Poppies - Easy color for early summer

Most of the flowers that are attractive to pollinators that I've written about are easy to find. Today, though, I wanted to start including some native wildflowers. These flowers are becoming more common in the commercial trade.

Finding native wildflowers is the most fun part of my professional job. Many species are being developed for gardeners and I would encourage all readers to visit local nurseries and ask about their natives. Not every plant will survive in the varying soils we have. Some prefer soils that haven’t been overly amended with compost or fertilized. Pay attention to what the tag and nursery person says about where to plant.

The first plant I want to suggest to attract pollinators is the poppy (Papaver sp.). There are many possibilities, both annuals which have to be reseeded every spring, or perennials, like the deep orange Oriental poppy, which come up faithfully every year.

There is also the bright orange California poppy which is a different species. I will write about that in another post.

Both types bloom in early summer. In my garden, they always have bees working them. The bees get deep in the flower and get covered with pollen. This pollen fertilizes the next blossom they visit, so poppies produce A LOT of seed. If you don’t dead head the seed pods, you will find lots of poppies in your garden the next spring.

Annual poppies that reseeded in my young garden. They made the garden look more established than it really was. This poppy is commonly available in seed packets of mixed colors and goes by the name of Shirley poppy, corn poppy or poppy of Flanders. I love this flower more than the bees do.

They produce numerous flowers per plant, so even the annuals will bloom for several weeks.

Shirley poppies

Shirley poppy seed in a mix of colors can be found in every seed packet display in spring. If the plants are allowed to reseed, red becomes the dominant color.

The deep orange perennial is usually available in packets. It will produce a ‘hairy’ little rosette of leaves in its first year and will bloom for you in year two. 

You can see the flowers and buds in the photo of the Shirley poppies. The ‘hairy’ ovals are the new buds. The stems straighten up as the bud gets closer to blooming

Poppy seeds are really small, so make sure you don’t sow them too close together. You can spread the seed in fall before it snows or as early as March. Put the seed on bare ground and just sweep your hand across the area you planted. Poppies do better if they are not buried, but you do want them to be in contact with the soil.

The seedling is also very tiny, like two thin green line, so you have to keep a close eye out for them.

The perennials are not always successful as transplants, so take extra care with the root ball if you buy a potted perennial, or if you dig them up and move them around your garden.

This is another annual, quite different in appearance than the red poppy. I got the seed from a friend over 20 years ago and collect it again every year.

Poppies adapt well to selective breeding, so there are many colors and varieties available. Check out your favorite seed catalogue and see what is offered.

Perennial Oriental poppies. Through breeding selection, many colors beyond the traditional orange are available. You can see both the ‘hairy’ oval bud and the bare immature seed pod in the upper right.

You should also look for poppies around your neighborhood. If you find one you like, ask if you can have some seed when it ripens. Poppies are so prolific and easy to grow from seed, every garden should have some.

Government influence for pollinators

In 2014, a Presidential Memo came out of the White House directing all federal agencies to improve pollinator habitat. This was a huge boost to the national awareness of the problems that are facing insects, butterflies, moths, and various pollinator animals.

Although this was directed at all federal agencies, I think the land management agencies are the ones that have the greatest responsibility to help improve the problem. The US Forest Service (FS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and National Park system oversee huge amounts of land, most especially in the west. These lands are set aside for public use and it is the responsibility of the FS and BLM to walk the fine line to keep these lands healthy, while allowing recreation (hiking, camping, fishing, and off-road vehicle use), forest harvesting, energy and mineral development, livestock grazing and hunting. The National Parks have a different mandate and allow only specified recreation, so they can more simply preserve their lands closer to their original conditions.




In response to this Memo, there is an increase in the research of collecting wildflower seed, growing these seeds in commercial production gardens and then replanting native wildflower seed. In the past, it was mostly grass varieties that were seeded during revegetation projects for improving wildlife habitat or reseeding after a fire. Grasses are easy to grow commercially and easy to harvest, because they grow like wheat and can be harvested by machine.

Native lupine

Native wildflowers on the other hand, might bloom over a period of a month and the seed will ripen over weeks. Some species spread their seed using “umbrellas” like dandelions. Others like lupines, pop open their seed pods to shoot their seeds away from the parent plant.

