Care and How-To - Bulbs
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Learn how to protect plants from frost and freeze damage in fall and spring. Get tips on covering plants, using cold frames, and when to bring plants indoors for the season.
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A popular symbol of Easter is the trumpet-shaped, white, fragrant flowers of the Easter lily (Lilium longiflorum). Plants are available from flower shops, greenhouses, and other retail outlets.
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As winter fades and spring arrives, several things can be done to prepare the garden for the upcoming growing season.
Below are tips for the perennial garden, vegetable garden, annual containers, trees & shrubs, houseplants, and lawns.
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Discover how to grow and care for amaryllis bulbs, from potting and forcing to after-bloom care. Learn about various types, colors, and cultivation tips!
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Tulips (Tulipa spp.) are the quintessential spring blooming bulb. The wide range of colors, sizes, and patterns make them a spring favorite for Iowa gardeners. Learn more about these fascinating plants including information on planting, caring, transplanting, dividing, and forcing as well as information on how to select the best kind of tulip for your garden, how to deal with problems that may arise, how to use them as cut flowers, and the unique history and cultural impact this bloom from the mountains of central Asia has on gardeners.
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Most modern tulip cultivars bloom well for only 3 or 4 years. Their vigor declines each year, eventually leading to plants with leaves and no blooms. For this reason, these tulip types are often treated as annuals.
However, some tulip types (classes) bloom well over a longer period. These varieties make better long-term additions to the garden and will bloom each season reliably. Choose from the following types if you want perennial-type tulips.
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Daffodils (Narcissus) are a welcome sign of spring. Their bright, cheery blooms are some of the first to open in an Iowa spring. They are long-lived, winter-hardy, and relatively pest and disease-free, making them an easy addition to the landscape. Learn about daffodil selection, planting, care, and more below.
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While easy to grow, tulips do occasionally develop problems. Early emerging foliage, browsing from deer and rabbits, and bulb rot are a few common ones. Below are potential problems encountered when growing tulips in the landscape and how to manage them.
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Container gardens are an excellent way to grow plants in limited spaces and to add variety and interest to the landscape. Container gardening is relatively easy but there are several things to know before you get started. Included below are several resources to help with container gardening.
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A healthy garden has properly spaced plants. Use this guide to help determine how many plants you need based on their recommended spacing.
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Tender perennials are attractive additions to the home landscape. Since they are not reliably winter hardy in Iowa, tender perennials must be planted outdoors each spring. Tender perennials include gladioli, dahlias, cannas, tuberous begonias, caladiums, and calla lilies, among other plants.
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Bulb forcing can bring the bright colors and fragrances of spring indoors during winter. Daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, crocuses, and other spring flowering bulbs can be started indoors in September for forcing from December through March. Learn how to force bulbs indoors below.
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The beautiful blooms of tulips, daffodils, and other spring-flowering bulbs bring joy to the gardener in March, April, and May. Proper care through the remainder of the spring will help to insure excellent flower displays in succeeding years.
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Lycoris squamigera, or surprise lily, is flowering bulb with a unique growth habit. Foliage dies back by early summer and pink flowers appear in late summer seemingly out of nowhere (surprise!). Learn more about how to grow these interesting flowering bulbs.
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Explore over 200 species of irises, including bearded, Siberian, and Japanese varieties. Learn about their unique features, growing conditions, and care tips.
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There are several species of Allium or onion that are grown exclusively for their flowers instead of their bulbous structures. Ornamental onions (common name for many species) are not planted in the vegetable garden but in beds or borders with other perennial flowers.
Flower heads on ornamental onions are usually globe-shaped (referred to as umbels) and appear in late spring to mid-summer. The diameter of the flower heads varies from that of a quarter to a volleyball.
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The fall months are a great time to select and plant spring-flowering bulbs for next year. Gardeners can choose from traditional spring-flowering bulbs, such as daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths, or the more uncommon like winter aconite, crown imperial, giant onion, or guinea-hen. A small investment of time and money in fall will reward you with beautiful flowers next spring.
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Tulips are favorites of Midwest gardeners, but we often fail to appreciate the diversity of these spring-flowering bulbs. Tulips vary tremendously in flower and plant size, bloom period, shape, and color.
Tulips are grouped into 15 divisions based on shape and origin. Tulips can also be grouped by bloom time. In Iowa, tulips typically bloom from mid-April through May. Divisions can be classified as early, mid-season, or late based on when in that time frame they bloom.
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Springtime often means plant shopping. Follow these steps to purchase high-quality plant material. Tips are available for containerized, balled and burlapped, and bareroot plants as well as for seeds and bulbs.
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When buying mulch, you need to know how much to purchase based on the size of the garden bed and the depth you wish to spread the mulch. Use this guide to help determine how much mulch to purchase.