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Summer Bulbs Require No Chill

Many bulbs are not actually bulbs.

Narcissus, including daffodil, started to bloom during all that earlier torrential rain. Those that bloomed after the rain stood up a bit better than those that started earlier. Crocus are stouter so are more resilient. Hyacinth are both relatively stouter and slightly later. While such spring bulbs contend with late wintry weather, it is about time to add summer bulbs.

Unlike spring bulbs that like to be in the garden early enough to benefit from winter chill, summer bulbs do not benefit from chill. Some actually dislike it. Also unlike spring bulbs, very few summer bulbs, or late bulbs, are actually bulbs. Almost all are rhizomes, tubers, tuberous roots, corms or other types of dormant but reliably perennial storage structures.

Summer bulbs do not grow through early winter to bloom later in winter or early in spring like spring bulbs do. They instead grow through late winter and early spring to bloom for late spring or summer. A few bloom for autumn. Several are more reliably perennial than the majority of spring bulbs. However, some bloom splendidly only for their first seasons.

Gladiolus is one of the most popular summer bulbs, but like many spring bulbs, it blooms only once annually, and is not reliably perennial. Planting in phases every two weeks or so through their planting season prolongs bloom. However, most corms do not survive to bloom for a second season. Those that do will synchronize for their subsequent blooms.

Dahlia blooms for a longer season from the middle of summer until the middle of autumn. Also, it is more reliably perennial. Tubers remain dormant through winter after stems and foliage die back. They generate new stems and foliage through warming spring weather. Overgrown or crowded tubers propagate efficiently and easily by division while dormant.

Summer bulbs are not quite as diverse as spring bulbs, but some types are too vigorous for much diversity. A few rhizomes of canna can become overwhelming within a year. Old fashioned white calla forms broad colonies that might exclude other perennials. Smaller and more colorful modern cultivars are fortunately docile. Crocosmia might get invasive, and is difficult to mitigate.

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Spring Bulbs Begin In Autumn

Spring bulbs are dormant through winter.

Crocus, daffodil, hyacinth, tulip, freesia, anemone and ranunculus will not bloom until the end of winter and early spring. They are spring bulbs or early bulbs. Crocus and daffodil, including the various narcissus, will be among the first to bloom. The others as well as a few types of iris will bloom a bit later. After they finish, summer bulbs will begin to bloom.

Although they will not bloom for a few months, spring bulbs go into the garden now while they are dormant. Visually, they are still unimpressive. They are even more uninteresting when hidden from view by interment. Their planting season appropriately begins prior to Halloween, and continues as long as they remain dormant and available from nurseries.

Spring bulbs generally bloom earlier within their bloom season after early planting within their planting season. Similarly, later planting delays bloom. Therefore, periodic planting of groups of the same bulbs throughout their planting seasons prolongs their subsequent bloom season. They begin to disperse roots and grow as soon as they are in the ground.

However, growth through the cool and rainy weather of winter remains subdued. Foliage should remain safely below the surface of the soil until warmer weather during the end of winter or beginning of spring. Like so many other plants in the garden, bulbs rely on chill to adjust their respective schedules after dormancy, but do not want to be vulnerable to it.

Winter is so mild here though that some spring bulbs do not experience sufficient chill to perform reliably as perennials. Daffodil, for example, can naturalize where it experiences more chill. Here, it may bloom best for its first spring, with less bloom annually afterward. Extensive breeding has also compromised the reliability of many perennial spring bulbs.

Some spring bulbs are actually corms, rhizomes, tubers or tuberous roots, which function much like bulbs. All are specialized storage structures that contain all that they require to survive through dormancy and then start growth for another season. They replenish their resources through subsequent active seasons to repeat the process perhaps indefinitely.

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Late Bulbs Require No Chill

Cannas grow after spring bulbs bloom.

Spring bulbs are making a comeback from their unceremonious internments last autumn. Some of the earlier sorts are visibly extending foliage above the surface of the soil. A few narcissus, daffodil and crocus are already blooming! Now it is time to plant late bulbs, or summer bulbs, which start to grow through warm spring weather, and bloom for summer.

Spring bulbs are generally the same as hardy bulbs of climates with cold winter weather. They are hardy to frost while dormant. Since chill is relatively mild locally, their hardiness is irrelevant. Conversely, some prefer more chill than they experience locally. Inadequate chill can compromise performance. Autumn planting maximizes their brief chill exposure. 

Late bulbs are completely different from spring bulbs. Not only do they not require chill to perform, but some dislike it. Many of the most popular late bulbs that can naturalize here succumb to frost elsewhere. Instead of early planting for chill, as spring bulbs prefer, late bulbs prefer late planting to avoid chill. Their foliage emerges after the last threat of frost.

However, although they do not need or even appreciate chill, most popular late bulbs are resilient to the minor chill of local climates. Once established, they simply die back to the ground in response to the first frost of autumn. They maintain dormancy through winter to regenerate for spring. Some repeat this process for years, since the soil does not freeze.

Not all late bulbs are actually bulbs. Most are corms, rhizomes, tubers, tuberous roots, or other bulb-like perennials. Some, such as dahlia and canna, bloom through an extensive season. Some, such as lily and gladiolus, bloom only once. Planting in phases for a few weeks prolongs their bloom. Of course, they will synchronize for any subsequent bloom.

