We haven’t had a hard freeze yet, so there’s still time to plant.
This autumn’s relatively warm weather has pushed the deadline for putting tulip and daffodil bulbs, and even garlic, in the ground or in pots.
Flower bulbs can be found at most home and garden stores.
But if you want to buy local, it’s worth the trip to Skagit Valley to buy climate-tested, hardy bulbs that will produce brilliant colors in the spring.
Washington Bulb Co., located between Mount Vernon and La Conner, is one of the world’s largest flower bulb producers.
The Roozen family moved from the Netherlands to Skagit Valley in the 1950s to establish their farm, and Washington Bulb is now run by the second generation.
The Roozens and several other families in the valley are the reason for the annual Tulip Festival, which draws throngs of people mesmerized by the acres and acres of flowers.
The company’s retail store, RoozenGaarde, offers single bulbs for sale or you can buy sacks of bulbs at a bulk-rate discount.
We recently paid $21 for 50 “Yellow Cheerfulness” daffodil bulbs and $18.75 for 50 “Ile de France” tulip bulbs, which will produce deep red flowers.
The folks at RoozenGaarde said these varieties have a good chance of naturalizing or spreading and will be OK should the weather forecasters be proved wrong and it actually gets cold this winter.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
Planting tips
Leave them in a cool, dry place until planting day.
If planting in the ground, loosen your soil. Flower bulbs need good drainage and will rot in areas that hold water. In clay soils, common in our area, it helps to add some coarse sand. It doesn’t hurt to add slow-release fertilizer, too, but it’s not necessary.
Tulips and daffodils look best when they are planted in groups. People may tell you to plant the bulbs about 5 inches apart, but it doesn’t hurt to space them closer together. That’s what the people at RoozenGaarde do.
Most bulbs need to be planted around 6 inches deep. Using a garden trowel helps keep each hole small. Place roots down.
Water once. The rain will take over. Do not use cedar bark as mulch. Plant some pansies or violas on top instead.
Daffodils are more likely to naturalize than tulips. It’s delightful to see daffodils blooming each spring in a wooded area of a garden. The Washington Bulb folks recommend that you take tulips out of the ground in late June and store them in a cool dry spot until the fall. However, it’s worth it to experiment with the bulbs you plant to see if they will divide and keep on producing.
If you are filling a container for a mixed bloom, put your daffodils in first and your tulips on top. Space the bulbs just 1 or 2 inches apart for a good display. Again, pansies planted on top are a nice cover until the bulbs begin to bloom.
In the spring, clip off the tulip blooms when the petals begin to fall. Daffodils don’t need to be topped. Leave the foliage alone until it gets yellow or brown.
Garlic tips
Garlic, the edible bulb, needs to go into the ground in the fall, too. Some people try to plant it in the spring, but it just doesn’t work as well.
You can use the garlic you buy in the grocery. Take a clove, leave the skin on, put the root side down about 3 inches in your garden plot. Space other cloves about 6 inches apart. Cover with a light mulch of straw.
In the spring, remove the mulch.
When it flowers, you can stir fry and eat the garlic scapes. When the foliage dies back, you can harvest the garlic.
Plant bulbs. Wait. Enjoy.
— Gale Fiege, The Herald
Info
RoozenGaarde: 15867 Beaver Marsh Road, Mount Vernon; 1-866-488-5477; www.tulips.com
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