Bring on the Bulbs!

Want some early-spring bloomers to help you embrace warming temperatures and longer days next year? Now is the time to put on an embarrassing high school sweatshirt and plop down in the dirt with some bad-ass bulbs. Oh, and don't forget the power tool.

My bulb-planting station last weekend: two kinds off Allium bulbs, a sharp trowel, power tool and planting guide

I've been getting a lot of questions from friends about bulb planting, so this blog post will be based on all of the questions that I've heard lately. I've planted summer and fall-blooming bulbs in the spring (Gladiolas and Crocus), but this is my first experience with spring-blooming bulbs, so all of the following information comes from a lot of research and just a little bit of experience. If you've been reading my blog even a little, you should be used to this by now.

When should I plant my spring-blooming bulbs?
When low temperatures start dipping into the 40's and threaten to sink into the 30's, it's time to get your fall planting into gear. You want to get them in the ground before it freezes solid, and after the leaves start falling. The end of September and pretty much all of October are generally a good time to plant both hardy perennials and spring-blooming bulbs-- even if we have an epic snowfall or two, which is bound to happen here on the Front Range of Colorado.

What kind of conditions do bulbs like?
Depends on the type, but there is a saying that "bulbs don't like to get their feet wet", which means that they don't like to be sitting in wet conditions. Yes, that's actually a saying, and yes I'm a nerd.  It means that they don't like water-retaining, slow-draining soil like clay, and they shouldn't be planted in areas that tend to hold water, like the bottom of hills. I am trying to defy nature by planting some bulbs in both conditions this year, so I'll tell you in the Spring how that worked out for me.I figured we don't get enough rain in these parts to worry about too much moisture, but still, probably not the smartest thing I've done.

Tulips love sun, Ipheion can handle a lot of shade, Allium and Daffodils like both, and Muscari (Hyacinth) will grow pretty much anywhere you drop the bulbs. The bag of bulbs will tell you what kind of sun they need. Keep in mind that the early-spring sun conditions will be different in your garden than in mid-summer (Science!), so plan your planting accordingly.

There is no need to fertilize your bulbs when you plant them -- the bulb itself is an energy-storing device that provides plenty of food to get the bulb growing when the time comes (again, Science!).

How do I plant them? And how deep?
Power tools! You don't need an electric screwdriver to plant bulbs, but it's a lot cooler if you use one. A couple of years ago, I bought this sweet oversized-corkscrew attachment that you use in an electric screwdriver to create holes in the ground for bulbs. It makes planting bulbs a little easier, but really I just use it because it makes me feel powerful. If you aren't lucky enough to have this, just use a gardening trowel and your hands to make space for the bulb.

Most bulbs need to be planted down to 2 to 4 inches, and the large bulbs need to be planted down to 6 to 8 inches. The bag of bulbs should say right on it what it needs, but if you aren't sure, you should be safe in the 4-inch range unless you have a very large bulb.

Bulb depth planting guide.

Starting an 8-inch hole for large Allium "Mount Everest" bulbs. I dug the hole deeper with a trowel and my finger(nail)s.

As for spacing, I noticed that all of the bags would say how many bulbs to put in a square foot, not how many inches apart they should be, like regular perennials. That's because you can plant some bulbs right next to each other. Bulbs per square foot can range from 3 for large bulbs to 16 for small bulbs. Taking all of the bulbs I planted this fall into account, I'd say a safe average is 10 per square foot. The huge Allium bulbs I planted, called "Mount Everest," are a rare type of bulb that needs to be planted deep and given space.

What kind of bulbs did you plant this year?
This is a common question between gardeners, and you'll need an answer if you want to join our cool-kids club.

I planted two kinds of Tulips together:

"Cynthia"

"Little Princess"

Two kinds of Allium (a.k.a. Ornamental Onion):

"Drumstick"

"Mount Everest"

I planted two miniature species together:

Mini Iris "Harmony"

Mini Daffodil "Tete-a-Tete"

 And, I planted white Ipheion in my shady, already Hyacinth-filled flower bed by our front door:

Ipheion "Alberto Castillo"

Muscari "Grape Hyacinth"

What bulbs did you plant?

My Low-Maintenance Perennial Favorites

In the beginning of the summer, a couple of friends asked me for some plant recommendations for starting a new perennial garden in Fort Collins. I figure there's more people out there who wonder what proven performers they could use in their new or established gardens. So, I've come up with a short list of my favorite perennials from my low-maintenance, drought-resistant and clay-soiled Zone 5 garden. The list consists of plants that have proven to be dependable performers year after year, super low/no maintenance and just plain pretty. A few are only appropriate for Western, arid gardens, but others are great for the Midwest, too.

