriad of colors, shapes, and sizes.

If you are ordering bulbs from a catalog, do it early. They may run out of the ones you prefer.  Also, they may ship them so late you will need a pickaxe to plant them. You may need to request your bulbs be shipped before the end of September. Digging holes in frozen soil is hard work as Bunkey knows well.