Joan Swenson: You won't find me tiptoeing through tulips, but most bulbs work well
| Monday, Oct 06 2008 05:45 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 02:46 PM
I don’t believe I’ve ever planted a tulip. Or a hyacinth.
You have to love these flowers. Tulips are gorgeous, particularly in mass plantings in public gardens. Or when I catch a sweet whiff of a hyacinth, like the ones I grow in vases on my kitchen windowsill.
But plant them outdoors in Bakersfield? No, not me.
Tulips and hyacinths may look good the first year, but it’s not cold enough here to get them to properly bloom the following spring. Chilling the bulbs before planting is a good idea the first year because it encourages a longer stem. But the second year you’d have to dig, store, refrigerate and then plant the bulbs again. Too much work, unless you’re planting pots of tulips and hyacinths to use as accent pieces near doorways or on patios.
Still, there are many other bulbs that can be planted here that will reward you with more years of spring blooms. When you go shopping, no matter what you buy, buy the biggest bulbs available, which will make the difference between a wimpy bloom and a gorgeous display. Shop independent nurseries for the best bulbs.
Generally, large bulbs should be planted 6 to 8 inches deep and smaller bulbs 4 to 6 inches. Plant in groups, rather than in lines, for a more attractive result.
I would plant various types of daffodils, which can re-bloom here for a number of years.
There’s the classic King Alfred, big and all yellow, but shopping around will turn up many different shapes and colors, including daffodils with a variety of trumpet shapes and colors, including ruffles and double trumpets in shades from pink to deep orange. There are even some daffodils that are sweetly scented, like a gardenia. For best re-bloom, all members of the narcissus bulb family need good sun exposure.
Perhaps the best re-blooming bulb I’ve grown is freesia, which has survived many years in my yard. Freesias have a startlingly strong fragrance, spicy and sweet, more assertive than a sweet pea. This flower, with its waxy, slender trumpets on a curving stem, does well in the garden and is longer-lasting in the landscape and in a vase than my daffodils. Plus, it comes in a great range of colors, from pale, cool colors to rich jewel tones. It is less formal in appearance than a daffodil with its upright form, and it works nicely planted in front of daffodils. Freesia likes the sun, but can do well in a shaded spot, too.
Because Bakersfield has a quasi-Mediterranean climate, bulbs that come from the Mediterranean and South Africa do well here. Look for bright sparaxis, which has flowers that resemble smaller, finer gazanias to me, ranunculus and anemone. These flowers would prefer to have dry soil rather than constantly irrigated soil during the warm part of the year, so plant with care. Ranunculuses are gorgeous, reminding me of tissue paper flowers we made as children. The strange, claw-like bulbs — well, they’re not bulbs but tuberous roots — should be planted claws-down. Anemone flowers come in cool and dark shades of pink, blue, purple and red, and grow from a strange tuber that looks like a large, rock-hard raisin. I can’t figure which side is up and which is down, so planting it on the narrow side will avoid that question.
Dutch iris are infinitely reliable and I like them better than bearded iris, which are also available in the fall. While Dutch iris comes in fewer colors — shades of blue and purple, yellow, maroon and white — I like the delicate shape of the Dutch iris flower and the fact that the foliage will dry up and can be cut away once spring is past.
Other bulbs you’re likely to find in nurseries:
Grape hyacinth:Flowers resemble upright bunches of grapes best planted in the very front of a bed, so they can be easily seen. Will return year after year.
Crocus:Among the earliest of bloomers, in white and shades of blue and yellow. Among the shortest of bulbs, best planted at the front. A long-lived re-bloomer.
Summer snowflakes:The closest thing you can grow in Bakersfield to a lily of the valley, with dangling white bell-shaped flowers that naturalize well in a shaded bed.
Glory of the snow:Small blue flowers that naturalize well in lawns that are not clipped too closely in the spring; also nice in flower beds.
Watsonia:Similar in form and flower to gladiolus, watsonia are tough plants that can grow to be 4 or more feet tall and last in the landscape for many years.
ROSE SOCIETY MEETINGThe Kern County Rose Society will meet Monday at the Veterans Hall, 400 W. Norris Road. Socializing is from 6:30 to 7 p.m.; the meeting starts at 7 p.m. Jimmy Rogers from Kellogg’s Products will speak about organic materials for gardening.
