Gardening Tips for Daffodils, Tulips and Peonies

When Should I Order Bulbs, Tulips, Daffodils?

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The earlier you order your bulbs for planting in the fall, the earlier you will receive them and be assured that you will get everything that you want.  As the season progresses, varieties become difficult or impossible to obtain in some cases owing to demand or popularity.

I order large quantities of huge daffodils directly from the grower and cannot reorder these if I want more, but have to turn to the regular wholesale channels which offer lesser sized daffodils although they may be the largest obtainable in nurseries or by catalog.  Many retail catalogs offer DN2 daffodils which are "Double Nosed #2".  This means they will have two stems emerging but they are second sized.  Most Holland grown daffodils are single bulbs and are sold as DN1 because the cost of shipping is so high.

                                          My Dutch Master Daffodil bulbs

Popular tulips sell out rather quickly in normal years, but remain available until after September for most varieties.  I order a modest number of tulips and refrigerate them in my walk in refrigerator until time to plant, if customers so wish.

Peonies are usually available throughout the fall and into the winter.  Small bulbs are usually sold out by November although I can still re-order some of these.

How Many Tulips, Daffodils, Freesias to Plant?

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Tulips, daffodils, and other flowering bulbs cover different areas owing to the size of the bulb and the square footage of the planting area.  Of course, if you prefer denser effects you can adjust the numbers.

In general you will want to plant the following bulbs in these quantities:

Tulips:   2" apart or 9 tulips per square foot

Daffodils:   7 in a clump or 7 regular daffodils per square foot

Smaller Daffodils:   12 in a clump or 12 small daffodils per square foot

Freesias:    2" apart or 16 freesias per square foot

Anemones:    2" apart or 16 anemones per square foot

Peonies:    12" apart or 1 peony per square foot

Giant Squill:   18" apart or about 4 per every 3 square feet

The quantities differ when they are to planted in pots.  The bulbs should be planted almost touching which will double or triple the number per square foot depending on the desired effect.  You can also layer bulbs with larger bulbs like tulips and daffodils planted deeper and smaller bulbs planted on top of them so that their roots are not competing.

I planted heirloom freesias which were tiny with 100 to a pot and effect was gorgeous.  Underneath were planted tall narcissus which were blooming at the same time.

Planting these heirloom freesias tightly together, gives a dense show.  These antique freesias spread by dividing and also by seed and mine are developing beautiful seed pods right now! I will harvest the freesias and keep them in a cool, dark place until I replant them next fall in fresh potting soil as they have now spent two years in the same pot and will be very crowded as they will have grown larger.  Daffodils can be replanted, but the tulips will not rebloom as well, as they divide after bloom into several smaller bulbs.

Planting, Growing and Caring for Peonies in California

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Selecting Sites for Peonies:

One of the most important thing about planting peonies is that need to be sited in well draining soil as they do not like to have wet feet.  They need to be planted in filtered shade in warm climates, if possible, as they will not bloom in full shade and the flowers will have a shorter lifespan when in full sun.  Where they are adapted, they can grow for 100 years, and they do not require regular fertilizer or even water in some cases.  When I plant my peonies, I add compost and peat moss mixed into the soil at planting time and then neglect them as far as further feeding, unless I am adding a mulch between rows.  If you are mulching with shredded paper like newspaper or junk mail, sprinkling on a little nitrogen rich fertilizer over it to help the paper decompose.  Do be careful not to cover the roots of the peony with paper or mulch any deeper than it is planted.  In California and in other warm climates, the buds are planted just below or at ground level.  Do not let fertilizer touch the plant roots or growth or it can burn the peony.

Watering Peonies:

Peonies need lots of water when they are getting established and during the growth period.  After they have been in the ground for a few years, they will take some drought conditions but still need water occaionally.  They should be watered during the periods when they are growing and blooming.  As they will die back and go dormant at the end of the summer, water is not as important after the blooming season is over.

Staking Peonies:

Large, double peonies tend to need staking as the mature plants can get very tall and the weight of the blooms can make the stem flop.  There are several types of aids, individual stakes, circular wire with three legs that encircle the plant and put into place as the plant is sending up stalks.  Another type has a grid where individual stems are coaxed through the mesh in order to keep them in place.  Single peonies need no or less staking than doubles.

Cutting Peonies:

No stems should be cut during the first year of a plant's bloom.  When a stem is to be cut, try to leave as many leaves as is possible so that they can manufacture food and the nutrients can feed the roots at the end of the season.

