Planting and Caring for Flower Bulbs

Article by: Michael McGroarty

There is nothing quite as welcome as those beautiful , Clematis Care spring flowers , Annuals - 5 Easy To Grow s that seem to emerge from nowhere to welcome the arrival of spring. , Bonsai trees Mastery - Different styles in Bonsai Gardening Bulb , Handcrafted Garden Bridges Builds Traditional Arched Span Bridges with Modern Flair type flowers , Grey Water- Not Drinking Water- For Your Garden are really unique plants, , Dangers in the Garden: Animals because they spend most of their days resting quietly beneath the surface of the soil. , Save Your Fish -- Heron-Proof Your Pond Then right on schedule, up they come, full of bloom and vigor, and then almost as fast as they came, they go. Except for the green , Bonsai trees Mastery - Different styles in Bonsai Gardening leafy part of the plant , Garden for Birds #4 that tends to linger longer than we would like them to.

Despite their short bloom time and unattractive foliage after the blooms are gone, they are still a wonderful addition to any landscape. , Some Simple Gardening Tips to keep your Garden Tip-Top after the Winter Months But how should you care for them? First let's talk about how to , Light Up the Night! Quick Facts about Outdoor Lighting use them in your landscape. , Kirengeshoma palmata Flowers , US State Flags of all kinds are best when planted in groupings. Many people buy 25 or 50 bulbs , A Look at Planting Flower s and just go around the yard , 7 Tips for Creating Fresh Hydrangea Bouquets planting helter skelter. That's fine if that's what you want, but when planted that way they tend to blend in with the landscape , Mower Safety - Blood On The Blade! and really don't show up well at all. When you plant , Keep It Tidy! Your Home Outdoors Will Look Its Very Best When You Use Good Storage Methods! them in large groups they are a breathtaking showpiece.

In the early spring , The Endearing Language of Flowers start thinking about where you would like to create a bed , Grey Water- Not Drinking Water- For Your Garden for flower , A Garden Pond in Your Landscape - Want Water in Your Yard? bulbs. Prepare the bed , Water Gardens by raising it with good rich topsoil, and if at all possible add some well composted cow manure. Do this in the spring , Replacing Tree Blossoms with Hanging Baskets while you are in the gardening , Growing Great Strawberries mood; you may not be in the fall. , Water Gardens Over the summer , How to Rid that Lawn of Thatch! fill the bed , A Garden Pond in Your Landscape - Want Water in Your Yard? with annual flowers , Trends and Styles of Patio Furniture to keep the weeds , Starting a Shade Garden... down, and to pretty up your yard , Starting With Cuttings for the summer. , Easy Landscaping and Curb Appeal for Florida Homes Come fall , Patio Covers all you have to do is pull out the annuals , Secrets To Beautiful Shade Gardens and plant , Are You New To Organic Gardening your bulbs , Kirengeshoma palmata to the depth recommended on the package.

If you think you could have a problem with squirrels digging up the bulbs , Are You New To Organic Gardening and eating them, you can also wrap the bulbs , Secrets To Beautiful Shade Gardens in steel wool, leaving just the tip , Water Gardens of the bulb , Soil Plus Compost Equals Lush Healthy Plants exposed so it can grow , Replacing Tree Blossoms with Hanging Baskets out of the little wire cage you've created. Or you can just plant , Starting With Cuttings the bulbs , Patio Covers and then cover the bed , Keeping Houseplants Alive During Summer Vacation Droughts with chicken wire or plastic , Preformed Pond Liners fencing until the bulbs , Save Your Fish -- Heron-Proof Your Pond start to grow , Easy Landscaping and Curb Appeal for Florida Homes in the spring. , Garden Sheds

