Ranunculus flowers almost look too good to be real. These are an easy to grow Spring Bulb
Bulbs, corms and tubers are all sometimes erroneously referred to as bulbs. The technical term for plants that form underground storage organs is geophyte. All these types of plants cycle through vegetative and reproductive growth stages; the bulb grows to flowering size during the vegetative stage and the plant flowers during the reproductive stage.
These plants need certain conditions to trigger the transition from one stage to the next, such as the shift from a cold winter to warm spring.
Due to the bulb, corm or tuber being a storage device, these plants can also survive adverse conditions such as cold, excessive heat, lack of light or drought.
The foliage of these plants absorb nutrients from the soil and energy from the sun for setting flowers for the next year. After the foliage period is complete, bulbs can be dug up for replanting elsewhere.
I just love the idea of my garden bursting with colour and scent in the Spring, like they do down south or overseas, but sadly, Spring flowering bulbs in South East Queensland just don’t really live up to the expectation.
Hippeastrum reticulatum var. striatifolium
Don’t despair though, we can still plant some beautiful bulbs, corms, and tubers, we just have to accept that our choices are different to the southern states. We can still grow tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, ranunculus and anemone here in South East Queensland. It's just they will never grow like they do down south or in Europe. They usually only flower for just one season and we treat them the same as other flowering annuals such as marigolds, pansies or petunias.
If you want bulbs that will naturalise and come up year after year in your garden and pots, you can happily choose bulbs such as Freesias, Ixia, Sparaxis, Jonquils, Babiana, Tritonia, Leucojum aestivum, Eucharis, Sprekelia, Zephyranthes, Rex Begionas or Proiphys cunninghamii (Brisbane Lily). Don't forget we also have some great summer bulbs/corms/tubers like Hippeastrums, Scadoxus, Haemanthus, Caladiums and ornamental Gingers. We are slowly building up our bulb collection here at Trevallan… SHOP BULBS HERE
When I am looking for new bulbs to plant out, I like to look for flowering bulbs native to South Africa, as I find these do a lot better in South East Queensland.
In my quest to achieve a garden that comes alive with flowering bulbs, I asked Claire Bickle from Gardening for the GoodLife to give me a few tips on how to achieve this daunting task!
Claire Bickle's Tips for Growing Bulbs
Place larger bulbs, such as jonquils, hyacinths, daffodils and tulips in a paper bag in the crisper drawer of the fridge for 4-6 weeks before planting. This gives them the chill down they would not otherwise receive in our mild autumns.
Ranunculus corms are best spread out on a thick wad of wet newspaper and covered with another reasonably damp wad overnight before planting the next day. This helps the corms to swell and get ready for shooting once planted.
If growing in pots, use a good quality potting mix and ensure the pots have good drainage. Shallow pots work quite well too and remember some bulbs can be planted closely together.
You can fertilise the soil with Organic Link when planting, but there is no need to start fertilising with liquid fertiliser until they have some growth. Then I alternate fortnightly feeds between Triple Boost and Potash and Silica.
When the bulbs have finished flowering, don’t be tempted to cut all the foliage off. Leave it to die down naturally, as this is how the bulb draws back in all it’s nutrients to store away until the next season.
A range of spring flowering bulbs
I am very excited - the bulb garden of my dreams may just be achievable if I change the way I view my end goal. This year I've bought myself a mixture of bulbs like Gladiolus, Iris, Jonquils and Ranunculus and I have interplanted them amongst my annuals like poppies, pansies and lobelia. I can't wait to try out Claire's tips and see what comes up this and hopefully, next year. One thing about gardening which is for sure though is that it's never the same!