Pink Wild Penstemon  (Penstemon palmeri). Short-lived but oh-so-lovely, this tall, showy beaut only lasted two or three years and has now been retired from my garden. I'm not sure if it's truly short-lived or if my clay soil was just too much for it. I think it was probably the latter, as it needs really quick-draining, rocky soil to thrive. It blooms in late summer. I have it on this list because it had the most gorgeous flowers I've ever had in my garden; and the hummingbirds, sphinx moths, bees and butterflies all loved it. It's also very low maintenance and needs no water after it's been established.

2012 in my garden

I ordered mine from High Country Gardens

 Rocky Mountain Penstemon (Penstemon strictus). These are native to the region, and I can always count on them to come back stronger than the year before. These are for Western gardens only, as they need dry conditions and strong sun to thrive. I also love them because they are a favorite for butterflies in our garden.

2012 with pink Penstemon Palmeri to upper left

2014. Salvia on left, Rocky Mountain Penstemon on right. Lady in background.

Swallowtail butterflies, sphinx moths, hummingbirds and bees love this dependable perennial

 Yarrow (Achillea spp.) of any kind grows and blooms vigorously all summer long. Some Yarrow is known to aggressively self-sow, so be sure to get one that doesn't if you want it to remain in one spot in the garden. I have two non-self-sowing kinds. A large, yellow "Moonshine" and more compact, white-flowered Greek Yarrow. White-flowered Yarrow can also be used as a medicinal herb. Yarrow makes a great cut flower and is so bright that it shines on moon-lit evenings.

I planted the Yarrow in 2012. Yellow flowers on right are Moonshine Yarrow, White-flowered Yarrow to left of them.

Two years later, it's thriving. Rocky Mountain Penstemon shoots up in between white and yellow Yarrow flowers 

Cut Yarrow flowers last a really long time in a vase and add a bright pop of color to bouquets

May Night Salvia (Salvia nemorosa). In my experience, Salvia does well anywhere. My dad had some (not sure which but it looked similar) in our garden in Northern Illinois and it did well there, too. I have May Night planted in the front yard in partial shade, as well as in the South-facing backyard in full sun. They all grow and bloom vigorously. They also self-sow moderately, and are always coated in friendly honey bees all summer long. Even when I'm dead-heading spent flowers (a must for Salvia), the bees have never bothered me. You'll notice that Salvia is a major player in my small landscaped area, where it's growing next to other favorite flowers.

nom nom nom. Bees loooove May Night Salvia

This Salvia has self-sowed to create a long string of plants. Pull out self-sowed seedlings if you prefer a  manicured look

Salvia is great for cut flowers, and is always a major player in my favorite vase all summer long

Jupiter's Beard (Centranthus ruber Coccineus) self-sows mildly and likes both full sun and part shade. It blooms from late spring through late summer with deep-red flowers. I wish I would have given it more of a front-and-center role in my landscape design, but you can still enjoy it if you look for it in the corner. I've learned from my newb design mistake! Jupiter's Beard does well in the Midwest, too, where it gets more water. I like it combined with Salvia, where the purple and red flowers, and dark-green and light-green foliage complement each other.

Salvia to left, Jupiter's Beard in Corner

Nobody puts Jupiter's Beard in the corner! Except silly ol' me

Deep-rooted Wild 4 O'Clock (Mirabilis multiflora) needs way more space than I planned for. It's taken up a big corner of my little wildflower area, but I still love it for its dependable summer-long color and extremely xeric (no)water needs. It is also deer- and rabbit-resistant. If you use it, make room for it! Also, my Midwesterner friends will not be able to use this one, as it only does well in the dry air and soil of the West.

Flowers open in the afternoon

Evening Primrose (Oenothera) is a new favorite for me. I'm pretty sure I have a Missouri Evening Primrose, aka Ozark Sundrop, but I can't be sure because I didn't buy it. My mother-in-law brought me some hardy flowers that had been divided from her landscape in Northern Illinois a couple of years back, and quite a few have done surprisingly well in the completely different conditions of my Xeric garden. Primrose is one of them. Now that I have it and have grown to love it, I'm noticing it in a lot of others gardens, too. That's proof enough for me that it's no fluke that it's thriving in my garden.

