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Take a drive down any stretch of U.S. 101 south of San Jose and your nose will lead you to Gilroy. Famous for its aromatic allium, the garlic bulb, any Gilroyan will tell you it’s first thing they smell when they open their door. I’m a big fan of this pungent bulb. Aside from its obvious culinary uses, garlic has an abundance of health benefits. And, if you’ve ever forgotten to cut back your curly edible garlic-scapes, they make a beautiful flower.
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Besides garlic, I like to plant other bulbs in my garden—bulbs known for their eye-catching flowers. Being in California, I admit, I’ve been somewhat lazy about garden bulbs. I have never been particularly diligent about digging up my bulbs and protecting them from the ‘harsh’ cool winter. I have not had much difficulty seeing new bulbs crop up year after year, but it’s probably because the particular bulb wasn’t sensitive to overwintering in our planting zone. Here in the South Valley our Plant Hardiness Zone is 9b, according toUSDA.gov.
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Rather than pulling perennial bulbs once the flower is spent, I’ve sometimes treated them like annuals and replanted ones I enjoy that didn’t fare well in the winter. But in our temperate climate, many bulbs do overwinter successfully. Bulbs planted in the spring will usually show their colors sometime between June and September. So, being that spring is upon us, I’m looking at the types of bulbs I’d like to see in the coming months.
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Although commonly referred to as bulbs, the roots of these flowers may actually be botanically different and, depending on their structure, some are considered true bulbs, while others are corms, tubers, or rhizomes. You may not realize it, but you could already be familiar with some plants that have these types root systems. Like the common household tuber and pantry staple, the potato, or certain orchids, known as sympodial orchids, which have horizontal root stems or rhizomes.
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By selecting a variety of bulbs according to height, blooming time, and length of the flowering period, you can create a nice color palette in the garden that ebbs and flows with the changing seasons.I have a handful of favorites I return to year after year.
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One of them is the ranunculus, and if you’ve not yet been introduced, ranunculus are a gorgeous species of flower that come in a range of colors. Ranunculus are prized for their soft headed blossoms with delicate layered petals that look like hand-made paper flowers.
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Ranunculus tubers resemble a little wrinkled hand or a tiny bunch of dried up bananas. When planted ‘bananas-down’ between March and April, these funny looking tubers turn out beautiful flowers in June and July that stand one to two feet tall, with blooms between three to six inches wide, though some strains may be larger. Ranunculus are winter hardy in zones 8-10, but can also be treated as annuals and replanted.
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I also enjoy the soft pink petals of the late summer and early fall blooming Amaryllis Belladonna Lily. These winter hardy true bulbs are often seen in nearby coastal regions of California and thrive in sandy soils. The Belladonna Lily is also known as the Naked Lady, nicknamed so for her signature leafless and slender stems topped with beautiful broad blooms. These flowers stand two to three feet tall and a single bare stem can produce up to 12 flowers.
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The stunning blooms of the Calla lily makes a great long-stemmed cut flower. Calla lilies are easy to pick and long-lasting. Large bouquets of white calla lilies always remind me of Diego Rivera’s 1941 painting, the Flower Seller. In our region, calla lilies can be planted year-round. In fact, whenever I have been given potted calla lilies, I’ve planted them once the flowers died and have had calla lilies growing for years. The rhizomes of this plant can be divided and shared or moved around your garden. Calla lilies bloom in the summer and prefer a moist soil.
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Another tall garden wonder is the gladiolus. Hardy gladiolus or sword lilies are a great cut flower and are grown from corms, not bulbs. Gladiolus are a joyful plant and are affectionately called “glads,” but it’s not just because they make people happy. Named after the Latin ‘gladius’ for their sword-shaped leaves, gladiolus are known for their tall, showy, and colorful flower spikes. They make a beautiful back border flower because their leaves don’t take up a lot of real estate in the garden. For midsummer flowers, gladioli can be planted a few weeks before the last frost. With gladiolus, like many of the bulbs, you can prolong the blooming season by planting in succession every few weeks.
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This short list of spring-planted bulbs would not be complete without including the dahlia. Breathtakingly beautiful, the vibrant colors of dahlias are as varied as their shapes, from cactus and decorative types to ball, anemone, and stellar, which make a perfect cut flower.
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Often called bulbs, the roots of a dahlia are actually tubers and are more easily divided than bulbs. Dahlias, like most bulbs or tubers, require good drainage and grow well in full sun and like the other bulbs above will survive our mild winter outdoors. This species boasts stems up to five feet tall with flowers often as wide as 12 inches. It’s no surprise the blooms on these beauties can be heavy and may need staking to stay upright. Indeed, they are well worth the extra effort.
Available in both early and late blooming varieties, you can count on these spring planted flowers to last from early July through October and beyond, depending on weather. With names like Dinnerplate, Raz Ma Taz, and Foxy Lady, this garden eye candy is sure to leave your neighbors ogling as they pass by.
