Planting Spring-Blooming Bulbs Under My Pergola
It’s time to plant all those spring-blooming bulbs!
Every autumn we plant thousands and thousands of bulbs here at my Bedford, New York farm. Last week, we started planting in various beds including my beautiful pergola garden - one of the first areas I see when I drive into my property. We planted Camassia and several Allium cultivars. Many of our bulbs are from Colorblends Wholesale Flowerbulbs - a third generation flower merchant in nearby Bridgeport, Connecticut. I always find it exciting to plant bulbs in the fall that you won't see for many months to come - it's such a wonderful surprise of color when they bloom in spring.
Enjoy these photos and bulb-planting tips.
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- If you haven’t yet planted your spring-blooming bulbs, this is the time to do it. Every year, I order lots of bulbs in batches of 50, 100, 500, and a thousand. These bulbs are from Colorblends – they come in these breathable sacks and crates.
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- The Colorblends facility is housed in an old factory originally built in 1879. Colorblends has been selling bulbs for more than 50-years.
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- The Colorblends warehouse is large and filled with all kinds of bulbs that arrive from the Netherlands in early fall. Most of them are already packaged and ready to ship. While Colorblends does handle some bulb order pickups, the company mainly ships bulbs to customers from online catalog orders and by phone.
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- Everything is neatly stacked and organized by type. Once the bulbs are ready, they are delivered according to a planting map. After the first frost in one’s area, bulbs can be planted safely for about two months.
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- Everything is done by hand at Colorblends. The bulbs are all inspected for each order and hand packed. Then, they are shipped off directly to professionals and ambitious residential gardeners – all in time for planting season.
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- Fernando Ferrari lives just a few minutes from the Colorblends facility, so he picks up our bulb order every year. Once our bulbs arrive at the farm, each crate and bag is properly labeled and grouped depending on where they will be planted. Each variety is also checked off on a master inventory list to ensure we picked up everything we ordered for the season.
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- One of the first areas we plant is the long pergola garden across the carriage road from my beautiful bald cypress trees- look at the gorgeous russet brown colored fall foliage of these trees.
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- There are several different tools used for planting bulbs depending on the size of the bulb. Here we have traditional long handled bulb planters made with powder-coated steel. The six inch barrel is perfect for planting most bulbs and has a 37 inch long handle for planting ease. We also use the shorter bulb planters – each crew member has his favorite tool.
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- Using the stand-up bulb planter, Phurba makes holes all along the bed.
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- This tool is best for planting larger bulbs that need to be buried at least six-inches deep.
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- Because the pergola garden is long, this bed will need hundreds of bulbs to fill it. Most bulbs do best in full sun with at least six hours of direct sunlight a day and well-drained soil.
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- Brian uses a stainless steel bulb planter drill attachment that pulls the soil out in a “core sample” type plug that can easily be dropped right back into the hole to cover the bulb.
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- In general, holes should be three times deeper than the bulb’s length.
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- We always add Bulb-tone to our nutrient-rich soil. The food should be a balanced fertilizer that has a good amount of phosphorous. Fertilizing spring-blooming bulbs also helps them fight off diseases and pests.
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- We also add Bone Meal fertilizer – a meal or powder made from ground up animal bones. It is used to increase phosphorus in the garden, which is essential for plants to flower.
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- Ryan mixes both in one trug bucket before sprinkling over the entire length of the garden bed.
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- Next, Ryan places all the bulbs for this area into a wheelbarrow. This batch includes Camassia and Alliums.
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- Camassia is a genus of plants in the asparagus family native to Canada and the United States. Common names include camas, quamash, Indian hyacinth, camash, and wild hyacinth. They grow to a height of 12 to 50 inches and vary in color from pale lilac or white to deep purple or blue-violet. (Photo courtesy of Colorblends)
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- Allium ‘Globemaster’ is a tall allium that blooms in early summer with six-inch diameter rose-purple globes. ‘Globemaster’ is among the tallest of the giant Alliums. (Photo courtesy of Colorblends)
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- ‘Purple Sensation’ alliums are four-inch globes of rich purple flowers on tall stems. Also this year, we’re planting Allium ‘Atlas’ and Allium ‘Firmament.’ (Photo courtesy of Colorblends)
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- Ryan mixes all the bulbs, so they can be planted randomly. This will allow them to look more natural when they bloom. In general, when positioning bulbs in a garden bed, consider color, size of plant and time of bloom. This bed is already established with Camassia and Alliums.
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- When purchasing bulbs, always look for those that are plump and firm, and avoid those that are soft. These bulbs from Colorblends are in great condition. Bulbs come in a variety of sizes depending on the flower – the bigger the bulb the more time it has to grow and the bigger the flower bloom.
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- True bulbs can be either tunicate, with a papery covering or non-tunicate without the covering. This is a tunicate bulb. On many bulbs, it is also easy to see which end is the top and which end has the roots.
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- One by one, each bulb is carefully placed in a hole, with the pointed end faced up, or root end faced down. This is very important, so the plant grows properly from the bulb.
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- Here is a bulb inside the hole – at least several inches down.
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- Brian backfills the hole to completely bury the bulb. There are already many other bulbs planted here, so the crew is very careful when planting additional bulbs in this space. Once all the bulbs are planted, the area is raked, so it looks neat and tidy.
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- There are hundreds and hundreds more to get in the ground, but I am glad the weather has allowed us a good head start this season. I cannot wait to see the fruits of our labor, and the swaths of color that will emerge in spring.
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