Inexpensive spring bulbs

A quick post to suggest an inexpensive way to put bulbs and spring bloomers in to your garden: 

Grocery stores and big box stores have incredible mark down deals after a holiday like Valentine’s Day and Easter. Flower bulbs like tulips and daffodils that have finished blooming will go on sale, and can go home with you to give you flowers the next spring. Buy these pots of spent flowers and leaves, put them in a bright spot in your house and keep them watered like a house plant until the leaves start to fade to brown. This is usually in a couple of weeks. Stick the pots out in the garage until the leaves are completely brown and the bulbs have gone dormant. Don’t water during this final step into dormancy or the bulbs will rot.

Then when spring weather warms up and you are planting your annuals, you can just dig a hole, and pop these dormant bulbs and their soil into the ground. Make sure you put them 1-2” deeper than the top of the existing potting soil, the bigger the bulbs the deeper the planting.

Next year, they will come up with no effort from you.

You can also buy Easter lilies. They go dormant more slowly and won’t ever bloom at Easter in your garden. They are forced in greenhouses for the Easter market. They usually bloom in mid-summer when they are naturalized in your garden. It is actually quite a thrill to have these gorgeous white lilies appear.

You can also get bargains on other spring bloomers like primroses that have slowed down blooming. When you pick your bargain plants, they are often wilted. Just make sure they haven’t wilted to the point of no recovery – if it is too wilted, pick another from the center of the group of pots. Center plants usually get more water and less sun, which means they don’t dry out like those on the edge.

Keep them inside and gradually put them into outside shade, then into more sun until they are accustomed to real life conditions. 

Does this sound like too much work? When the weather warms a bit, simply put them under a chair or table on your porch where they will get some sun and some protection from the late frosts. Be sure to keep them watered though, because they will continue to grow and not go dormant like the bulbs.

When they are hardened off in a week or so, plant them in a place that is visible from a window so you can see them bloom for you early the next spring!