Forum:

flowers

Flower Bulbs: What are your favorite?

Timothy Norton

master gardener

Posts: 5014

Location: Upstate NY, Zone 5, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

2181

I like...

posted 1 year ago

5
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

While walking my dog this morning, I couldn't help but smile. Throughout my property there are patches of daffodils, tulips, grape hyacinth and more!

I am fond of the early spring flowers, I never really got into the later season bulbs but I am weighing the labor that goes into lifting bulbs before winter and the beauty that some later season flowers can provide.

(source)

I currently have a nice amount of daffodils in the front of my property that are doing great. They are in a front flower garden bed that my fiancé tends. I have two oddball patches in my side yard where I ended up just popping bulbs into because I didn't plan on where better to put them and luckily it worked out!

I have wood chip 'borders' to my property that I have popped in hyacinth and it has taken off wonderfully. I plan on adding more this fall to add to the 'whimsy' factor of my property in the spring

I currently am at 'war' with the local herbivories as they find my mixed tulips to be a delightful treat. I have lost about a third of what I had planted, but I did not plant a whole lot. The plan for next year is just to increase the tulip density and accept the losses as they come.

Do you have bulb based flowers on your property? What are your favorites? Do you have any tips, experiences, or photos to share?

Reply below!

- Tim's Homestead Journal - Purchase a copy of Building a Better World in Your Backyard - Purchase 6 Decks of Permaculture Cards -
- Purchase 12x Decks of Permaculture Cards - Purchase a copy of the SKIP Book - Purchase 12x copies of Building a Better World in your Backyard

PEP - BB60 Badge (verified skill)
Skill verified by gir bot

Anne Miller

steward

Posts: 16676

Location: USDA Zone 8a

4349

I like...

posted 1 year ago

3
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I am a fan of jonquils.

When we lived in the Piney Woods of East texas, these grew wild along the roadways.

I am also a fan of all kinds of iris.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Christopher Weeks

master gardener

Posts: 3931

Location: Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods

1931

I like...

posted 1 year ago

3
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I think of daffodils as a sure sign of spring (and they're starting to come up, but we don't yet have any flowers open) so I guess they're my favorite.* Later, when they're but a memory, the iris will stick around a little longer that'll be nice.

*There are two tiny crocus just in the middle of the yard -- not somewhere that anyone would have planted them. I call them our wild crocus, but they're not native and there aren't a bunch, so that's a misnomer. Anyway, they come up and fade away long before the daffodils open, so if I had enough of them, they might take the prize. But we have a big old stand of daffodils, so they get it.

PEP - BB100 Badge (verified skill)
Skill verified by gir bot

greg mosser

gardener

Posts: 1715

Location: the mountains of western nc

522

I like...

posted 1 year ago

3
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

i like the ‘recurva’ daffodils. they’re a little later, a bit more refined than ‘normal’ daffodils. actually many of the ‘species’ daffodils are nice and different. the earliest bulbs i have are Leucojum ‘spring snowflakes’, a slightly later relative of snowdrops. they’re a nice early ‘spring’s coming’ reminder. german bearded irises, especially the dark purple ones. i like leopard lilies/Belamcanda too.

Matt McSpadden

gardener

Posts: 2477

Location: Central Maine (Zone 5a)

1090

I like...

posted 1 year ago

5
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I really like anything that comes up early, but the crocus and hyacinth are probably my two top. Followed closely by tulips. I don't mind daffodil (or narcissus), but I grew up with huge swaths covered in them so I got bored of them.

"When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind." C.S. Lewis
Visit https://themaineingredient.com for organic, premium dried culinary herbs that are grown, processed, and packaged in the USA.

Allen Ayers

Posts: 20

Location: East Tennesee, Zone 7

I like...

posted 1 year ago

3
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Wild-type orange daylilies are my favorites, followed closely by chives and nodding onions.

Rebecca Norman

gardener

Posts: 2536

Location: Ladakh, Indian Himalayas at 10,500 feet, zone 5

867

I like...

posted 1 year ago

7
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I think daffodils are currently my favorite.

This photo was intended to show off how long my winter squash had lasted in storage :)

Pumpkin-pie-with-daffodils-and-asparagus-2022-04-17.jpeg

Pumpkin pie with daffodils and asparagus in spring in Ladakh

Works at a residential alternative high school in the Himalayas SECMOL.org . "Back home" is Cape Cod, E Coast USA.

Jen Fulkerson

gardener

Posts: 1811

Location: N. California

857

I like...

posted 1 year ago

5
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I love Dahlia they bloom and bloom. They come in so many sizes and colors.
My mother loved gladiolus. So I love them because they make me think of my mom.

IMG20230527202601.jpg

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

May Lotito

gardener

Posts: 1902

Location: Zone 6b

1191

I like...

posted 1 year ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Every year I plant more and more gladiolus corms. They actually overwinter just fine in the ground but replanting will give them more room to grow. They are low maintenance and tidy looking. The flowers come in many colors and attract hummingbirds.

