"Layering". Not my undersatnding of the gardeners' word.
All the food the bulbs you mentioned need is already in the bulb for the next season. All they need is water and good drainage.
I’ve always wondered how the bulb actually becomes a bulb in the first place. We just buy and grow them but I wonder how they come to be from the very beginning. 🤔
There are different types of things calle "bulbs. They are all energy and DNA storage units. Some are small buds, others (corms) are rootal bases, others horizontal stems (rhizomes).
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I’ve always wondered how the bulb actually becomes a bulb in the first place. We just buy and grow them but I wonder how they come to be from the very beginning. 🤔
Do you deadhead spent flowers but leave the foliage and bulbs in for the foreseeable? My Irises have gone over and the next bulbs are coming through. I was just wondering what people do with all the spent ones as each set of bulbs come to an end.
Yes - you'd leave the bulbs in situ, and deadhead. It also benefits them to have a general feed while dying back, but it's hard to do it when you still have other bulbs yet to emerge. This is where the problems often appear with this sort of arrangement. You can end up with a lot of foliage which then hides any emerging flowers on the next lot of bulbs.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
It depends on how many layers you have in your lasagne and whether you want to make more space for larger emerging flowers. I have three pots planted up with three layers of bulbs. Once the Iris reticulata start to fade, I'm going to remove the entire plant to allow the daffodils and tulips more space when they emerge. The Iris bulbs are shallow planted so should be easy to remove. As they are so inexpensive to purchase I don't think it's worth deadheading, feeding and then waiting another 12 months for action! I'd rather have a fresh batch of a different variety of Iris next year. The daffodils I may resite in the garden but I will not keep the tulips as they are not dependable to repeat flower in successive years. It's not an extravagance to have fresh bulbs each year in containers, it's good to try different combinations!
The reticulata Irises certainly don't do well year on year in most locations, so that's a possibility @Plantminded . I think @mchua has crocus in there though, so it might be tricky removing the Irises.
I don't know if the tulips are species, or the more usual types either. My species ones are emerging now, especially the potted ones which were undercover, but larger ones will be a while yet, and would be planted deeper, so they shouldn't be affected by any disturbance.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
It comes down to conditions.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
All the food the bulbs you mentioned need is already in the bulb for the next season. All they need is water and good drainage.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
https://www.dummies.com/home-garden/gardening/flower-gardening/gardening-what-are-bulbs-corms-tubers-and-rhizomes/
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks! 🙏
This is where the problems often appear with this sort of arrangement. You can end up with a lot of foliage which then hides any emerging flowers on the next lot of bulbs.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I think @mchua has crocus in there though, so it might be tricky removing the Irises.
I don't know if the tulips are species, or the more usual types either. My species ones are emerging now, especially the potted ones which were undercover, but larger ones will be a while yet, and would be planted deeper, so they shouldn't be affected by any disturbance.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...