Cutting Back at the end of the season:

The stems and leaves will dry to brown at the end of the growing season and can be cut away or pulled off when dry.  These leaves should be removed to a compost pile rather than being left alongside the plants to avoid gettng disease or fungus.  In warm climates, they do not need any top dressing or mulching to protect from cold.

Dividing Peony Clumps:

When dividing the roots, leave 3-5 buds on each division and replant with compost mixed into the soil and water well.  This is done in the fall.

Bulbs, Corms and Peonies in Bloom May 7, 2012

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Some new peonies are blooming in this first week of May.  I've seen the first blooms of Festiva Maxima, Mrs. F.D. Roosevelt is in bud, Henry Bockstoce, Gay Paree, Krinkled White, Charlie's White, Mons. Jules Elie, Mr. Ed, other white variations of peonies are in bloom. Continuing to bloom are the ones listed last week, and still have some new buds opening on the Coral Charm and Coral Supreme.   The red peonies, Red Charm and Henry Bockstoce are in bloom.

Watsonia, a tall white bloom is starting to show up and the blue anemones are slowing down and about to call it quits, but there are new, shorter flowers coming up still.  The freesias are still blooming but also near the end.  Lilies are coming up including Stargazer and large Aurelian lilies that I used to grow for cut flowers, but are not easy to find these days.  They have big trumpets and strange downward drooping, hairy looking leaves, and will bloom in the later part of the summer.  Daffodils are still dying back and until they turn brown will not be cut or mowed.

These photos were all taken this morning.

Gay Paree

Japanese Single Peony, White

Coral Peony starting the change to Buff, White

Duchess de Nemours

Mr. Ed Peony

Mons Jules Elie Peony

Peonies in Bloom! April 30, 2012

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I recently posted the photos of the first peonies to bloom this year and they are still in bloom along with a few others.

Red Charm, Doreen, Coral Supreme, Coral Sunset, Coral Charm, Duchess de Nemours and Single Japanese Peonies are blooming now.

Do Tell, Japanese Pink Peony and Bud

Do Tell, Japanese Pink Peony

Coral Sunset, Double Coral Peony

Coral Sunset, Double Coral Peony, beginning to Fade

Doreen, Japanese Rose Peony

Doreen, Japanese Single Rose Peony

Doreen Peony, Japanese Single Rose Peony

Red Carm Peony, Bomb Type

Duchess de Nemours, Double White Peony

Duchess de Nemours, Double White Peony

Pruning Olive Trees and Making them Produce Fruit - No Peonies

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This subject is a little off the topic of peonies, tulips, daffodils and other flowering bulbs but olives have taken a lot of my attention lately.

Adding the "Making them Produce Fruit" in my title is misleading as I planted twenty two Mission olive trees about seven or eight years ago and have only had a handful of little olives. A well known local expert, the owner of the most respected olive press in Glen Ellen initially suggested the variety to plant, the their location where the trees have been growing on a slight hillside and to water them for the first four years.  It wasn't his advice or the location that I could complain about.  A neighbor is a tree expert and he suggested that I water them more.  As they were on drip, something just wasn't working as they should have produced years ago and are quite large now.  Watering more apparently wasn't enough or perhaps even adequate, so now the strategy has changed.

After attending a discussion on olive curing, I read about pruning, watering, fertilizing etc. and still wasn't quite sure where to begin.  At this point, I should add that the trees were wrapped in wire fencing to protect them from deer munching as I do not fence my whole property and they graze on the lower branches.  But they are certainly no longer five gallon sized!

Before any weeding or pruning!  Fencing was impossible to remove completely.

As I learned a bit about what to do, I found that watering and weed contol at the base of the tree are the most important things to work on.   The wire kept the base of the tree from being adequately cleared around the base of the tree, and so yesteday I had my gardener start the process of removing the wire and dragging out the grass and weeds, including some kind of prolific purple flowered climbing weed that was cutting off light.  Clearing out the middle and trying to let light hit every side branch at least for part of the day is the pruning goal.  A goblet or vase shape is rather desirable and it will be a challenge to form these rather large and unruly trees into the right configuration.  I did notice that the branches are covered with lots of little flower buds (I didn't see them last year) so I have high hopes that at least some of the branches will fruit and I am hand watering them with a hose by letting it run for five minutes at a time per tree while I am pruning. After an hour or so of work, we walk back up through the pasture to rest for a while, and then we go down again for another hour.  While I am working, Cedric is watching me from shady spots in the very tall grass which will be cut only when the hidden lupines finish blooming.

One step at a time.  I have pruned almost half of the trees today!

