by Edith Isidore-Mills — Lately in my walks around my neighborhood, I’ve noticed a lot of deer tracks. These tracks are appearing just in time to influence my selection of spring flowering bulbs I’ll be planting this fall because nothing is more discouraging than to plant bulbs only to have them not come up. Usually the reason they didn’t come up is they ended up being a winter meal for some rodents or deer.
Tulips are like “deer candy” and are definitely not a good choice if you want flowers next spring. Gophers also like bulbs and I know there are a lot of gophers in the surrounding fields. Now that we have eliminated tulips from selection of bulbs to plant that leaves quite a variety that deer won’t eat such as daffodils, alliums, crocus, dwarf iris (Iris reticulate), and grape hyacinths.
Some people may miss their tulips because of the wide range of tulip colors, but if you plant a few of bulbs from each of the species deer and rodent resistant bulbs you can still achieve a colorful result and get more varied textures in your garden than if you just planted tulips. When people think of daffodils the yellow varieties are the first to come to mind but daffodils also come in white, pink, combinations of white and yellow, and the more common yellow. Their flower shapes also vary in size and form. Some daffodils have double flowers.
Combine daffodils with crocus, alliums, dwarf iris, and grape hyacinths and you can fill out most of the color palette you would have with tulips and add more flower shapes and varying plants height to come out with a more dramatic appearance.
One positive I found in limiting my bulb selections to only those that are deer and rodent resistant is that I could find bulbs that bloomed from February to May.
All these bulbs come in varying sizes so plant them at different depths according to their diameter. Plant bulbs bury bulbs deep enough that the bottom of each bulb is at a depth twice the diameter of the bulb. The flat end of the bulb goes down with the point sticking up. Back fill the hole and plant the next bulb no closer than five inches from the first one. All subsequent bulbs should be spaced likewise.
After all the bulbs are planted mulch the ground and water the area. The mulch will help hold moisture in the soil and provide insulation to prevent “heaving” of the bulbs resulting from the freezing followed by thawing cycles we can experience throughout our winters here in Churchill County.Read more local news – return to the home page at www.thefallonpost.org/Support your local news source, make a contribution today. www.thefallonpost.org/support-our-work/
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