Essay: Hope Springs Eternal with Hardy Flower Bulbs

CANTON TOWNSHIP, FILLMORE COUNTY — Planting flower bulbs in the fall that will not bloom until the following spring is one of the least pleasant tasks to get through in the gardening year. In this instant gratification world, you are definitely going against the grain with tulip and daffodil bulbs.

The inspiration first comes many months before you can do a thing about it. Desire is ignited by the sight of someone else’s springtime patch of cheerful crocus or snowdrops blooming through the snow.

Tiny white snowdrops above a layer of old oak leaves. (Photo by Loni Kemp)

Or a dazzling stand of red tulips set off by their green leaves makes the heart respond, and you suddenly want that in your garden.

I want that color. I want that combination of white and pink. I want early blooms.

Yet there is not a thing you can do in spring to make it happen right then.

Tall stems of orangish red tulips sway above leaves left over from last fall. (Photo by Loni Kemp)

One must wait for the bulb catalogs to arrive in midsummer, and keep them piled up somewhere, so you can search the house for them in a panic come October, when it is finally time to place an order. Online ordering can come to the rescue. However, shipping only happens at the proper fall moment.

The wide variety of these cold hardy bulbs will make it hard to choose. Tried and true heirloom and non-hybrid varieties often are more cold-hardy and reliable than fancy new introductions.

Pale purple stripes on white crocuses in this early spring bloom. (Photo by Loni Kemp)

Just when one’s grief of summer’s passing is about worked through, and you’ve turned your back on the garden to take up winter indoor pastimes, the box of bulbs arrives.

It always seems to come on a raw and windy November day, and the label on the box shouts to open immediately and plant as soon as possible.  Since snow is in the air, you know they are not kidding. Yet trudging out to the cold dead garden is the last thing you feel like doing.

More challenging than the actual digging is often figuring out where to dig. The flower beds are now a sea of brown dead plants, and the woodland gardens are buried under a sea of leaves.

Where are the dormant perennial plants? Where is there room to tuck in tulip bulbs? Where did I want more color anyway?

A collection of red and yellow tulips emerge in the woodland to greet spring. (Photo by Loni Kemp)

A woodland or shrub area is ideal because the plants benefit from early sunshine before trees unfurl their leaves, and then after blooming these early plants simply disappear.

In a sunny garden, early tulips and daffodils will fade away after their glorious bloom time, leaving room for summer plants to fill in.

Crisp white daffodils with pale yellow centers bow their heads over green stems. (Photo by Loni Kemp)

Some people love an orderly row of spring tulips, but I prefer to dig one hole for each dozen bulbs of a single variety, to concentrate the show. Plunge in the shovel, add compost, bury the bulbs pointed end up, about six inches deep and apart, and then top off the soil with some leaves.

There will be no trace of what you’ve just done, so mark the location with stakes. Then simply walk away until next spring. There will be a blanket of snow over your plants for the long winter. Talk about lack of gratification.

A bouquet of freshly picked daffodils graces the windowsill on a rainy spring day. (Photo by Loni Kemp)

Yet all winter long, while you’ve almost forgotten about them, those bulbs are slowly sending roots down into the cold soil, preparing for their moment of glory. Indeed, spring bulbs actually require a cold period.

If the bulbs were good quality, and the mice don’t find them, and if spring comes slowly enough that the buds don’t freeze, then those first brave flowers will bring an enjoyment so intense that you’ll catch your breath in gratitude, and know it was worth the effort.

Spring blooms emerge, creating a colorful view from inside. (Photo by Loni Kemp)

Hardy bulbs can be extremely long lasting, continuing to rise up and multiply year after year with no work at all from the gardener, if conditions are good. Some of my daffodils and tulips have returned and spread for forty years!

Red tulips grow up through bright green ferns. (Photo by Loni Kemp)

I’d say an hour or two of digging in the freezing wet earth in November will be well worth it.