This tree was the tenth I pruned today but I couldn't get the wire completely away as it is held in place on one side with a rebar stake.  Next week when the trees have all been cleared of weeks and fencing, I can finish this tree and make quick work of the last dozen of them.  One shoot was too high for me to cut correctly, so a ladder will help with the finish.

Hopes are finally high for a crop in 2012!  

The Earliest Peonies are Blooming!

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In mid-April, as the last of the late tulips finished, the earliest peonies began to bloom in my garden.  The very earliest are the coral varieties, Coral Charm and Coral Supreme, both semi-doubles.  In addition, I found a light pink and white rogue in a hedge which I will have to wait to photograph when the nine other buds open as I missed photographing the first one.  I'm also not sure which variety it is but as it had ten buds, it has to have been there for a long time and may have been a "volunteer".  Paula Fay had its first bloom a few days later and there are other varieties showing color on their buds.

Coral Charm, Semi-Double Peony and the earliest to bloom  (April 16, 2012)

Pink and White volunteer Single Peony  (April 16 2012)

Paula Fay Peony, Semi-Double Rose Pink  (April 19, 2012)

Princess Margaret Peony, Double Rose Pink  (April 20, 2012)

Red Charm Peony, Red Double   (April 21 2012)

Double Coral Peony opening from Bud.  On the same plant are three stages of bloom as seen below.   (April 21, 2012)

Double Coral Peony, same plant as above - Fully Opened  (April 21, 2012)

On the same plant as the two blooms above - older white, Double Coral Peony (April 21, 2012)  

Semi-Double Rose Peony  (April 21, 2012)

Peonies come in many colors and shapes and bloom over a multi-month period in cold climates.  Like other bulbs in warm areas, the bloom tends to come much closer together between the early, mid-early, mid, middle-late, and late peonies in warm climates.  In warm climates, plant the earlier varieties as the buds on late varieties may fail to open when the hotter weather arrives.  Japanese peonies os all types are also recommended.

Tulips Blooming Latest

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Lily of the Valley - Convallaria Majalis - Naturalizing

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Lilies of the Valley are one of the most fragrant and memorable of spring flowers.  You can see people carrying bouquets of them in Europe on May 1st to celebrate the season, brides carrying them in their bouquets, and for sale in florist's shops for very high prices!  They grow like weeds in forests in Sweden, I've been told and are rampant in Eastern states as they spread in an invasive manner.  But in our area, where they are on the edge of the growing zones, they should be more controllable.

Find a location where the soil drains well in shade.  Amend the soil with the addition of organic material to raise the level 2"-3" to improve the drainage.  Peat moss, compost, ground bark or decomposed manure all work well and are widely available. Lily of the valley plants like soils that provide average amounts of moisture but will not be happy in water logged settings.

Soak your pips in lukewarm water before planting. The pips will absorb water, wake up and be ready to take off. Just take the plastic bag your pips are shipped in, add enough lukewarm water so the peat in the bag is saturated and leave the bag in your sink for a couple of hours. The pips should swell a bit and become hard.

Plant your lily of the valley so the tops of the buds barely poke above the soil surface, about 1 1/2" apart. Don't wait too long, as pips can dry up if left out of the ground (and out of a humidity controlled cooler) for more than a week or ten days.

After planting, water generously, soaking the soil to settle it around the roots. Top growth will begin to form quickly, usually in just a week or so, depending on the amount of available. When in bloom, feel free to cut the petite bell-shaped flowers for bouquets. This will not hurt the plants.

Provide supplemental water, as needed in the spring, summer and fall; about 1" total (rain and irrigation) per week is a good general estimate. Keep in mind that occasional deep waterings are better than frequent lighter drinks.  Your lily of the valley will rest for a few months before beginning the next growing cycle in spring.

Muscari or Grape Hyacinth, a Bulb that Naturalizes

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Muscari or Grape Hyacinth, is a small bulb but perennial and suitable for planting around shrubs, roses, peonies and in other ground cover situation.  It is also a beautiful addition to pots of bulbs or with plants that will not obscure it.   Naturalizes and self sows if allowed to go to seed.

In the photo of the pot above, the muscari have returned as did the narcissus, tulips, and freesias after a waterless summer and great neglect!  The muscari bulbs are planted with their bases 5" below the surface of the soil and 3-4 inches apart in the garden and closer in pots if desired.

At Keukenhoff Gardens in Holland, this is a famous display.  A "River of Muscari" runs down a path between trees and other bulb insertions.  I don't know if they replace the muscari each year, but every time I've been there it has looked like this.

The Muscari bulb is a fat little one full of energy for a beautiful blue addition to your bulb and flower displays.  Without summer water it will return and if allowed to set seed, will increase that way as well.