My Spring Flower Bulbs are Sprouting!

It's official: my Spring bulbs are sprouting! This is the view from my living room out into the backyard, and you can see my outdoor windowbox flower bulbs are finally making an appearance. This is just the motivation I need to start cleaning out the yard and setting up for the season.

Spring bulbs are like a little gift that you can give yourself to help you out of your winter rut. They can usually be purchased anywhere you would buy your seeds, and should be planted in the Fall after the weather has cooled down but before the soil is frozen solid. The bulbs actually require a cold hibernation period before they can sprout, and when the weather starts to warm up, the bulbs are stimulated to grow. Perennial bulbs will come back every year, so I have them permanently living in the same windowboxes where I rotate my annuals.

So where do the original bulbs come from?

Some, such as daffodil bulbs, can be grown from the flower's seeds and take a few years before they grow into full sized bulbs. Other bulbs will grow as "daughter bulbs" on the sides of a mother bulb, and it will again take years for a daughter bulb to be large enough to sprout on it's own. The time and effort that goes into producing flower bulbs really makes you appreciate them!

I had some leftover bulbs last Fall, so I put them in the fridge to store over winter. I'm going to try to plant them now and see if the refrigerator was sufficient enough cold hibernation to stimulate Spring sprouting. Has anyone ever tried this? I'd love your input!

Did you guys plant bulbs in the Fall? Is anything peeking out yet?

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[Jo Ann Fugazzotto]

You may be interested in a book I am reading called the Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. One of the plants that he talks about is the Tulip.

They were traded in Europe from Turkey in 1550. The name Tulip comes from a turkish work for "turban".

For centuries, the tulip was prized for its uniform color and once the two-color tulip started to show it was found to be because of a virus that was spread from the peach potato aphid, from peach trees. And, once they discovered this in the 1920', they set out to destroy any flowers that had color breaks.

One of the first tulips to arrive in Europe in 1500's was the Carolus Clusius. It was rare, and the bulbs were coveted. These prized flowers were stolen from a collector's garden and seeds were sown all over Europe. However, tulips do not come true from seeds and bear little resemblance to the parent flower. Seedlings were born and created an abundance of different shape and color tulips.

In this book Pollan also talks about the potato, the apple and marijuana. He explores the evolution of each plant and how it is linked to human desire: sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control. Good read for all garden enthusiasts.