Planting Bulbs Under My Pergola
It’s time to plant all those spring-blooming bulbs!
Every year, I plant thousands of spring-blooming bulbs here at my farm. Yesterday, my gardeners and outdoor grounds crew started planting in my pergola garden - one of the first areas I see when I drive into my property. They planted camassias and alliums. The 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 stay hidden underground for many months - it's such a wonderful surprise of color when they bloom in spring.
Enjoy these photos.
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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. This year, 10-thousand bulbs in all.
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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. While Colorblends does handle some bulb order pickups, the company mainly ships bulbs to customers from online catalog orders and by phone. 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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- Once at the farm, my head-gardener Ryan McCallister organizes them by type and groups them where they will be planted.
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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. The feathery needles look so pretty covering the ground.
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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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- Ryan sprinkles a generous amount of fertilizer first. I use Miracle-Gro. The food should be a balanced fertilizer that has a good amount of phosphorous. Fertilizing spring-blooming bulbs feeds and helps them fight off diseases and pests.
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- Here I like to plant lots of camassia and alliums. 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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- This is an allium bulb. 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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- Alliums are often overlooked as one of the best bulbs for constant color throughout the season. They come in oval, spherical, or globular flower shapes, blooming in magnificent colors atop tall stems. An allium flower head is a cluster of individual florets and the flower color may be purple, white, yellow, pink, or blue.
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- This is an elongated tunicate camassia bulb. And do you know… these bulbs are actually edible? Camassia bulbs were a major food source for some Native American tribes and early European Settlers, but they were very difficult to distinguish from other bulbs, which were deadly poisonous.
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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.
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- Ryan tosses the bulbs naturally along the entire length of the pergola garden. Where they fall is where they will be planted.
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- Using the stand-up bulb planter, Phurba is able to make holes faster without kneeling.
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- This tool is best for planting larger bulbs that need to be buried at least six-inches deep. He makes a hole just next to where the bulb was tossed.
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- One by one, each bulb is carefully placed into 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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- 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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- Ryan uses a stainless steel bulb planter drill attachment.
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- In general, holes should be three times deeper than the bulb’s length.
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- Each of these bulbs is planted in a hole at least six-inches deep. There are already many other bulbs planted here, so Phurba and Ryan are very careful when planting additional bulbs in this space.
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- Phurba works fast. He is able to get hundreds of bulbs planted in just a few hours.
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- The area will also get a covering of composted mulch made right here at the farm. 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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