All this variety makes commercial seed collection turn into hand labor, rather than mechanical harvesting. Hand labor makes seed expensive. This isn’t like a pack of radishes, where you get 50 seeds and that’s all you need. These agencies are reseeding vast amounts of land and need actual tons of seeds. Think of the huge areas burned by wildfire. Anyway, this is all just to explain why an order from The Top to improve wild lands habitat to help pollinators has been such a great thing. More native wildflower seed is being produced by seed growers, and is being used in reseeding mixes, even though it is more expensive than native grass seed.

Native Gaillardia in seed

This is a win for pollinators, for ecosystem diversity on public lands, for the seed production industry, and for me.


Part of my job is to analyze which local wildflowers species might be successful in commercial production, and then to collect a portion of the seed in various wild populations and send it off to a seed trial garden. Best.Job.In.The.World!

Lavender - an herb for pollinators

Late fall - lavender in a high water environment,
near a lawn. But it is planted on a slope,
so the water drains away.

• Annual or perennial varieties 
• Prefers sun 
• Blooms in summer 
• Blooms in shades of purple, gray-green fragrant foliage, even in winter
• Attracts many pollinators
• Ht 1’-3’ Lots of herbs are great plants for pollinator’s use. 

There are many herbs which thrive in the dry heat of the arid west, including those species that come from the Mediterranean area, like lavender, thyme, and rosemary. Herbs give us a bonus by being culinary or medicinally useful – think peppermint tea for digestion.

Lavender is a much loved herb. There are many varieties available to choose from since so many have been bred and developed. There are two major groups - French lavender (Lavandula dentata) and English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia).

French lavender should be treated as an annual in our cold winter area. So if you grow this one, put it in a pot and bring it inside before the first killing frost. English lavender grows into a small woody shrub and there are several varieties that can be successful as winter hardy perennials in the average garden.

Since cold hardiness is partly a function of genetics, don’t give up on lavender if your first attempts to grow it aren’t successful. Lavenders all prefer well drained soil. If they are in wet soils over winter, that decreases their survival. Even during the summer, water with care if your soil is not well draining. Soggy roots are very hard on lavender. They love full sun and can take your hot exposures if they are eased into the sun when you transplant them.

When you look for English Lavender, try the variety Hidcoat, or Munstead. These are the ones that many people find the most successful. New breeding has produced new varieties, so if they are available, give them a try, although I have found that lavenders can be mislabeled. Talk with your nursery people to help fine-tune your choices.

Some lavenders smell better than others to me, so take the time to run your hand lightly over the plant and take a sniff. If they are in the back if the garden, aroma is less important, but if you will plant lavender close to a path, take the sniff test.

They bloom in various shades of purple during the summer. They are well-used by all sorts of pollinators, including butterflies and a variety of bees. Here is a word of caution- if you have bee-sensitive folks in your life, lavenders might be better placed away from walkways in spite of its wonderful smell.

More spring blooming plants for pollinators

Beyond shrubs, there are a variety of other early season blooming plants that you can use to attract pollinators before the more extensive blooms of summer emerge.

One such early blooming perennial is called sea pink or thrift. It is low growing, and sends up several to many early stems with a small, round pinkish cluster of flowers. The plant leaves you with a tidy mat of leaves for the rest of the summer. Mine doesn’t rebloom, but I may not give it enough water for that.

Creeping phlox comes in white, purples,
and pinks. [1]

Another gorgeous early bloomer is creeping phlox. It's also low growing and spectacular in the spring, especially if planted with tulips. It doesn’t leave a plant as attractive as thrift, so it is better suited behind a plant that doesn’t come up until later in the summer. It does need good sun though, so don’t let the other plant cast shade on it for the entire day.

Growing basil as a pollinator plant

• Annual
• Comes in many varieties
• Takes sun but needs water
• Edible
• Attracts many types of pollinators
• Ht 8”-20”

Basil is an herb garden staple. There are numerous varieties, many with an aroma that is close but not the same, as the traditional plant. There are also many varieties used in different culinary cultures that have strikingly different scents.

Sweet basil on the left, Thai basil on the right Photo by Cchatfield, from Wikimedia Commons

Basil is slow to germinate from seed in spring/cool soils, but transplants easily. With regular watering, it does well in full sun, but most varieties won’t tolerate a frost.