When the bulbs , Mower Safety - Blood On The Blade! come up in the spring , Composting and Composters: A Basic Introduction and start blooming, you should clip off the blooms as they start to wither. This keeps the bulb , Keep It Tidy! Your Home Outdoors Will Look Its Very Best When You Use Good Storage Methods! from producing seeds, , Lawn Mowers Guide - Cut a Fine Figure of Your Lawn which requires a lot of energy, , Garden Sheds and you want the bulb , 7 Tips for Creating Fresh Hydrangea Bouquets to use all of its available energy , The Endearing Language of Flowers to store food , Soil Plus Compost Equals Lush Healthy Plants in preparation for the bulb's resting period. Once the bulbs , 7 Tips for Creating Fresh Hydrangea Bouquets are completely done blooming you don't want to cut off the tops until they are withered and die back. The million dollar question is how to , Garden Sheds treat the tops until that happens.

Many people bend them over and slip a rubber band over them, or in the case of bulbs , Dangers in the Garden: Animals like Daffodils tie them with one of the long leaves. This seems to work because it is a very common practice among many experienced gardeners. However, Mike is about to rain on the parade.

I strongly disagree with this theory because back about 6th grade we learned about photosynthesis in science class. To recap what we learned, and without going into the boring details, photosynthesis is the process of the plant , A Garden Pond in Your Landscape - Want Water in Your Yard? using the sun's rays to make food , Some Simple Gardening Tips to keep your Garden Tip-Top after the Winter Months for itself. The rays from the sun , Secrets To Beautiful Shade Gardens are absorbed by the foliage and the food , Outdoor Furniture: Exploring the Benefits of Teak making process begins. In the case of a flower , Handcrafted Garden Bridges Builds Traditional Arched Span Bridges with Modern Flair bulb this food , Garden for Birds #4 is transported to the bulb , Some Simple Gardening Tips to keep your Garden Tip-Top after the Winter Months beneath the ground and stored for later use.

So basically the leaves of the plant , The Perfect Fern for Shady Gardens are like little solar , Zucchini: A Power House of Nutrition panels. Their job is to absorb the rays from the sun , Organic Hydroponics - Simplified to begin the process known as photosynthesis. If we fold them over and handcuff them with their hands behind their back, they are not going to be able to do their job. It's like throwing a tarpaulin over 80% of a solar , Growing Great Strawberries panel.

In order for the leaves to absorb the rays from the sun, , Lawn Mowers Guide - Cut a Fine Figure of Your Lawn the surface of the foliage has to be exposed to the sun. , Free Landscaping Ideas - How To Correctly Plant a Tree On top of that, when you bend the foliage over, you are restricting the flow of nutrients to the bulb. , The Perfect Fern for Shady Gardens The veins in the leaves and the stem are a lot like our blood vessels. If you restrict them the flow stops.

You decide. I've presented my case. Bending them over seems to work, but I've spent a lot of money on my bulbs. , US State Flags I want them running at full speed. What I do is clip the blooms off once they are spent, and just leave the tops alone until they are yellow and wilted. If they are still not wilted when it's time to plant , Secrets To Beautiful Shade Gardens my annual flowers, , Grey Water- Not Drinking Water- For Your Garden I just plant , The Tools You'll Need for Gardening the annuals , Teak Furniture: The Premier Outdoor Furniture in between the bulbs. , Handcrafted Garden Bridges Builds Traditional Arched Span Bridges with Modern Flair As the bulbs , Clematis Care die back the annuals , Real Men Use Reel Mowers tend to grow , Preformed Pond Liners and conceal them. If one shows through I clip it off. It seems to work well for me.

Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his excellent gardening , 7 Tips for Creating Fresh Hydrangea Bouquets newsletter.

Michael J. McGroarty has more than 30 years experience in the landscape , Garden Sheds gardening/nursery industry. He's spent the better part of his life on his hands and knees in the dirt working with plants , Organic Hydroponics - Simplified and his hands-on experience allows Mike to write in a manner than many gardeners find to be helpful and beneficial.

You are welcome to use this article on your website or in your newsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including the contact information , Organic Hydroponics - Simplified at the end. Website URLs must be active links. You are welcome to use this article with an affiliate link, http://www.freeplants.com/resellers.htm

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