Spring Bulbs as Perennials -research in several zones

Check out these articles as you try to decide which spring blooming bulbs to order!! I thought that this research done by Dr Bill Miller at Cornell Univ might be helpful. There are 2 links

1) http://www.hort.cornell.edu/miller/bulb/pubs.html

see pub number 3 on a study of 60 narcissus cultivars over 4 years in 3 US zones (5,6,and 7) --downloadable pdf. Started with 20 bulbs of each cultivar and counted the number of blooms produced in their 4th year. Compared sun vs part shade.

and pub number 4 on results of a study on 17 hyacinth cultivars in 3 US zones (5, 6, 7)-- downloadable pdf. Started with 20 blooms of each cultivar and counted the number of blooms produced in their 3rd year. Compared sun vs part shade.

there are other articles on the pubs page that might be interesting, also.

2) http://www.hort.cornell.edu/department/faculty/wmiller/combos/resources/Combo%20Summary%20IFBC.pdf

results of a related study in Europe on combining tulips, narcissi and hyacinths with perennials. Note: See p 24 of the pdf for a list of the best bulbs studied in Italy where they had a climate much like the warm winter-dry summer parts of US zones 8-9. Some surprising (at least, they were to me in zone 9a) results for tulips.

Chris
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Chris, thank you for passing along these 2 links. I love to find out info such as the results of these studies! t.

Great links!!Thanks for sharing!

Glad that you found something of use in the articles. As much as I appreciate and benefit from the accumulated wisdom of avid gardeners, there are still things to be learned from the more scientific approach. The number of varieties that were grown in side by side trials in each zone is something that few gardeners could ever duplicate.

NOTE that there is also an excellent article (pub 9 on the first link) that explains how to use alcohol to keep your forced paperwhites from growing too tall and toppling over--no more ugly stakes and string supports! The scientific part is knowing what type and concentration of alcohol to use and when to apply it.

Chris

Yes, I agree, the results of trial studies are always interesting to me too.

I always read the Royal Hort Society's trial results. They have a very good study on Little Blue Bulbs that we were just referring to in another Bulb thread...