The leaves are soft, and vary in size from about 1”- 4”, depending on which type you are growing. The leaves are easy to harvest and can be used fresh in a salad, marinara sauce, or any number of ethnic dishes. You can also air dry the leaves in the arid west on a cookie rack and save them for winter use. I am not a fan of oven-drying or dehydrator-drying of herbs because the heat seems to change the flavor. And it’s not really necessary here, where the air carries so little moisture.

The problem with basil as a pollinator attractor is that if you allow it to blossom, the plant becomes less productive. Since it is an annual, once the flowers are pollinated or fertilized, the plant starts to funnel its energy into seed production and not leaf production.

Therefore, it is generally recommended that the blossom stems be removed to keep the plants productive. One solution is to plant more basil than you need and allow some to flower. Keep the rest pruned and productive.

How to start your first vegetable garden

If you are a first time gardener, you might be wondering how to get started. I know there is a lot of interest in growing some of your own food and I have to say that there is nothing more fun than picking a fresh pea pod and eating it.

Gardening may seem intimidating if you are a newbie to the process. There are some things to understand but the key is to NOT stress out. Working with plants is supposed to be relaxing. So many people say that they don’t have a green thumb or everything they plant dies. I say find another plant and keep trying. Some plants don’t thrive even though they look great when you buy them.

Plants need regular appropriate watering, which is the most common cause of non-success in my experience. In your garden, germinating seeds and seedlings have almost no root and need light watering frequently, maybe even several times a day. How often depends on how much sun and/or heat they are getting. For example, they need more water if they are planted along your house or a fence which reflects extra heat onto them.

Once the seedlings have gained some size – there is no official measure for, this but usually it is when they have several leaves – they have more roots and don’t need such frequent watering. At this point they need a deeper watering. And then when they are well established and really growing, they need longer watering to encourage the roots to go deep and help the plant self-maintain from a wider space in the soil.

When you water, keep in mind that roots need air as well as moisture. So if you have soil that doesn’t drain well, don’t drench that kind of soil. Your seedlings need moist, not sodden, soil to do best.

OK, as you read this you may be ready to give up because there is all this interpretation to figure out watering needs. Here is the tool to help you – your finger! If you have seen or eaten an alfalfa sprout on a sandwich or a bean sprout in your Pad Thai, you know what a baby plant looks like. The alfalfa sprout comes from a small seed and its seedling is small and its first roots are short. Feel the soil and think of that sprout – is the soil moist (not sodden) to the depth of that root?

If you have a larger seed – maybe you planted cukes, or peas or beans, think of the bean sprout when you finger-test the soil. “Ack! Are you kidding”, you may be thinking, how can I possible make that kind of evaluation?” Sure it’s a bit of a skill but you’ll soon get the feel of it. So start with seed that is a guaranteed success – radishes are almost always a success and have a good size seed. Leaf lettuce also comes up relatively fast and is another veggie that gives quick gratification but has a smaller seed.

Broccoli, kale, and cauliflower are all related to the radish and have very similar, almost round, seeds. So even if you aren’t a fan of these veggies, they germinate easily and give you a quick sense of gardening happiness. Carrots, parsley, and basil early are challenging in your early gardening career because they are slow to germinate, and have less vigorous seedlings. If you are planting when summer is full on, cucumbers, zucchini or yellow summer squash, and any of the beans like the warm soils and will germinate well and give you a satisfying first garden.

Spring blooming shrubs for pollinators

If spring blooming flowers weren't enough for you, some other early bloomers that pollinators like are spring flowering shrubs and fruit trees like cherries. For me, seeing a pussywillow, forsythia, or lilac in flower means that spring is here, regardless of spring snows and lack of other evidence.

If you have willows around you, watch for bees. Many willows bloom early and have inconspicuous but very useful flowers. The beloved soft pussywillows are a flower structure called catkins - which are a cluster of non-traditional flowers. They are hugely attractive to bees.

A pussywillow catkin (left) and one still in bloom and usable for bees (right) [1].

Lilacs come in such a variety of colors and heights that there should be one in every garden. The Butterfly Gardening publication from Colorado’s Butterfly Pavilion says that “lilacs are among the best nectar sources for the early butterflies, when little else is available.”

