Favorite Bulb Combinations

Now I'm in the middle of bulbmania and am ready to plant some containers...does anyone have favorite bulb combos for containers? I am particularly interested in combinations that bloom simultaneously...Any recommendations?

This message was edited Nov 7, 2004 7:47 PM

We tend to stuff them in a pot willy nilly and we always feel they look great, we do try to make sure that the taller plants are planted in the middle or back of the container so the smaller bulbs get a chance though. This way we try to maximise the length of time a pot has colour.

Pale yellow crocus, blue muscari and Lady Jane tulips.

I'm curious as I've never planted bulbs in pots (is that weird??). I'm in Zone 6a. Do you put them in pots and leave outdoors on your patio/deck? Do you have to bring them inside or bring them inside only when you're ready to have them start blooming? This sounds interesting!

I leave mine planted in their pots out on the front porch all Winter......they do just fine. Good drainage is VERY important however.

Lg 5 gal planter pots:

Center: Tickled Pink dafs (12)
Mid-Ring: Hyacinth (purple, pink, white) (10)
Outer Ring: Grape hyacinth and crocus mixed (however many I can cram in)

Last year I planted my containers and left them on the deck and they became water logged and the bulbs rotted. This year I am going to put them under the deck to protect them from too much weather....

I found these step by step instructions for planting bulbs in containers. They seem to make some sense...

http://www.garden.org/howtos/scripts/howtos.taf?id=1324

Good luck!

Great tips, tabasco! Thanks much. I think I'll go to HD or Lowes and pick up some more bulbs. I've planted all my orders, but this would be great for some late-Jan/early Feb blooms!!

Now I'm really getting into this. I planted 14 containers--some for inside and some for the outside front steps area and back deck.

Combined a variety of bulbs: late season yellow cheerfulness daffs planted with mixed blue and white muscari. Yellow tulips with chinodoxia (no idea how these will work). Miniature late yellow daffs with early season tulips. Also Apricot beauty tulips, gypsy queen hyacinth and salome daffs (a combo from Jackson and Perkins and HD). White pearl hyacinths with miniature yellow daffs.

Then planted some Mona Lisa liliy bulbs (summer bloom) in 14" pots and decided to overplant one of them with some narcissus and muscari for earlier season bloom.

Now I have them protected, covered in plastic under the deck next to the house for a chilling period and will keep them moist with good drainage. Will bring them in to the garage when it gets freezing outside. (Basically am using the White Flower Farm Bulb Forcing info as a guideline.)

Have no idea how this will work out, but thought it might be fun. If anybody else tries mixed bulb container planting, it would be nice to know the results...
The lady at the garden center said they should do fine--but maybe she was just trying to sell Bulbs!

Take care. t.

Hi again, everyone--it's been a few months, soooo.....

I have my first modest effort at bulb pot gardening to show...a few 'carlton' daffs interplanted with 'muscari armeniacum'...

I suppose this is a learning process, year after year trying to get the bulbs to bloom at the same time, but I am just glad a few of the pots have begun to bloom at all... If I do it again, I think I will try to use a bigger muscari...

I have some tulip bulbs ready to bloom in a Longaberger basket and a few other little 'compositions' but ran out of room on my cam card...hope to post tomorrow...

Does anybody else have some bulbs blooming in containers? Could we see some pics, especially of your combinations?

langbr--what about all those bulbs you bought last fall?!!

Thanks. t.

tabasco - it's a sad story....a sad story indeed. I moved into a new home in late February. I've gone by the old house a few times and had lots of crocus and daffs and iris reticulata up. Should be in full tulip and hyacinth bloom now.

Soooo....? I start all over this Fall with 8 times as much square footage to garden in. The previous owner only had a row of daffs on either side of the front walk here, so I've got lots to do.

langbr--so sorry to hear that you had to part with your beautiful bulb collection...(but I am sure it helped you get a great price for your house!) It sounds like you are having lots of fun working on your new garden though, and that's the blessing in it, I suppose!

And here is one of my container plantings--tulipa 'creme upstar' and muscari (from Brent and Becky's post Thanksgiving bulb sale) in a Longaberger basket (gift from my sister). this is on our breakfast room table...a lovely way to greet a spring morning!

After much 'nail biting' thru the winter about whether or not the bulbs would bloom, I am having a certain amount of success--in general it's a 'learning' experience, though! ;-)

Here's a 'before' picture of my 'bulb pot' project...

Some more daffs with 'anemone blanda' mixture of blue and white, muscari, and tulipa 'deidre' in white porcelain soup tureens...

You certainly have some great combinations there and I LOVE the soup tureen idea. We've not sold the house yet so I can still dig some daylilies and other perennials. DH even commented last weekend how nice all the flowers look this Spring at the old house (that's a big deal!).

lol--yes, if my DH said anything like that I think I would faint! But, thanks for the nice comments, too...

Well, langbr, good luck with digging up some of your garden treasures...I know you have some wonderful plant material at your old house from reading your posts on DG and it would be a shame to leave it for someone who didn't appreciate it --even if they did meet your asking price! :-) Would love to see some pics of your new garden and follow the 'before and after' too....

Here's a pic of t. 'weber's parrot' from my pots... I think it's pretty exotic and weird for a tulip, anyway...it actually looks pretty when I put it with some of the white amaryllis blooming at the same time... (I think I posted that on another thread somewhere...)

Happy gardening this weekend. t.

Is that Parrot a viridflora (sp?) tulip? Looks a lot like the Greenland one that has the green of the calyx surrounding the petals.

Haven't gotten to the old house this weekend (tomorrow DH says) but have been going like gangbusters at the new house. Lily bulbs, daylilies, and a wide array of perennials are going in.

langbr---

Brent and Becky's catalog said that 'Weber's Parrot' Tulip would go well planted with 'Greenland'..

I think Weber's Parrot was classified with Parrot tulips and Greenland was with the viridfloras in their catalog.

Well, let's see some before and after pics of your new garden! ;-) t.

Not much to see yet but a bunch of daylily foliage clumps. Stopped by the old house yesterday afternoon and thought I was gonna cry at all the bulb blooms. Didn't think to bring my camera. BrentInNova has a thread he was asking for coop blooms on and I kicked myself for not bringing the camera. I'll try to get over there this weekend and get some pics. Got to go dig out more daylilies and lily bulbs.