Gardening Lasting beauty After a winter away or possibly spent close to home fires, everyone looks forward to a vibrant display of spring bulbs. Their flowers make a strong showing in the first and second years, but dwindle in subsequent spring seasons. Eventually, this energy is depleted and foliage of tulips and narcissus come up ‘blind’, producing leaves with no flower buds. Then new bulbs are purchased and planted in autumn, providing a strong showing for perhaps another two years. This lack of long-term performance can be remedied by understanding what bulbs need. They want to be deadheaded before seeds form, and fertilized (with a granular fertilizer for perennials) in spring just when the flowers are finished, but the green foliage is still standing. (The leaves should be allowed to stand until at least half brown.) And they need to be planted in soil that will be moist in spring, but dry in summer to avoid rotting the bulbs. Planting bulbs in a flower bed that will be watered through summer is a sure way to invite infection by fungus diseases. Bulbs are better planted near shrubs and anywhere that not too much summer irrigation is available. However, there are some bulbs that can withstand moderately moist soils, and will continue to return for a decade, or even longer! The large category of perennial Darwin tulips contains a rainbow of colour selections that bloom on tall stems through May. In the same month, the charming bells of scilla sibericawill spread to form blue carpets in planting areas, and eventually into lawns. (Not to worry, the short scilla foliage will die down and disappear quickly.) Glory-of-thesnow (Chionodoxa forbessii) is another of the long-lived and spreading small spring bulbs with upturned blue-and-white flowers. These beautiful spring bulb displays will last for so many seasons that you won’t remember when you planted them. Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa forbessii) Scilla siberica CSANews | FALL 2021 | 51
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