October 29th at 9 a.m.
We will be planting bulbs at Adams Park – at the corner of Washington and Cummins Highway. Be part of the effort to beautify Roslindale for next spring!!!
If you want to add beauty to your own little portion of Roslindale, buy your own bulbs and plant them using our guide below!
Fall Bulb Planting for Spring Flowers
One of the easiest ways to garden for impact is planting bulbs in the fall for brilliant flowers in the spring. Fall bulbs come in a wide variety. Some of the simplest ones are the minor bulbs, daffodils, and tulips. Minor bulbs (scilla, crocus, grape hyacinth), will come back year after year, and usually multiply, daffodils often bloom in the next years and sometimes multiply, and tulips are mostly an elegant one-time show, but oh so magnificent that first spring.
It’s simple! Here’s how to bulbs to your landscape:
- Buy your bulbs
- Dig your holes
- Plant bulbs at depth 2 ½ x’s the bulb’s height
- Water
A half-year later, ENJOY!
Although you can buy bags or boxes of mixed colors, most bulbs come in a grouping of just one color and type, for example-10 grape hyacinths, 6 white darwin hybrid tulips, 15 King Alfred Daffodils. If you are just starting out with bulb planting, don’t overwhelm yourself with a hundred or five hundred bulbs.
An extremely useful tool for planting bulbs is a bulb planter. A spade or trowel will work, but the planter is really efficient. There are long handled planters, even powered ones, but get an inexpensive one at your local hardware store and you will be in good shape.
So, go buy some bulbs, a mix of bulbs that bloom at different times is good. There are early, mid, and late blooming tulips and daffs, even crocus bloom at different times (some even in the fall).
Bulbs should all be planted with the tips (growing end) facing up. The flatter, wider end of the bulb has the roots. You will probably even see dry, brown roots on the bulb. Bulbs should be planted at a depth about 2 ½ times the height of the bulb, err on the side of a little more. Most bags and instructions will tell you how deep to plant. They may also tell you how close, but within a couple inches is ok.
When you are planting, a bit of bone meal in the hole will give the bulb a nice start, and water in after the bulbs are planted. That’s it. You’ve made yourself a spring garden. If you have chipmunks or squirrels, you could get theft, try a screen over the bulbs or just as they come up in the spring, a nip of cayenne pepper over the tip. Won’t hurt the bulb, might keep the squirrels from nipping the tulip in the bud.
Happy planting.