Consider planting a bulb sandwich when you buy spring-flowering bulbs for your small-space garden.
A “bulb sandwich,” you ask?
Sure. Bulbs can be planted atop others for great effect. Layer early bloomers (crocus) atop mid-season bulbs (daffodils) atop late bloomers (alliums), suggested perennials expert Cheryl Wade, who owns Baltimore’s Mill Valley Garden Center. Your horticultural sandwich will bloom all spring.
But avoid tulips, even in urban settings, urged Wade. “What squirrels don’t eat, deer will; bulbs are nectar to squirrels, and deer lop off flowers in one bite.”
If you can’t resist, plant tulips a foot deep instead of the recommended 6-8 inches to protect them, Wade suggested.
In Baltimore’s climate, you can plant spring-flowering bulbs all winter as long as you can easily work the soil.
One caution: Don’t plant too early or bulbs — tricked into a false spring — will sprout, said Betsy Winters, perennials buyer/manager for Homestead Gardens, Davidsonville.
For small spaces, Winters likes planting bulbs in pots, the way you would in the ground. “Leave pots outside all winter, in sun if possible, and then move them around come spring,” she said. She recommends Espoma’s BulbTone fertilizer in the bottom of holes when planting — and once bulbs flower — to spur growth.
Most fall-planted bulbs have miniature varieties that look smashing in small gardens. Bunch colors for a unified palette, Winters suggested. Among her favorites: Drifts of crocuses, anemone blanda, cyclamen, winter aconite, grape hyacinth and dwarf daffodils. (Deer won’t touch daffodils because they loathe their smell.)
“Bulbs don’t thrive in wet soil, so plant in well-drained sandy loam,” counseled “This Old House” garden expert Roger Cook. Or pot in topsoil mixed with Leafgrow, a micronutrient-rich product Winters favors.
Pay attention to spacing guidelines, for bulbs eventually spread and can strangle each other.
For height, Mill Creek’s Wade likes fritillaria and its cluster of exotic flowers atop a single stalk.
She also likes allium, an ornamental member of the onion family. The most popular is Globemaster with its huge purple puff-ball flower.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
• Mill Valley Garden Center
2800 Sisson St.
Baltimore MD 21211
410-889-6842
www.mill-valley.net
• Homestead Gardens
743 W. Central Ave.
Davidsonville MD 21035
410-798-5000
www.homesteadgardens.com
• Kingsdene Nurseries & Garden Center
16435 York Road
Monkton MD 21111
410-343-1150
www.kingsdene.com
