Go ahead and plant small annuals around and even on top of those bulb plantings, just taking care that you don't dig very deeply and cut into the bulbs. Perennials can be grown among bulbs, but you'll want to place those plants between bulb clumps and not directly on top.
Spring-blooming bulbs, such as tulips and daffodils, should be planted in September or October when the soil temperatures have cooled. Summer-blooming beauties such as dahlia and gladiolus are best planted in the spring after all danger of frost has passed.
Smaller bulbs, like crocus, snowdrops, dwarf Irises, scilla, anemones and lilies of the valley, can be planted fairly close together, 1′ to 2′ apart will create a nice cluster. Don't plant them more than 4′ apart or they start to lose their impact.
Smaller bulbs should be planted fairly close together at roughly four inches apart while larger bulbs should have approximately five inches separating them. To create a bolder splash of color, you can plant them even closer, to the point where your bulbs are almost touching.
10 of the longest flowering perennials for your garden
- Catmint Walker's Low is a very long-blooming perennial that is popular with the bees and butterflies.
- Long-blooming 'Millennium' Allium adds a pop of color to mid and late summer garden beds.
- A popular mid-summer bloomer, Moonbeam Coreopsis bears hundreds of small, soft yellow flowers.
WHERE TO PLANT BULBS. As long as you ensure that your bulbs have good drainage and sunlight, you can plant them just about anywhere. Drainage is critical to keep bulbs from rotting. They like loamy or slightly sandy soil because it provides the drainage and nutrients they need.
This video shows that it is possible to plant 100 tulip bulbs in less than 50 minutes, and it is easier and less expensive than you think. Start by digging up the soil to make a six to eight-inch deep bed. Set the bulbs into the soil with the pointed ends up, placing them randomly three to six inches apart.
The best time when to fertilize bulbs is to wait until the bulb's leaves are well out of the ground and then fertilize at half strength. Then, once the bulbs have finished flowering, you can fertilize once more. A third feeding would be okay two weeks after the second feeding, again at half strength.
Most don't last more than a year out of the ground, and then only if they're stored properly, although this can vary by species. In general, flower bulbs rot if you don't get them in the ground soon enough. For this reason, flower bulbs should be planted as soon as possible.
To plant flower bulbs too shallow can expose them to damaging temperature spiking. Planting flower bulbs too close together can cause root systems to strangle each other or cause them to dehydrate or starve due to limited water and nutrition.
Garden designers know that tulips look best when they are planted in groups of 50 or more bulbs. Plan on 9 to 12 bulbs per square foot. For a full look, put 2" to 3" of space between the bulbs. Using a 4" spacing will stretch the bulbs, but not look quite as full.
Planting daffodil bulbsPlant at twice the depth of the bulb (i.e. 4-6" below the surface of the soil), 4-8 ins apart. For miniature daffodils, plant at twice the depth of the bulb and 3-5ins apart.
How do daffodils multiply? Daffodils multiply in two ways: asexual cloning (bulb division) where exact copies of the flower will result, and sexually (from seed) where new, different flowers will result. Seeds develop in the seed pod (ovary), the swelling just behind the flower petals.
Answer: If the daffodils aren't blooming, the plants weren't able to store enough food in their bulbs in the previous year. Daffodil foliage typically persists for 4 to 6 weeks after blooming. During this 4 to 6 week period, the daffodil foliage is manufacturing food.