I've noticed that the Primrose spreads slowly, has pretty reddish-purple stems, buttery yellow flowers, really cool speckled sepals and blooms all summer long. Even the spent flowers look kinda cool, with an orange-y color tone. Oh, and they're super easy to deadhead, unlike Salvia. It's a true-blue surprise favorite for me and I'm so grateful my M.I.L. brought it all the way from IL to CO. 

Clear picture of newly opened flower with speckled sepals

reddish-purple stems visible in this photo

Iris can always be counted on for Spring color and beautiful, delicate blooms in the Midwest and the West. Plus, it spreads pretty easily, so you can transplant it into other areas after a few years. I don't know exactly what kind of Iris I have because it was one of the few plants that was already planted in our backyard when we moved in. I transplanted a few bulbs to a new area three years ago, and it has grown so well that it may be time to do that again.

Mine are planted in front of lilacs, and tend to bloom right after the lilacs have lost their color

If you are just getting your flower garden started, I highly recommend all of the perennials above. They have been low-maintenance, low-budget tested and approved over the past three years. I'm sure I'll have a bunch of new favorites to share with you next year. Let me know what your favorites are, especially if you think they might do well with little to no water!

10 Ways to Garden on a Budget

Gardening is expensive. I've been gardening on a tight budget from the get-go. This is a list of ways of how I do it. These are in no particular order, but I do consider #10 to be the most important rule for any kind of gardening.

Note: My low-budget approach is based on the concept that low-maintenance = less money. Although no garden is truly "low-maintenance," and many gardeners take joy in the maintenance of a garden, you do spend much less money and effort on water, fertilizer, soil amendments and replacement plants when you choose your plants correctly.

1. Use mildly self-sowing perennials. Some gardeners turn up their noses at self-sowing plants because they spread willy-nilly around the garden and can create a wild, un-planned look. Aggressive self-sowers are known to encroach upon more well-behaved perennials, so steer clear of those. Mild to moderate self-sowing plants give you the most bang for your buck over the years, offering transplanting options for other areas and filling in empty spaces in the garden. If you prefer a more manicured, well-managed look, stay away from self-sowing plants. If you love the wild, more "natural" look like I do, and you have space that needs to be filled in over the years, go crazy.
There are a ton of self-sowing perennials, but these are what I have enjoyed in my garden:

Hollyhocks in  July 2012. They have now self-sowed into this whole corner and side. Blanket flower, Salvia and Sundrops (all also self-sowing) to the right behind it. 

Kenzie and I picking some Blanket flowers (July 2013). They are short-lived but self-sow if you allow some seed heads to remain on the plant

Kenzie checking out a wild sunflower (July 2013). Birds love them and so do I. They have self-sowed throughout the yard. You can also collect the seeds and sow them where you want them, or share with friends. Seedlings are easy to pull up if you don't want them in a certain area

One small Salvia plant turned into three side-by-side plants

2. DIY. Do the design and (hard!) work yourself. Although working with a professional landscape designer and landscape company is guaranteed to deliver some great results, it can get expensive. If you want a gorgeous yard but don't have the money to pay a designer, do it yourself. Keep in mind that this approach does cost you in time and effort, but to me, that makes the results even more glorious. Always use a professional for big projects, especially those that include lighting, irrigation and major hardscaping (boulders, etc).

Our DIY design in 2011

3. Research. The library and Google are your friends. You'll save a ton of money simply by googling plants and gardening ideas that you're interested in, and figuring out how or if it'll work in your garden. I also like to get books from the library that will broaden my gardening horizons.
These are two books that I now own after first checking them out from the library. They are both written by a Fort Collins-based landscape designer who I've come to love:

4. Only buy plants from local nurseries who know the area and the best plants for it. Learn from my mistakes. Don't buy plants (including veggies) from the big box store. Chances are those plants have traveled quite a ways and are on their last leg by the time you get them in the ground. Avoid spending money on replacement plants by buying high-quality plants in the first place. Plus, you support the local community by steering clear of nationally corporate stores!

5. Use groundcovers. Like self-sowers, groundcovers can lend color and texture to large areas over time, saving you money on compact growers.

Reiter Thyme groundcover is used as a lawn alternative here.

6. Get your containers from thrift stores. Containers are sooo stinkin' expensive! We got nearly all of our containers from a thrift store, as a gift or with a gift card. This approach did give our pots and plants a kind of eclectic look, but that matches our style sensibility and personalities pretty well. If you like a more uniformed style, look for containers in the same color scheme and complementing patterns.

