MARCH/APRIL 2014
Gardening
Glorious Gladiolas, Delightful
Dahlias, Luscious Lilies
Plant summer-looming bulbs now
by Frank Kourt, Staff Writer
If you’re looking to have colorful
displays in the sunny or even shady
spots in your garden this summer,
consider planting some bulbs this
spring.
You can put glorious gladiolas,
delightful dahlias and luscious lilies
in your sunny spots and elegant
elephant ears and colorful caladiums in your shadier areas. These are
just a few of the summer-blooming
bulbs that are already available at
local gardening centers and homeimprovement stores.
In general, you’ll need to wait until
all chance of frost has passed before
putting in your summer-blooming
bulbs. Around these parts, that’s the
end of April.
Before you plant, consider carefully
just where those bulbs are going.
Take a close look at your deciduous
trees and shrubs and imagine them
leafed out so you don’t plant sun
lovers like glads and dahlias in what
will be shade.
Likewise, figure on planting shadeloving plants such as caladiums and
elephant ears in places that will be
pretty much fully in shade during
the summer.
As with all plantings, you should
find a spot with well-drained soil
that has sufficiently dried so that it’s
not muddy or overly wet. You may
want to consider conditioning the
soil by mixing in some peat moss
to make it more hospitable for your
plants.
When you buy your bulbs, be sure
to pay close attention to the instructions that come with them, which
detail such things as the depth at
which they are to be planted and
sun and shade conditions that are
most favorable to the particular
bulb.
13
facing down in the hole. Keep your
bulbs well watered while allowing
them to dry out between waterings,
and make sure you keep the area
well weeded.
planted near the house have made
it from one year to the next. Not so
with those planted farther out, and
my caladium definitely don’t winter
over.
When planting a cluster of bulbs,
such as gladiolas, it’s a good idea not
to plant them in rows but in clusters
for a more natural look.
You can store bulbs over the winter
by carefully digging them up after
the foliage has died back, usually
after the first light frost. You can
then allow them to “cure” by keeping them in a warm, dry place out
of direct sun for about a week. You
can then keep them in a dry place in
above-freezing temperatures. Check
the Internet for specific recommendations for storing individual
bulbs, since different bulbs require
different methods of storage.
For shade lovers, such as caladium
and elephant ears, beware of slugs,
especially if conditions are wet or if
you have mulched the area. Regular
sprinklings of bait will help control
the slug and snail population.
Whether your bulbs will be perennial or annual is a bit of a crapshoot
in our area. Over the past several
years, my gladiolas have come back
year after year, but as cold as this
winter has been, I’m not sure what
will happen this year. Likewise, I
have found that the dahlias I’ve
I used to store dahlia toes and glad
bulbs o ٕȁѡ