Canna and common white calla are two of the most reliable late bulbs. Crocosmia is too reliable, and since it can be invasive, it is rarely available. Common gladioli and various lilies are spectacular in bloom, but not reliably perennial. Dahlia is a very rewarding and reasonably reliably perennial summer bulb. It is spectacularly variable in color, form and texture.

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Four O’Clock

Four o’clock is not obsessively punctual.

Most who enjoy four o’clock, Miribilis jalapa, do not grow it intentionally. It tends to sneak into gardens from outside, and then bloom too delightfully to be unwanted. It naturalizes, but not aggressively enough to be a weed. New seedlings develop tuberous roots during their first year. They regenerate to produce abundant seed as early as their second year.

Flowers are supposed to open at 4 o’clock. They may open earlier during warm or humid weather. They remain open through the night, and perhaps for part of the morning. Floral color ranges through white, yellow, orange, red, and many tints of pink. Flowers might be striped or spotted with the other colors. Individual plants might bloom with various colors. 

Mature four o’clock plants do not get much taller than three feet. They might sprawl twice as broad. Rich light green foliage is quite full, and obscures unexpectedly soft and lanky stems with knobby nodes. Bloom continues through most of summer, but decreases with increased seed development late in summer. All growth above ground succumbs to frost.

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Dragon Lily

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Dragon lily is striking and stinky.

Dracunculus vulgaris make a sinister impression by botanical name alone. Common names include dragon lily, dragon arum, dragonwort, black dragon, snake lily, stink lily and voodoo lily. That makes it sinister enough to be compelling. Although rare in nurseries, dormant tubers are available in season by mail order. Alternatively, established colonies happily share a few dormant tubers.

Dragon lily is quite easy to grow. It appreciates rich soil and regular watering, at least until it gets established. Once settled in, it might be satisfied with only monthly watering until it goes dormant in late summer. Because it prefers humid climates, it wants shelter from wind here, and may like a bit of partial afternoon shade. It is so adaptable that it unfortunately naturalized in some regions.

The fragrance of dragon lily attracts insect pollinators that are drawn to dead animals. Those of us who enjoy unusual plants find it amusing. Everyone else thinks it stinks. Blooms that produce the fragrance are spectacular, with a big and flared purplish red spathe around a slender black spadix. They may stand nearly three feet tall, among lightly blotched and deeply lobed palmate leaves.

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Autumn Is For Planting – Especially Bulbs

81024thumbAutumn is for planting. Cliche? Yes; but true. Autumn is when most plants are beginning dormancy, and are therefore not so bothered by the discomforts associated with transplant. The weather is cooler and wetter, so that even if they are bothered, such discomforts are not as discomforting as they would be in summer. Once in the ground, plants have a few months to recover before spring.

The two main exceptions to the rule that ‘autumn is for planting’ are plants that are sensitive to frost, and bare root plants. Plants that are sensitive to frost should obviously be planted after the last frost date, at the far end of winter. Bare roots plants do not wait that long, but should wait until they are completely dormant in mid winter before being dug, separated from their soil, and relocated.

Dormant bulbs and bulb like plants, including corms, rhizomes, tubers and tuberous roots, epitomize the autumn planting rule. They must be planted while dormant in autumn or winter. They arrive in nurseries about the same time that they should be planted into the garden. Spring blooming bulbs become available and should be planted earliest. Summer bulbs become available a bit later.

Daffodil, narcissus, tulip, crocus, hyacinth, grape hyacinth, freesia, anemone, ranunculus, montbretia, crocosmia, most lily and some types of iris will all want to get into the ground when the rain starts. Rain leaching through the soil around them, as well as cooler temperatures through winter, tell them what time of year it is, so that they will be ready to bloom when weather warms in spring.

Each type of bulb prefers to be planted at a particular depth. Bearded iris rhizomes want to be buried horizontally, just below the soil surface. As long as the latest get planted within their respective planting season, some types of bulbs can be planted in phases every week or two, so that a later phase starts to bloom as an earlier phase finishes. Daffodil, narcissus and especially grape hyacinth have the potential to naturalize and bloom annually. Montbretia and crocosmia can be downright invasive.

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Look What The River Washed In!

P80224KWhat is it?!?

Is it alive?

Was it alive?

Is it moving?

Should we roll it back into the river?

Can we eat it? Someone actually asked that.

It really is as big and ugly as it looks. That is a size 11 boot next to it to demonstrate how big it is. We can not eat it. There is no need to put it back into the river. It is not moving. It was alive, and still is. It is the distended tuberous root of a wild cucumber, of the genus Marah, which is also known as ‘manroot’ because of how big it can get. That stub protruding from the top (toward the top of the picture) is the remnant of a stem. A few thin roots protrude from the lower half, with thicker root stubs at the bottom.

This picture was taken last winter after the San Lorenzo River flooded and then receded. There has not been enough rain this year to wash more than leaves and a few pinecones downriver.

If this tuberous root had not been unearthed and scoured clean by floodwater, it would have been actively growing through winter. The surprisingly thin and wiry vines appear in autumn and climb with tendrils over shrubbery and small trees. The palmately lobed leaves are rather fragile, and tear easily. Loose clusters of small pale white flowers are followed by weirdly spiny round fruit that ripens from light green to greenish yellow. Each fruit is about the size of a golf ball, and contains a few big seeds. As the weather gets warm in summer, the vines die completely to the ground, leaving the drying fruit dangling from whatever the vines grew onto earlier.

Why can’t the river bring us something useful?