There are many great Viburnum varieties usable in western gardens. And a number of these shrubs bloom early and then produce colorful fruit.

American cranberrybush Viburnum [2]

Red twig dogwood shrubs also bloom early and has the advantage of late season berries and attractive winter stem color – thus the name red twig! This is not the large-flowered gorgeous dogwood found in the eastern states.

Red twig dogwood [2]

Western sand cherry is a small shrub [2].

If you have a xeric garden, there are numerous native shrubs that bloom early. If you have room in your garden for a small to mid-size shrub, look for:

• American plum - Prunus americana
• Western sand cherry - Prunus pumila
• Three-leaf sumac - Rhus trilobata 
• Golden current - Ribes aureum
• Cliffrose - Purshia sp.
• Serviceberry - Amelanchier sp. 

These are species that are most easily found in nurseries or garden centers that stock native plants, though a couple of these are becoming more common in the horticultural trade. They are not likely to be found in a big box store.

Golden currant also produces small fruit [2].

Serviceberries are very drought tolerant, once established. [3]

[1] Pussywillow photos from Hunters Garden Centre.
[2] Images from USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Herman, D.E., et al. 1996.
[3] Image from Sheri Hagwood, hosted by the USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database.

Spring blooming pollinator plants

Lots of flowers bloom in the summer. Yet pollinators, especially bees, are active early in spring and many others need food later into the fall. So, if you are planning to add flowers to your garden specifically for pollinators, early and late bloomers might be the first flowers to add.

I know dandelions are the target of much angst and herbicide from gardeners. But these perennial bloomers are one of the first things to flower and are widely used by early foraging bees. My friend, a late-blooming but very enthusiastic bee-keeper, used to be a huge fan of herbicides. Now she has a lawn full of dandelions. She keeps them for her bees that come out of winter dormancy and are desperate for sustenance. She feeds them of course, but her spring lawn is a sea of yellow flowers covered with bees. Then once the flowers fade, she keeps her lawn well mown and only a few dandelions bloom during the summer months.

Spring bulbs are a more satisfying solution as early flowers. Crocus, tulips, daffodils, hyacinth, and other species of bulbs will bloom over several weeks of cooler weather and are visited by early bees and other insects. They need a long period of cold and have to be planted in the fall. You can find cheap bulbs in spring, but everybody sells bags of bulbs in the fall.

Amaryllis blooms

Here is my $3.89 Big Box store amaryllis! It has 3 blossoms/stem which are opening over about 1 week. Pretty FAB!

An introduction to pruning

As a plant geek, one of the things I tend to notice is BAD pruning jobs. Ask my daughters and they will agree that this is something I am oddly, and annoyingly, fixated on. Pruning done well is not noticeable, except maybe a brief observation of “That’s a nice tree”. Pruning done badly is an eyesore for a long time and is most visible in winter.

Trees have a single trunk under natural conditions. Shrubs have multiple trunks. That's what makes them shrubs. Some shrubs are made into trees, but they often react by sending up other shoots around the base of the trunk.

Most trees look great with leaves, but the foliage may be hiding a lousy branching structure. If you look at your trees in winter, you can really see what is going on.

While mature tree canopies vary by species, young trees should have a common structure. They should have a central leader, the main branch up top that will be the tallest part of the tree. For any number of reasons, the nursery will sometimes cut off this leader branch. This causes side shoots to branch out and changes the natural shape of a tree. This can make a tree have a poor branching structure and only careful pruning can pull it back into shape. Sometimes you can’t fix it at all.

Fruit trees are an exception to this. They are often pruned to keep the branching structure low and wide for easier access to the fruit.

Look at the trees in your yard before the leaves emerge. If there is a tangle of branches, you need to prune! Take a look at the pictures at the end of this post to get an idea of what you should watch for.
Larger trees need a professional. Get a good one, a certified arborist who understands tree structure and anatomy. A mature tree that is cropped off breaks my heart. That kind of pruning shortens the life of the tree, and it looks terrible.
 
If you have a younger tree that you can work on without falling off a ladder, get a good pruning saw, sharp pruning shears (there are left handed models and if that is you, BUY THEM!), and a really good, sharp tool, called a lopper. It is a long handled pruning shear. It is worth getting good tools if you are going to garden. It makes every job easier.

