Lay My Hat

It's time to pray for beautiful sunshine and spring weather, as here in Umbria we've hardly seen the sun since the beginning of December.

Anyway...... I've never used bulbs before, but last year separated those planted by a previous owner and stored them in a dry, dark place. I only plonked them in the ground the other day, certain that it's the wrong time of year. Are they likely to grow & flourish?

Another question: Our very heavy rains washed some of the earth away which covered a set of the bulbs. Do I need to replace that earth so the bulbs are always covered?

Bulbs are pretty forgiving - perhaps a little bit early to take them out of their winter quarters but they should be OK. We have masses of tulips here - I never lift them but I leave the leaves that fall on teh borders to give everything a cosy blanket. We have a lot of canna too - these bulk up pretty quickly and can be divided - I don't lift them in winter just cut down the leaves and leave them on top i-until I think the night frosts have gone - again giving the tubers a blanket.

Fingers crossed for your bulbs.

Enid

Thanks. I found so many bulbs crushed together so divided them last year, not sure which time of the year, but after doing so had irises all over the garden.

A number of varieties of bulb were all planted in one small area and unless I dig out and separate some as they come up I can't tell which bulbs are which, iris, dafs, tulips etc.

I'm protecting many of them from the frost with fleece.

Considering the amount of colour they add to the garden, the fact that they come up year after year and can be propigated I think they must be good value for money so hope to buy some more bulbs this year. They also don't seem to need much watering.

Here' a site for you - although there are hundreds http://www.gaygardener.com/gardenspot/b-index.phtml

We have iris too. Another I like are day lilies -and we have dahlias too. You should get some canna.

Enid
Thanks for that link. I didn't know what cannas were, so looked them up. They're lovely, but they have to be dug up for the winter and that's too much work, certainly at the moment.

Will give the site further reading.

Well I don't dig mine up and we get hard frosts here - I just cut down the dead leaves and leave them until Feb/march to act as a frost protector. They flower on and on all summer -try them!

I certainly will if they come in pink or blue as they're rather lovely, thanks.

Do you think bulbs will work in Spain? That may sound like a daft question, but I've never seen daffs or tulips growing there, and I've visited Spain in every month of the year except January. We're just having a garden built on the terrace, and I'd love to try some traditional British Spring bulbs. Would they be a different season?

TC

May be too dry for them there

Enid was right, bulbs seem to be pretty tough, most of the ones which I moved from between a month to 2 weeks ago are budding now and some will open in the next couple of days. Most, if not all, which I moved seem to be dafs. I'm really surprised you can move a bulb only weeks before flowering, but I'm so pleased that I did. Thanks for the tip.

Topcat wrote:Do you think bulbs will work in Spain? That may sound like a daft question, but I've never seen daffs or tulips growing there, and I've visited Spain in every month of the year except January. We're just having a garden built on the terrace, and I'd love to try some traditional British Spring bulbs. Would they be a different season?

TC

Down this way we don't see many English spring flowers. Last autumn I planted tulips, daffs and snowdrops. Only one tulip is coming up, one daff and no snowdrops!! Mind you we've had and are now having sooooo much rain this winter they've probably gone soggy under the soil, poor things!

I have a clematis Piilu planted last April which is trying hard to bud now - another English choice, but on the whole English flowers have a problem down here.

I was over in the UK in the spring in 2003 and it was the first time for so many years and I delighted in all the beautiful colour of the many flowers I hadn't seen for so long.

My hibiscus give me summer colour but I'd love the English late winter early spring colour. My neighbours would enjoy it too

Tulips originally came from Turkey and in the 1600's were actually more valuable than gold...

Majority of plants seem to have their beginnings in China.

Re your bulbs Chianti yes you should cover them up if the rain exposes them.

Irises are tubers so easy to distinguish between other bulbs.

Iris is an knolly tuber. Tulips are a lovely even shape and quite often have a dark brown skin.

Daffs have a more uneven shape and a lighter skin and usually lot bigger unless narcissus.

If you keep them from being in standing water I don't see why they shouldn't flower - also don't let them bake in the soil in the summer - so try to put them in a shady well drained spot with a good loam soil - perhaps slightly sandy even.

Let us know what happens.

Yes, Topcat, you can grow bulbs here in Spain.
I have daffs, narcissi and little "blue things" - the tulips are nearly ready too.
We just leave them out all year, in pots or beds. They have sprung up now 4 th year running.
Cannas are beautiful here - lovely deep red ones and we leave ours out in the garden all winter too. I split them last year to make a second bed. They are a big wow with guests.
We are on the same climate band as Hawaii so you can grow most anything if you put your mind to it.

We have lovely dafs all the way down our drive here at the moment. They will look splendid in a couple of years when they spread. I think I got our gardener to plant them around October. The garden has been flooded several times this winter, but luckily they were planted on a slight rise, so got lots of water, but didn't actually drown.

Wish I was as clever as you all in getting spring bulbs to bloom.

So far, just one daff, one tulip and several freesias are about to bloom. No trace of the snowdrops I planted in November.

Do they need snow