We have learned that we cannot easily plant spring-flowering bulbs directly into the garden during the fall planting season. Because we already have a large commitment to daffodils all around the property – if we were to swing a pick or use a shovel to attempt to plant more, we typically cut already planted dormant bulbs in half. That is not a fun gardening moment. You can buy potted spring-flowering bulbs in the spring at nurseries, but we find the selection is more limited than what you can find at the garden centers in the fall – regarding size, color, bloom time, and variety of bulbs. So, we buy the bulbs we want, and pot them up ourselves and winter them over. In the spring when everything has started to grow, and we are confident where there is room for more – we have these lovely potted bulbs ready to plant. I call this “using plants as throw pillows” – akin to decorating – wherever you need some color, or to fill in a gap – or just a change – you have the dexterity of using a ready to go plant of your choosing ready to go where you want it planted. You can also plant them in planters for a dramatic spring show, before planting your summer annuals – or in our case – our tropical agaves. There are many uses for potted spring bulbs.
We purchased purple mid-sized allium and mid-season 30″ pink tulips (on sale at Costco – I could not resist!) Put about 2 inches of soil into the bottom of a small plastic nursery pot and then add three to four bulbs in each pot. Then, cover with 5 inches of soil.
You will need to find somewhere in your garden to “sink” the pots in an even flat depression about 6 inches deep.
Place the pots into the depression and fill in around the pots with soil. Then cover with some wire mesh (protect from animals digging) and secure it with stones or any objects.
We will check back in spring to see how the bulbs wintered over and where we plant them!