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

PEP - BB5 Badge (verified skill)
Skill verified by gir bot

gardening - air badge (verified skill)
Skill verified by Mike Haasl

textiles - air badge (verified skill)
Skill verified by Ash Jackson

woodland care - air badge (verified skill)
Skill verified by Mike Haasl

Timothy Norton

master gardener

Posts: 5014

Location: Upstate NY, Zone 5, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

2181

I like...

posted 7 months ago

2
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I have received my order of tulips to plant all over my property. I can't wait for the spring blooms.

Timothy Norton

master gardener

Posts: 5014

Location: Upstate NY, Zone 5, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

2181

I like...

posted 6 months ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I might of made a small oops... who wants to help me plant a thousand more bulbs?

Matt McSpadden

gardener

Posts: 2477

Location: Central Maine (Zone 5a)

1090

I like...

posted 6 months ago

2
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Sounds like a good problem to have :)

Alder Burns

pollinator

Posts: 1736

Location: southern Illinois, USA

313

posted 6 months ago

3
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I have an admiration for those bulbs which can persist and spread under conditions of neglect. Most climates host several of these, and even though a lot of them don't produce seeds, the bulbs often seem to find their way far from current human habitation. Often this is evidence of a long-abandoned homestead, the buildings of which have long since gone to compost. When I lived in California (and doubtless this happens elsewhere that gophers are found) the gophers would move the Chinese sacred lilies (actually a kind of winter-blooming narcissus) around in their underground tunnels, sometimes hundreds of yards away from the original planting. Doubtless they think they have obtained a rich hunk of food, and then taking a nibble, find it vile and poisonous, and end up abandoning it wherever. Perhaps other rodents are responsible elsewhere for propagating seedless bulbs. In the Southeast is the red spider lily or surprise lily, Lycoris radiata; which also doesn't ever seem to produce seeds, and yet it turns up in the oddest places. (This is actually a late summer/early fall bloomer)

Alder Burns

pollinator

Posts: 1736

Location: southern Illinois, USA

313

posted 6 months ago

2
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

The early bulbs all seem to be well visited by honeybees, as well as bumblebees and others....makes me wonder what their contribution is to bee forage, and whether extensive plantings of them might be good for honeybees. Being an exotic insect (in North America at least), they might benefit more from these than would the native bees, which are adapted to the native flowers, most of which bloom later, except for pollen-producing tree catkins and skunk cabbage.

Timothy Norton

master gardener

Posts: 5014

Location: Upstate NY, Zone 5, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

2181

I like...

posted 5 months ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

In the spirit of being thrifty and seeing how spring bulbs might benefit my local ecosystem, I stumbled upon clearance bulbs.

The majority of these are on the edges of my property intermingled in the pollinator gardens I have started up.

Can't wait for spring.

Eric Hanson

gardener

Posts: 5567

Location: Southern Illinois

1557

I like...

posted 5 months ago

2
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Hands down its hyacinth. I found this out in the first year I was married. My wife and I planted a flower garden and she chose hyacinth.

The next year, oh-what-wonderful sweetness filled the air!! I don’t think I ever smelled anything so sweet! That is, when the wind wasn’t gusting. But on the rare, calm days, the air was filled with the most wonderfully sweet flower I had ever smelled.

We actually need to re-establish some new hyacinths as they have died back a bit.

Eric

Some places need to be wild

Jen Fulkerson

gardener

Posts: 1811

Location: N. California

857

I like...

posted 5 months ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Yeah, I love clearance. When it comes to flowers, the more the marrier.

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” — Abraham Lincoln

Timothy Norton

master gardener

Posts: 5014

Location: Upstate NY, Zone 5, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

2181

I like...

posted 3 weeks ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

The bulbs have begun to show themselves....

Ellen Lewis

Posts: 176

Location: SF bay area zone 10a

I like...

posted 1 week ago

6
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

A shout out to Camas (camassia quamash) and Mariposa Lily or Sago Lily (Calochortus nuttallii and several other Calochortus species), two North American native bulbs with beautiful flowers and edible bulbs.
I think of them as "wildflowers", but many native people encouraged them, so they weren't exactly wild.
There are a number of other native bulbs that deserve cultivation for their beauty and utility and place in the ecosystem, as they are becoming rare.
calochortus camas

As far as introduced bulbs go, I'm fond of freesias, tulips, saffron.

Mary-Ellen Zands

pollinator

Posts: 174

Location: Ontario, Canada

I like...

posted 1 week ago

5
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

My Dutch roots run deep! I’m planting bulbs every fall, hundreds and in the past à few thousand. What I’ve learned over the years that there is no point planting tulips if you don’t surround them with daffodils. Otherwise the squirrels have a tasty treat! Remember that towards the end of WW2 in Holland people were surviving on tulip bulbs. There was nothing left to eat!

