Naturalizing: Plants gone wild

Naturalizing is just a gardening term (and a rather sensible one, actually) to describe bulbs usually planted in large informal drifts, where they remain undisturbed and multiply. You can naturalize in a grassy area, under fruit trees or other deciduous trees, at the edge of a wooded area, or on an embankment. You want a semiwild area, because the bulb foliage should be able to die down undisturbed after the plants finish blooming. Over time, the bulbs tend to increase their numbers, spreading out the show with each passing year, with virtually no effort from you.
To begin, invest in a large amount of good-quality bulbs. On planting day, literally toss them out over the chosen area and plant them where they land. This display ends up looking more spontaneous and, well, natural.

Planting Bulbs in Containers

Growing bulbs in containers handily solves every display problem. Individual plants can get exactly the sort of soil and planting depth they prefer. When the bulbs come into bloom, you can place them front and center on your porch or patio or even tuck them into a flowerbed and enjoy them at their peak. You can turn or elevate the container to show off the flowers to best advantage. And when the blooms and foliage begin to fade away, you can move the plants out of sight and replace them with pots of fresh reinforcements. Something about a potful of blooming bulbs is so immediate and perky.
They’re right before your very eyes, cheerily delivering their jolt of color. You can line your front steps with them or place a pot in the middle of the patio table, like a living bouquet.
Pots dry out faster than garden-bed soil. Keep your potted bulbs watered. Consistent water (that is, every day or two instead only when the plants are gasping) leads to a healthier, longer-lasting show. Also, if you’re in a cold climate, be sure to pot your bulbs in containers that can freeze without breaking, like plastic.
One drawback: In most climates, bulbs grown in containers are spent after one blooming cycle. If you enjoyed them, you have to start over next year with fresh new bulbs, unless the pot is large enough for the bulbs to go through their dormancy and remain in good health.

Planting Bulbs in Flowerbeds

Flowering bulbs are very happy in prepared flowerbeds. They receive the good, loose soil they relish and the elbow room they need. Here are two good approaches:

• Bedding schemes: Perhaps you’ve seen these beds in public display gardens: broad areas devoted to nothing but, say, tulips. The mass of color can be very impressive. You can prepare these flowerbeds at home. Pick a nice, open spot, choose a large amount of the same or very similar bulbs (in terms of color, height, and/or bloom time), and plant them fairly close together.
• Mixed beds: Bulbs are only part of the show in a mixed bed; they can share the stage with early-blooming perennials, some colorful annuals, and perhaps a few sheltering shrubs. The overall show never declines: Whether you’re waiting for the bulbs to burst into bloom or waiting for their fading foliage to die down, you always have something to look at and enjoy.

Keeping your cool: The skinny on forcing bulbs

Forcing bulbs may sound cruel, but the term merely means that you’re encouraging the plants to bloom early by treating them in a special way. You can force potted bulbs into early bloom, but they still need 8 to 16 weeks to chill (generally the larger the bulb, the longer the chilling time). Place the bulbs in the fridge, in an unheated garage that doesn’t freeze, on chilly basement stairs, or in a cold frame (a wooden or concrete block box buried in the outside soil during the cold months). Some of the easiest and most popular bulbs to force are paperwhites.
As soon as you pot the bulbs you want to force, you have to keep them cool and the soil lightly damp. If the soil dries out, their roots won’t form, and if the temperatures are too warm, the flower buds in the bulbs may end up being blind or will blast (they’ll shrivel and never develop into full blossoms).
Forcing spring bulbs has two stages, and the first is the rooting period. For the rooting stage, place the potted bulbs in any cool (40–50°F), dark spot for 10 to 16 weeks. Some varieties take longer than others. Don’t worry if the temperatures aren’t in this range every day; the temperature range is just the ideal. The important point is that the bulbs are in a cool, not freezing, place to root. A refrigerator is perfect. Tip: Before moving the potted bulbs to the next stage, look at the drainage holes in the pots. Roots should be growing out of the holes; if they aren’t, put the potted bulbs back into a cool, dark area until they are. One of the most common ways people fail in this game is by not allowing the bulbs to root sufficiently before going to the next stage. Alternatively, the bulbs may be ready to come out of the big chill when you see at least an inch of top growth and the bulbs don’t move when you try to wiggle them by hand. After the bulbs are well-rooted, you can move them to the growing-on phase, where the foliage starts to grow and the eventually bulb blooms. First, you want the bulbs to adjust to warmer temperatures and higher light, so place the rooted bulbs in their containers in a cool, bright spot that’s around 60°F for a few weeks. Remember to keep the soil lightly moist. Next, move the bulbs to an area that’s slightly warmer — mid to high 60s — and very bright to finish the plant’s growing-on cycle. A sunny, south-facing windowsill is fine. Turn the pots a quarter turn each day; otherwise, the stems will lean toward the light. You can also place the bulbs so their foliage is a few inches from a two-tube, or preferably four-tube, fluorescent light fixture.
The bulbs should bloom in about three to four weeks. The blossoms will last longer if you move the bulbs to a spot that’s cool (in the lower 60s) and not quite as bright (without direct sunlight).

