Flowering bulbs are an important addition to any landscape or garden. There are many species adapted to Illinois, and they provide a great variety of bloom color, flowering times, plant height and shape. Bulbs can be used in many ways to add great effect and enjoyment to the landscape.
Like trees and shrubs, fall is the best time to plant flowering bulbs in the landscape. Though most bulbs can be stored in the refrigerator and planted in the spring, fall planting allows for best root growth and establishment, site and environmental acclimation and timely bloom. Also soils in the fall are usually drier, and can be worked and amended more easily.
Before you plant, it is important to spend some time planning how to use bulbs in your landscape setting. You can use simple hand sketching or one of the many landscape design computer programs to develop a planting plan. Planning provides perspective on the overall landscape, and helps determine how many bulbs should be ordered to fit the area planned. Good planning also coordinates bloom colors with other flowering plants in the landscape. In addition, it provides a record of where these plants are. This can be important as leaves die-back after blooming and you may desire to inter-plant perennials, shrubs or annuals in the same location. Accidently digging or tilling into a bulb planting can damage existing bulbs and affect future flowering.
There are many ways bulbs can be used in the landscape:
Mass Plantings: Bulbs are most commonly planted massed in display beds, and often inter-planted with annuals for season-long effect and use of the bed. Planting bulbs of one variety or color in mass will provide the best visual impact, providing uniform color and texture. Do not plant bulbs in a single straight row or in a single circle around a tree or bush, except for a very formal garden purpose. Bulbs always look better when they are planted in mass.
Naturalizing: Bulbs can be naturalized into a variety of settings. They offer an effective display when planted in woodland and grassy area settings or in small groups under a flowering or specimen tree in the landscape. Naturalizing is an attempt to imitate nature with bulb plantings. Plants don't grow in a single straight line in nature, but rather in irregular masses. For naturalizing use a pattern of irregular clumps scattered over the landscaped area. For wooded areas it is important that early blooming species and varieties are used. These will have time to bloom and develop foliage before shade becomes too heavy. Some bulbs that perform well under trees and shrubs include: grape hyacinths, crocus, winter aconites, snowdrops, siberian squill, leucojums, bluebells and early maturing daffodils. For naturalizing, small spring bulbs should be planted in groups of at least fifty bulbs or more to have impact. Fewer bulbs equates to less impact.
Landscape Beds: In a foundation planting near the house, bulbs can be planted with deciduous and evergreen shrubs, or in any open area in the bed. Bulbs should not be planted under evergreens, as they will be too shaded for proper growth, but in front where the shrubs provide a rich, green backdrop for contrast. In open landscape spots, plant at least a dozen bulbs as a small group for best effect. By selecting spring bulbs to match blooming dates of shrubs, they can also provide a color contrast with early flowering shrubs such as forsythia or flowering quince, or flowering trees like crabapple, bradford pear or redbud.
As a Border or Edging: Bulbs can be used to define landscape borders and edges. Use low growing bulbs such as grape hyacinths or small daffodils. Smaller bulbs should be viewed close-up and should be planted along sidewalks, patios or entry ways to the home. A border of bulbs can be planted along the edge of the lawn to add color and interest to the area.
Perennial Beds: Spring bulbs can be part of a perennial bed and used to add early spring color before most perennials start to flower. Be sure to locate the bulbs in the planting bed so the dying foliage will not be noticed, and map the locations of bulb groupings so they are not disturbed as the perennial bed is managed.
Groundcover beds: Some bulbs can be planted with low growing ground covers such as ajuga, violets, vinca minor or english ivy. The ground cover should be no more than half the height of the bulb flower. Groundcover has the advantage of supporting bulb stems and protecting flowers from soil splashed by rain or a sprinkler.
Slopes: Steep slopes in the landscape are difficult to mow and maintain. Daylilies are a good choice for slopes. They have a fibrous root system that can greatly reduce erosion and they establish quickly and compete well with weeds. By using colorful daylilies, the problem of mowing is eliminated in that area of the landscape.
These are just a few examples of how bulbs can be effectively used and the many purposes they can serve in the overall landscape. For more information on choosing and using bulbs in the home landscape visit the University of Illinois Extension website "Bulbs and More" at: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/bulbs/
