Newbie with bulbs looking for help

Hi, newbie at bulbs here. I have never posted here before, although I am quite active on the daylily forum.

I just received an order of 150 bulbs from Brent and Becky's Bulbs. It was their Southern Garden Combination for $60. The catalog says "This collection will be filled with bulbs that don't need as much of a winter in order to bloom and don't seem to mind the heat and humidity of our southern summers!"

These were the bulbs that arrived:

10 N. bulbocodium conspicuus
10 N. 'Tete-a-Tete'
10 T. 'Lady Jane'
10 T. sylvestris
50 Anemone coronaris De Caen
10 Chiono forbesii 'Pink Giant'
50 Ipheion uniflorum

The plan is to plant them in front of and among some new daylily beds I put in this spring to give spring color. The beds base soil is heavy AL clay amended with soil conditioner (mostly ground pine bark) and top soil. However, the soil is still rather heavy and holds LOTS of moisture, something that has been really evident with all the rain we had this spring and summer. (In fact, we just got 4" of rain yesterday!) All the reading I have done says that most bulbs like "well-drained" soil, so any suggestions on what else I can add to the soil? There is not a lot of room to dig between the daylilies. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

None of them look like they are very tall, so I am thinking that they should be planted mostly in front of the daylilies although I am open to other sugestions.

For those interested, here is a link to the thread where I talk about making the beds: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/979370/

Here is a picture of the collection:

I know we add gypsum here to our clay soil for drainage.

I've never used gypsum so can't speak to that but adding even more pine bark will definitely fluff it up. that's what I use.

Thanks for the input. I found a place that has gypsum and read the bag. It does claim to help with drainage. I bought a bag (figured it couldn't hurt) and will mix some of that with the pine-bark that I was also planning to add. The store I went to sells bulbs locally and recommended the gypsum also. We shall see.

Ditchlily, your question helped me too. I just called my feed store and they sell a 40 lb bag for $8, I need that much but I also found that regular nurseries carry 5 lb bags. dicn't ck pricing.

I got 2 40 lb bags for $8.99 each. You did me $1 better. :-)

I would simply add lots more organic material. Last week I bought 2 cu ft bags of organic compost (soil conditioner) at Lowe's for $2.60 I think it was. It's a really big bag. The best solution for all soil problems is adding more organic material.

Ditch Lily,

Your "7B" zone piqued my curiosity and looking you up on the map, you're near Huntsville in far northern AL, kind of close to the TN line, so you can get away with a far wider array of spring bulbs than someone maybe near the coast very far to the south. I wouldn't be as worried about having insufficient winter cooling except for standard tulip varieties and maybe some crocus (vernus varieties), both of which need significant cold to return bloom well. Most bulbs will do fine in your area regarding cooling; drainage may be another issue.

Regarding the drainage, there are lots of good suggestions here. I raise my beds if I have doubts, or plant on slops or graded ground if you have it. Also, summer snowflakes (leucojum) do very well in the south and tolerate high moisture conditions.



This message was edited Nov 11, 2009 8:20 PM

Thanks. No slopes unless I make them myself. Our neighborhood was all cotton or corn fields 10 years ago, very flat!

Here is a picture of one of the beds I am refering to.

Oh that will be a beautiful display. I would simply amend and raise the bed if possible another 2-4" with a contoured "mound" of soil running through the bed. Since the crepe myrtle is already there you may not be able to raise the entire bed that amount without harming it. Not only would this elevate your flowers for closer inspection but would help eliminate the risk of poor drainage due to the flatness of your landscape and the clay soil.

I think as long as you don't get sitting water in that bed or irrigate heavily in summer, you'll be fine. I see a little slope, and it sounds like you've amended enough that your soil isn't pure clay.

The ground does slope from the top of the driveway toward the bottom and I did put in a drain at the end of the bed at the beginning of the project when I had a waterfall over the pavers after a really heavy rain. However, I have never seen standing water once the drain was installed and the amendments were added. It is just that the soil seems to stay wet for a very long time after it rains. That was what has me worried.

Edited to add that while this area does have sprinklers, it is a separate zone and I can regulate how long that zone gets watered.

This message was edited Nov 12, 2009 10:12 AM

If winter wet were a problem, I would never have any spring bulbs blooming... I've got clay here, too, and even with amendments it's, well, it's still clay! LOL Bulbs do like to bake dry a bit in the summer, some are fussier about it than others... but I'd say if you have DLs thriving, your bulbs will probably be fine there also.

For more impact, don't spread the bulbs out too much... plant clumps & drifts, maybe just choose a couple of accent spots along the edge or in a front corner of the bed. If you plant the little bulbs in groups of 5, that's just 30 little clumps... if you spread them all around, you'll hardly notice them. Most of the ones you mentioned are smaller blooms (but lovely! and I bet the Tete a Tete daffs will multiply well for you, maybe some of the others also).

The only time I've had problems with bulbs being too wet is when they're in a bed that I water frequently (I too have heavy clay) during the summer. I echo Critter. Also, great suggestion about planting them in clumps for maxium impact.

I've ordered from Brent & Beckys for years and you've ordered from the best ! You may find yourself ordering many more in the years to come; I think bulbs are addicting. kim

"Oh no, not another addiction!" exclaims the woman who ordered over 500 daylilies this year. "I'm not sure I can afford it." LOL

That bed is going to be a knock out in the spring DitchLily! Please post pics when they bloom. Thanks mucly.

Will do, thanks for the tips. DGers are the best!

I bought some more bulbs at a local store at the same time as the gypsum. It looks like they are all from Royal Park. At least it says Royal Park on the bags and the plant labels with the loose bulbs say that as well. Forgive my ignorance if this is not actually the company's name.

I bought several bags of mixed bulbs. . The bulbs look nice.

2 bags of mixed Narcissus, 20 (size 10-12) per bag.
1 bag mixed Crocus, 40 bulbs (size 7/8) per bag
1 bag mixed T. Darwin Hybrid, 25 bulbs (size 10/11) per bag

I also got some loose bulbs:
10 Scillla Campanulata Hyacinthodes Hispanica (blue)
10 Scillla Campanulata Hyacinthodes Hispanica (pink)
20 Galanthus Elwesii (white)
10 T. Darwin Hybrid 'Olympic Flame'
10 T. 'JohannStrauss'
10 T. 'Praestans Fusilier'

I also just got in an additional order from Brent and Becky's Bulbs:

100 Iris-Dwarf - Mixture
5 Lilium - Muscadet
5 Lilium - Red Hot
5 Lilium - regale 'Album'

I think I must be done. Now I have to plant! I will be busy.