Planting summer-blooming bulbs

Most summer-bloomers, such as gladioli, calla lilies, dahlias, tuberous begonias, and crocosmias, love warm soil and toasty summer sun. If you garden in a mild climate (Zones 8 to 10), you can plant these bulbs in the early spring and expect flowers by summer. If you garden in a colder area, early spring planting isn’t feasible. Instead, wait until late spring or early summer — the same time locals plant tomatoes outside — or start bulbs early indoors in a warm spot and care for them until danger of frost has passed; then you can move the plants outdoors. In either case, regular doses of all-purpose fertilizer (applied according to label directions) can nudge your plants into faster, more robust growth and more and better flowers.
To get flowers earlier and longer from these summer bloomers, visit a nursery in late spring or early summer (or place your order then with a mail-order house, either via catalog or Web site) and buy a larger, pre-started plant.

When to plant bulbs

Bulbs aren’t instant-gratification plants. They need some time in the ground before they send forth stem, foliage, and flowers. But they’re not inert when they’re in the ground, of course. They’re generating root growth, which will help nourish the show as well as anchor the plants in place. The following sections explain what different types of bulbs require, depending on when they bloom.

Planting spring-blooming bulbs
Spring-blooming bulbs require a chilling period. They’re dormant when you get them and break dormancy only after the chilling. Winter conveniently supplies this necessary cold period! That’s why you put the bulbs in the ground the fall before you want them to bloom.

Purchasing bulbs through mail-order

Sometimes you just don’t have enough time to get to a retail store or you want a particular variety of bulb that’s not commonly found in your local garden center or home supply store. This is where buying from a mail-order supplier can be a real advantage.
Here are the perks of sending away for your bulbs:

• Quality: Mail-order bulbs are frequently bigger and fresher. Every step of the way, from climate-controlled storage to the cushioned box they arrive at your door in, mail-order bulbs get premium treatment.
  
• Selection: Catalogs and Web sites devoted especially to bulbs are impressive: You can browse beautiful bulbs you’ve never seen at your local garden center. The selection of cutting-edge varieties also comes into play, because bulb merchants often work directly with Dutch growers to get the new and improved bulb varieties that sometimes aren’t produced in enough quantity to be distributed by mass merchants.

Take a look at the disadvantages:

• Wait time: There’s a lag between the time you place your order and the day you receive your bulbs. When you order the bulbs matters. If you order bulbs in spring or summer to be sent the coming fall, you may wait many weeks. It you order them in the fall, delivery usually just takes a few weeks, sometime less. Wait time also depends on the supplier. If the seller has the bulbs in his or her warehouse in the U.S., the bulbs are usually shipped faster than if they have to be sent to you directly from Holland.
• Inability to inspect the merchandise: You can’t handle or inspect your bulbs until they arrive. However, all reputable mail-order suppliers guarantee their wares and will replace bulbs or refund your money if the bulbs don’t meet your expectations. Find and read the guarantee and return policies, just in case you have to use them.