Plus I plant for the bees. So the first thing coming up the snowdrops, then the crocuses, the bees absolutely love them.

Mary-Ellen Zands

pollinator

Posts: 174

Location: Ontario, Canada

I like...

posted 1 week ago

11
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Here is what came up in the last 2 weeks

IMG_4247.jpeg

IMG_4246.jpeg

IMG_4245.jpeg

IMG_4243.jpeg

IMG_4242.jpeg

IMG_4238.jpeg

IMG_4232.jpeg

IMG_4227.jpeg

IMG_4224.jpeg

Mary-Ellen Zands

pollinator

Posts: 174

Location: Ontario, Canada

I like...

posted 1 week ago

6
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

More from my garden. I’ve almost run out of space in my yard so I’ve extended planting to the cow fields!

IMG_3273.jpeg

IMG_3278.jpeg

IMG_3275.jpeg

IMG_3280.jpeg

IMG_3281.jpeg

IMG_3075.jpeg

IMG_3077.jpeg

IMG_3058.jpeg

IMG_1088.jpeg

IMG_1754.jpeg

IMG_1755.jpeg

IMG_1753.jpeg

IMG_1752.jpeg

IMG_1741.jpeg

IMG_1740.jpeg

IMG_1722.jpeg

IMG_1716.jpeg

IMG_1714.jpeg

IMG_1718.jpeg

IMG_1720.jpeg

IMG_1656.jpeg

IMG_3662.jpeg

IMG_3661.jpeg

IMG_3657.jpeg

Barbara Simoes

pollinator

Posts: 206

Location: Middlebury, Vermont zone 5a

posted 1 week ago

6
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I'd have to say snowdrops! After a very long and dark winter, they pop up in February, emerging through ice and snow. The idea of renewal keeps me going until everything has thawed out. I have some tiny vases and I'll go out and pick some and bring them in. They smell like apple blossoms and last a remarkably long time. They bridge the time until mini iris and crocus and the whole parade of bulbs and flowers begin in earnest. I feel most grateful to them and they seem to self-seed around the property.

Cécile Stelzer Johnson

pollinator

Posts: 1446

Location: zone 4b, sandy, Continental D

401

posted 1 week ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Any bulbs/ rhizomes that flower and that I do not have to lift and replant every year can be my favorite. [Sorry, dahlias: you need to become a perennial in zone 4b before I think about you!]
Irises are nice, as are tulips daffodils, jonquils, Siberian scilla. Darn the squirrels, chipmunks and other enemies! They cost me a bundle in repellents!
In the fall, colchicums are nice, and one more "utilitarian" bulb we might not think of: Chinese chives: their flat leaves taste just like the round leaves of the pink flowering ones in the spring, but they flower white in the fall, allowing you to cut and cut and cut and freeze in ice cubes until almost mid September where I'm at. The pink ones are almost invasives where I am!

$10.00 is a donation. $1,000 is an investment, $1,000,000 is a purchase.

Sally Munoz

pollinator

Posts: 118

Location: SW Washington

I like...

posted 1 week ago

4
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Agreed, I adore snowdrops! I watch every little growth they attain daily in early spring.
After years of having just one clump next to the front door, last fall I planted more and plan on doing so again this fall.
I love all the spring flowers but snowdrops are extra special after winter.
Indoor amaryllis are pretty wonderful as well, and I love my tulips, daffs, and hyacinths. Another favorite is elephant garlic. The greens come up extra early and are a nice addition to most meals. I have some extra early green onions that are appreciated too, and of course the walking onions.
The thing I really like about elephant garlic is that it's so pretty in flower later in the year too. I've got a few ornamental alliums that are blooming now (zone 7a) and they are pretty but the elephant garlic is just as pretty later in the year and also edible, multiplies super well in mediocre rocky clay soil and is drought resistant so a definite shout out to it!

Barbara Simoes wrote:I'd have to say snowdrops! After a very long and dark winter, they pop up in February, emerging through ice and snow. The idea of renewal keeps me going until everything has thawed out. I have some tiny vases and I'll go out and pick some and bring them in. They smell like apple blossoms and last a remarkably long time. They bridge the time until mini iris and crocus and the whole parade of bulbs and flowers begin in earnest. I feel most grateful to them and they seem to self-seed around the property.

Kali De Keyser

Posts: 15

Location: Senne valley, Belgium

I like...

posted 4 days ago

2
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Snowdrops are very pretty and muscari too and crocus - all these early flowers are so much welcome after the winter - Narcissus have delicious perfume but tend to disappear in my sandy soil - tulips though enjoy sandy soil and I have cv that come back every year

Haz Ink

Posts: 3

I like...

posted 3 days ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Sunflowers,because they look so vibrant.I also like crocus and tulips recently. Actually, I just learned about crocus this year.Unfortunately it seems that it cannot be grown in the area where I live...

Companion Planting Guide by World Permaculture Association

will be released to subscribers in: soon!

click here for details