Thursday, August 14, 2008

Get your Crocus On!


Time to Get Your Crocus On!

If you haven’t already, you will soon see bulbs appearing in your favorite nurseries and home centers. One of my favorites (of course, they are all my favorites!) is the crocus, especially the purple crocus. This bulb is so easy to grow and growers will start shipping to Southern California in quantity around September 1. Get them in the garden soon after receiving them and you will have gorgeous blooms by March! One year I planted a little early and had blooms in February, after an unseasonably warm winter. Strange.

I’ve only had success with Tulips once and boy were they beautiful. They were orange with yellow stripes and stood tall and proud. I loved looking out my patio door and seeing the tulips beckoning me to my garden. I was told once that the reason tulips never did well for me was that our winters in Southern California were too warm and tulips needed cold in the winter in order to bloom in the spring. This is one of the reasons it’s recommended you put tulips in the refrigerator for 6 weeks before planting them….they actually WANT to be cold!

My all time favorite however are lilies. And Stargazers top my list. Spring is the time to plant those, and I just love the time when they finally bloom….the fragrance is out of this world! They smell like candy and look like a dream. They are super easy to grow as well.

To grow bulbs you don’t need fancy tools to dig a certain depth. Get out your trowel, a ruler and dig away. Pay attention to the instructions for the bulbs as to depth to plant them, or you may have trouble with them over time. Depth for bulbs is important.

Check out your local garden shops for fall bulbs and get to planting beginning in September. Your efforts will be well worth the rewards!

Happy Gardening!

Lore
Independent Garden Consultant
The Happy Gardener
http://www.thehappygardener.info/

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