The third week of September is a good time to buy and plant spring blooming bulbs like daffodils, crocus and tulips. Store them in a cool dry spot once you get those bulbs home and make a note and place it on your frig that says “plant bulbs” so you don’t leave them sitting in the bag all winter.
Speaking of bags, if you purchased bulbs in a plastic bag remove them as soon as you get home. Plastic holds in too much moisture and this can cause a blue mold to grow on your bulbs. Mesh bags or paper bags are best.
Another tip if you buy bulbs on a hot day is to keep them out of your trunk and out of the sun. Bulbs like to be stored cool as in 60 degrees or less. An uninsulated garage or shed can heat up and cause poor performance if you store your bulbs in the heat. The moral of all these bulb storage warnings is to plant your bulbs as soon as you can rather than hide them away until you forget about them.
Keep harvesting dahlias until they get knocked down by a hard frost. The more you pick the flowers the more they will produce. Lilies that bloomed in the summer can be cut to the ground only after the leaves all turn brown. Just like spring blooming bulbs, the summer lilies such as the Asiatic and Oriental varieties use their fading foliage to make next year’s flowers. You can cut off the faded blooms of a lily but leave as much stem and foliage as possible for many happy returns.
Q. How deep do I plant daffodil bulbs? How deep for tulips? I was given some left over bulbs and want to have my first spring bulb display. W.W., Email
A. The general rule of green thumb is to plant bulbs two to three times the length of the bulb – that would be from the tip of the bulb to the wider bottom of the bulb or about three to four inches. The dirt truth is you can get away with planting bulbs in our climate much more shallow as long as your soil drains freely. Bulbs will rot in moist or poorly draining soil. If you hate digging holes, just scratch the soil, lay down your bulbs and cover with at least four inches of mulch such as bark chips. You won’t have many happy returns if you plant shallow rather than deep but you will get blooms the first year. This is because the flower inside each bulb is already formed and just needs cold and dormancy for it to bloom in the spring. That means fertilizer is not needed at planting time. It is the following year that the foliage from the blooming bulb must get to work making the next year’s flower. The more deeply planted bulbs will have more access to nutrients and are more likely to naturalize or bloom again. Tulips rarely return as impressive after the first year but if you want your daffodil bulbs to return for years, plant at least 4 inches deep in well drained soil that is allowed to remain dry in the summer and leave the bulb foliage alone until there is no sign of green in the leaves.
Q. My daffodils did not bloom after the first year. Just leaves no flowers. Also my tulips did not come up the second year. Should I give up? I heard tulips and daffodils were supposed to be easy and they flower all over my neighborhood. P., Kirkland
A. Tulips can be one hit wonders especially if they are the tall and dramatic hybrid tulips. Just treat them like annuals and replant every year. Daffodils should return each year if you remember to let the leaves turn yellow before you remove them and plant in a raised bed or large pot where they get perfect drainage. Another reason for “blind” or bloomless daffodils is if you water the area where they grow during the summer months. Most spring flowering bulbs like tulips and daffodils like dry soil during the summer so they can lie dormant. Gardeners that keep the soil moist all summer for bedding plants or from sprinkler systems will rot the bulbs with too much moisture. An easy solution that also protects your bulbs from mice and moles is to plant the bulbs in containers. After the flowers fade you can move the pots our of site and let the soil stay dry all summer.
Q. I have a day lily called ‘Stella d’Oro’ and it blooms all summer. I love it but now the foliage is looking ugly and I want to trim it back. Must I leave the ugly leaves over the winter? D.P., Tacoma
A. This is your lucky day because day lilies can be cut back to ground level in mid-September for a tidy winter garden. You can add mulch over the day lily roots now to keep them from getting heaved up out of the ground during a freeze but do not fertilizer day lilies or other perennials in the fall. You want your plants to calm down, stop feeding and slip into winter dormancy so they will be safe from future freezes.
