Bulbs: Rock Garden Bulbs, 1 by Sally_Denver

Sally_Denver wrote:
Re: Rock Garden beginner info and bulbs for rocks gardens, and summer (bulb) bloomers.

I belong to the N. American Rock Garden Society and the Rocky Mountain Chapter of same. There is a fanatic crowd on Alpine-L (a list-serve which I don't follow). All can be found through Google. Our chpater just hosted Brent Heath on the subject of "Lovely Little Bulbs for Rock Gardens" and he showed more than 200(!) varieties, hardy to our Zone 5, at least. His company, Brent and Becky's Bulbs (catalog has great pix and advice), are putting the fnishing touches on daffodils that are only 2-3" tall!

I have had some small bulbs naturalizing in my mostly-xeric but not full-day sun side yard for 10 yrs. Those that return forever and tolerate some shade are chionodoxa (I like C. sardensis best but C. forbesii "Pink Giant" is the most prolific), scilla (these 2 are great in paths and lawns, too), and the fall-blooming Crocus speciosus. A waterlily colchicum has lived on but not multiplied much.

For sunny spots, with blooms from spring to later summer (and great seed heads!), nothing beats the huge family of alliums. I like the smaller ones, A. flavum (yellow, floppy), moly (another yellow, rounder), "Hair" (over a foot, but dainty and weird!), oreophilum (also, ostrowskianum, the best perfect head of magenta in minature!) (see pic). I like lots of other alliums too big for a traditional 12" or shorter rock garden. These do not all bloom at once, but are spring-mid summer. There are even more msall ones have not tried.

The picture include A. moly and oreophilum. I will post another with summer alliums.

Some taller alliums that are small-headed (A. caeruleum) or a fabulous short but huge-flowered one (Allium Schubertii, looks like fireworks when dried, also a late-bloomer) might be favored by some, in rock garden or elsewhere. I just love them all, and they seem to like our clay and dry summers and winters.

I have trouble keeping any daffodil beyond the first year because I forget to water them in the winter and, especially! when they are coming up and trying to bloom. (But dainty Narcissus Hawera seems to hang on best.) Denver is not the East Coast! If you are having brown-tipped foliage, be sure to check your soil moisture as well as the thermometer. I try to keep my bulb beds covered wth Christmas tree branches to cut down on moisture loss and moderate soil temps, as well as retard them a bit, as our strong winter sun encourges bulbs to rise up early! I agree, deeper is better if you are in a cold zone.

The longest-lasting, naturalizing crocus I've ever had is "Gypsy Girl". C. chrysanthus 'Cream Beauty' seems to have multipled well in my gravel berm in its second bloom. The big thing about crocus is to be sure to plant them where there is *full sun* during the time they bloom. No direct sun = the flower will never open! I have a few that ended up in places that had sun when I planted, but not when they sent buds up - too bad! (Mirrors??)

I just watered my sunny areas 2 days ago, and now I see lots of bulb tips showing - I think they were just waiting for water. (I also have spruce tree roots competing for water, so it is winter-water or have no garden - or decent trees! - in that area!)

The other great bulbs for rock gardens are the smaller species tulips with gracefully-narrow foliage (less obvious when ripening). Tulipa clusiana, slender and yellow with red stripes, are my favorite, hands-down, and some have lived and multiplied in my "sidewalk strips" for 15 yrs. T. tarda are also very hardy and multiply, with fairly narrow leaves. T. batalinii comes in many colors (yellow-bronze-red) and is darling in all colors.

So I suggest sitting down with a color catalog from a high-quality bulb place that offers a great selection of species tulips and the "minor bulbs" ( - what a horrid description!). (If it has all of the alliums I described and uses Latin names, it probably has a good selection.)

I put in 600 bulbs in the fall of 2003 (all over) and am so happy to see so many returning for a second year! The most important factor to me is, how dry/wet is your soil and which do the bulbs naturally want. Drainage for all, too - no bulb I know of will survive being in a frozen swamp all winter into spring. But in the end, I think the best is to order a smaller amount of many varieties (rather than dozens of large-flowered tulips, only), then put them each in at least 3 places - and make a good map! If they don't come up in the spring (or when expected) - dig down and see what happened! Even in one year, you can learn enough to make better choices for your conditions the next year.

Now is the time to see where the sun is for crocus to be planted in the fall and to see just how much sun comes through those leafless deciduous trees. I just take digital pix now, kept in a "Sun Locations" folder just for this purpose.

Good luck to all!