The large containers on the floor (the most expensive) were all bought with gift cards. 

7. Grow from seed. If you have a large space to cover, consider planting a wildflower or prairie grass area from seed. A little goes a long way, and it's way cheaper to buy a packet of seeds than a truck load of plants. This approach will cost time up front because of the soil amending, watering and weed-pulling maintenance that it takes to get things going, but it'll save you a ton of money in the long run.

8. Do a little at a time. Cultivation of any kind takes time. Gardening is all about learning, and you simply can't take any short cuts when you're acquiring knowledge from experience. I split my projects into spring and fall (and years) so that I don't have to spend a bunch of money and effort at the same time. And I always have plans for my gardening future.

2011

2014

9. Ask for gift cards as presents. My birthday is in May, so I almost always ask for a gift card to the local nursery or Xeric mail-order website (High Country Gardens) for my birthday. I always have more plants, soil and other gardening essentials that I want to buy, so help from family goes a long way.

10. And for my golden rule of perennial gardening: Always choose plants that do well in your climate and soil. You're just throwing your money away if you choose plants purely on looks. I've learned from research and experience that native perennials are great, but only if they are well-suited for your particular area. For instance, Columbines are native to Colorado (and the state flower!), but I rarely use them because they are native to creek-side woodland areas and require too much water and loamy soil, which I don't have. I chose a low-water hybrid Columbine for my shady front bed, and it still only does well when we get a lot of rain or I remember to water it often.

Don't limit yourself to natives, but do limit yourself to plants that have their origin in a similar climate and soil. For instance, plants from the highlands of Turkey and other Middle East locations have been proven to do well in the Front Range of Colorado because they have similar soils and climates. Take the time to research (see #3) and get to know your garden's microclimate, and you shall be rewarded.

I'm always looking to get more bang for my buck, so let me know what has proven to be a good penny-pinching tactic for you!

The High Hopes of Early Spring Gardening

Well, I'm often warned against getting my hopes up for a rainy day in Fort Collins, and for good reason. My enthusiasm for a rainy forecast was all for naught, yet again. Remember that rainy Sunday I was getting all pumped for? Yeah, that didn't happen. It was a cloudy and windy Sunday, but most def not a rainy one. And since then, we've had a total of maybe .00001 inches of rainfall. So, yeah, you can see why I get frustrated with the weather from time to time. But seeing the news reports on the horrendous flooding currently happening in Florida  and remembering the damage of the flood last fall does tend to put things in perspective for me. Plus, I do love the Colorado-blue skies and warm sunshine we get in abundance. So, I'm going to move on from complaining about the lack of rain...for now.

I'm more than ready to talk about early spring gardening, and all of the big hopes and dreams that come with it. And May Day is probably one of the best times to have the discussion. May is probably my favorite month of the year. Not only is it host to my birthday and wedding anniversary, but it signifies the true awakening of the plant world, too. So I get very giddy in May. And this year is no different.

Mixed lettuce sprouts in my Salad Bowl container

This year, I was on top of early-spring planting for the first time in my short gardening career. I planted onions, carrots, peas, beets and my lettuce bowl in Mid-March and everything is coming along nicely except for my beets. I didn't have any luck with my beets last year, either, so I'm still trying to solve that riddle. If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them! I planted my garlic too late last year (another learning experience), but they came back in full force this year, making for a pleasant springtime garden surprise.

My pea sprouts and a stick-and-hoop trellis. Garlic and onions in the 2nd bed in the background

Early in March, my friend clued me into the fact that peas and beets should be sprouted before you plant them in order to get the best results. So, I put my seeds in a damp paper towel, then into a plastic bag, then into my grow station to get some little sprouts. They not only managed to grow sprouts, but mold, too! So that was my first mistake, and could possibly be why my beets aren't growing. Peas are much bigger than beet seeds, so I was able to easily pick out the pea sprouts with little to no mold on them, and scratch off the mold that was there. Plus peas are so easy. I'm going to grow more next year, I think. They are basically the beans of springtime.

I'm not really a crafty person, but peas require some sort of trellis, so I found skinny sticks to stick into the ground near the spouts, then angled those sticks toward two garden hoops on the edge. I'm hoping they will grow towards those garden hoops and make a double-arch of peas over the garden bed. That'd look pretty awesome. If I ever get some DIY confidence again, there are a variety of even cooler things I could do for a pea trellis:

A cool, artsy pea trellis

Pea trellis made of tree branches

Somehow, I highly doubt my attempts would look anything like the trellises above.

