plant, baby, plant!

Tulipa 'Beauty of Spring' if I remember correctly, taken in Central Park a few years ago.

I came to realize recently that I miss all the crazy horticultural questions I would get posed with on a regular basis at my old job. So I was psyched when an old friend from high school wrote with a question of her own. She lives here in the city and mentioned that she was helping with a bulb planting at her local community garden and wondered if the date (mid-November) was going to be too late. I thought that was a great question. Most people know this is the time to get your bulbs in the ground, and certainly it is. But, is there too late a time to plant?

To that I responded:
"Foolishly I didn't make any note of the date you asked about for the bulb planting, but I do remember my instant reaction being that you are totally fine. And I'm sure you are. We have a pretty big window as far as fall bulb planting is concerned. Basically I am going to be planting bulbs between work and my private clients from next week until mid- to late-November. In the past I've planted bulbs as late as mid-December. It all ultimately depends on whether you can (and/or want to) dig and get them in the ground without it being too frozen and you killing your back and arms.

Tulips and daffodils and other bulbs we plant all have enough energy for next spring stored in their tissue already, so all you have to do is get them in the ground at the right depth (for tulips and daffodils you are looking at 6-8" deep - well below the frost line) before winter hits too hard. They would be much happier in the cool earth than being confused and pushing growth too fast while stuck at your local garden center or in your home. For that reason the obvious and ultimate answer is "the sooner the better", but if you can't quite respond that quickly, the bulbs will still do well. The only thing you really have to know is that once we have a serious frost planting bulbs becomes considerably less fun. But basically only because the top two or three inches of the ground can be frozen. Over the winter, when the temps are in the 40s and 50s, they will send out and establish roots in the soil to anchor themselves more, and begin taking in water and nutrients. In the spring when they push out leaves along with the blossoms that is when they begin photosynthesizing to re-store and re-energize for the following spring. For that reason smart gardeners that want their bulbs to stick around and get established let the foliage stay after they flower so that they can grow and multiply as much as possible. If planted in a good sunny spot daffodils will naturalize and keep coming back year after year pretty easily while tulips you might find will only last 3-5 years on average."

So, get planting people! With the temps getting down into the 40s and 50s on a more steady basis those bulbs will be loving it and will make you smile come spring.

Also, if you ever have horticultural related questions I'd e happy to take a stab at them. As a trained horticulturist working in the profession for a number of years now I love challenging myself and trying to help out others along the way. Whether it be ID, care and maintenance, or questions about plant selection and design, I'm down to talk about it all. Send your geeky hort questions to arborboy@gmail.com and we'll chat soon. Be well.