Another thing I learned more about this year is something called "Companion Planting." I'm pretty excited about this concept, and it will keep coming up. As I mentioned in a previous post, the basic idea is planting plants with and near others that help them grow and keep away pests. And of course, there are always some plants that are better off being separated. For instance, pole beans don't like beets, onions or garlic, so they are a little pickier than others. It's a pretty awesome concept, and I'm totally embracing it.

Onions are really good companion plants in general, because they keep away a variety of pests, so I've planted them pretty much everywhere (I did try to keep them away from my designated bean spot). Onions are said to be especially helpful to carrots because they keep away carrot flies and help to loosen the soil, making it easier for the root vegetable to grow down. I also heard from a gardener friend that radishes do the same thing. Both carrots and onions are good companion plants for tomatoes, so I've planted a mix of carrots and onions around my designated spots for tomatoes. I'll take pictures of the onions and carrots together once the carrot tops get a little bigger.

My early-spring veggies have been hanging out in the ground for over a month now, and it's time to move on to planting my tomatoes this weekend. I have new garden hoops that I can use to put garden fabric over them if we hit any frosty nighttime lows. I'll probably plant my pepper starters, cucumbers, beans and herbs in two more weeks.

Still doing a good job guarding the plants he is.

Pepper, Marigold and Tomato starts with Thyme groundcover 

But my big, time-consuming project this weekend will be trying to dig up as many weeds as possible in the paths around the garden beds, prepping the soil and planting some Thyme ground cover to try to create a pretty, weed-resistant mat around the stepping stones. I have a big issue with Bindweed in this area, so I'm really trying not to get my hopes up. But the pictures of quick-spreading, drought-resistant and sun-loving Thyme groundcover on High Country Gardens makes that kinda hard.

A lawn of "Reiter Creeping Thyme"

"Pink Chintz" Thyme

If I can coax my "Reiter" and "Pink Chintz" Thyme to look a fraction as good as these pictures, I'll be happy. I just need something that will go to battle with the stupid Bindweed that will never, ever disappear.

Xeric plants for the waterwise garden

I've become obsessed with the mail-order xeric gardening website High Country Gardens. I began looking at the site before we even moved into our new house, writing down my favorite plants and imagining where I'd put them. Realizing that I could spend our life savings on plants, I asked for gift cards for my birthday. I got a couple gift cards as house-warming gifts and one for my birthday, so I was set to order without breaking the bank.

High Country Gardens stops shipping today (June 13th) due to the heat of the summer. They begin shipping again once it cools down in the fall. I was getting a little worried because June was upon us and we still weren't ready to get the plants ordered. Luckily, we were able to devote the entirety of this past weekend to landscaping, so I got the plants ordered last week. Some of the plants on my list were sold out, so I had to re-think my order. I ended up getting a good amount of plants ordered and I'm really excited to get them planted. They should arrive any day now. We will be working every week night this week to get the plants planted and the river rock hauled to the landscaped area.
These are some of the plants I ordered:

I ordered three types of Penstemon:


Penstemon palmeri (Pink Wild Snapdragon)

Up-close picture of the tall spires of Penstemon palmeri



Penstemon pinifolius (Tall Orange Mix Pineleaf Beardtongue)

Penstemon strictus (Rocky Mountain Penstemon)

 Two types of Salvia:

May Night Salvia

Blue Flame Salvia

 And many other flowers:

Nitrogen-fixing Purple Prairie Clover

Sundancer Daisy

Arizona Sun Blanket Flower

Veronica oltensis (Thyme-leaf Speedwell) - groundcover

Jupiter's Beard

Wild Four O'clock

All of the above plants need very little water except what is needed to get them established the first summer. All of them thrive in low-fertility, well-draining soil. I imagined that the "fill dirt" we bought to fill in the area we edged and landscaped this weekend would be just that - low fertility and rocky, well-draining soil. However, the soil we got ended up being very clay-based. That worries me quite a bit, but some of the flowers I'm getting do well in almost any soil, including clay. Others, like the Penstemon, really need well-draining soil to thrive. I added some rocks to the clay where those would be planted in hopes that they will help drain some excess water. I may also get a bag of sand and/or gravel to mix with the soil as I'm planting the pants. I'm crossing my fingers that all will survive and thrive in the area we plant them, but trying not to get my hopes up. Either way, in a year or two, at least some of these plants will be thriving and looking gorgeous. I can't wait to get them in the ground soon!