Please, don’t ever prune a tree with hedge trimmers. Don’t turn a tree into a lollipop. Don’t prune when you are angry. I could give you many lessons in pruning, but it is an art and a science and there are numerous, well-illustrated sources out there. Check out YouTube.

Be aware that different sized trees may have different pruning needs. I think of ash, large maples, locusts, lindens, etc., as street trees. They are quite large when mature and their lowest branches are generally high. So you would gradually remove the lowest branches. Crabapples on the other hand, are smaller when they are mature and you should keep their branches lower to the ground.

Some important points to consider:

• Walk around the tree and look at it from all angles. A tree lives in 3 dimensions. A branch that looks good from one side may be crossing or interfering with a branch on the other side. Try to visualize what the branch will do when it grows thicker and bigger around. 
• Plan cuts to open up the center of the tree. 
• Shorten a branch with a cut just above a bud, but don’t damage the bud. Remember that the bud will turn into a branch. It will be the endpoint of the sap and water that is rising up from the roots. Anything above the bud will die and leave a stub that will poke somebody’s eye out. 
• Pick a bud that will grow in the direction you want. A bud that points to the center of the tree will grow a branch that will head into the center of the tree, which is something you don’t want. 
• Don’t get over-zealous. A good rule of thumb is to prune only 1/3 of the total branches in a year so you aren’t removing too many future leaves. 

I will also add – once you have cut the branch off, it is gone. Think before you cut!

Finally, here are some good examples of common problem tree structures to help you identify what your trees might need.

This is a young tree growing a double leader. The leader on the left is the better one, because it will produce a straighter, mature tree. A careful removal of the longer leader on the right will allow the smaller one to become dominant. This is an example of the benefit of walking around the tree. From one side, the longer leader was the more obvious choice because you couldn’t see its curve.

This tree in my neighborhood has too many interior branches, but a good straight leader. Careful selection of branches and pruning over several years will open this up to make it a great mature tree.

This tree would be very difficult to improve. There are too many trunks and removing a couple of them would make the tree appear lopsided or deformed because it has grown to adapt to its overcrowding. As the tree matures, it is likely those trunks will rub together and damage each other.

This tree should have been pruned when it was younger. There are too many branches coming off of the center trunk. Careful removal of the 2 weakest, thinnest branches this year and maybe one more next year will improve the shape of the mature tree.

Winter Sun

My office faces east, with a big window and lots of house plants. This combination allows me to watch the progress of the rising sun as the seasons change.

I start work early. Now that we have passed the shortest day of the year, I am enjoying opening the blinds earlier each day because the sun is coming up earlier. It is also moving northward as the winter progresses. This means that I can begin to shift my plants from one cluster to a broader area since I get more sunshine before the sun moves around the building.

This is one of the processes of nature that helps me get through the short, cold months of winter. Soon enough, I tell myself, the morning sun will be so hot that I will wish I had a tree to shade this window.

But not now.

Image from MaxPixel.

Plant Blindness

There has been some research floating into my mailbox lately about "Plant Blindness." This is a new term for me but the concept is not.

I know that I am hyper aware of plants which makes me the ultimate plant geek. But the idea that some people don’t ‘see’ plants was brought home to me in a recent conversation I had with a guy who is a rock climber and a fisherman. We were talking about an area where I had been looking for wildflowers and he was explaining how to find this creek which was the perfect fishing spot for trout.

I asked if there were many wildflowers around, knowing that there would be flowers anywhere that there was running water.
He paused, "I don’t know."
"Oh," I said, but was thinking "Are you KIDDING me??? You crushed them with every step you took along that creek!" That sentiment must have shown in my face because his next comment was, "It must be hard for a plant expert like you to hear something like that."

It was and it inspires me to do more outreach to teach children to ‘see’ plants. Children as natural observers, are the place to start fixing the blindness.

Plants don’t have the appeal of animals - deer, eagle, chipmunks, even porcupines. Elk, I just learned, are the major tourist attraction in Estes Park, CO, even more than being the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park.

People worry about the polar bears but few give a thought to the disease and insect die-off happening to the evergreen trees across the Colorado mountains until all you can see are the large stands of dead pine, spruce and fir trees that now blanket the hillsides of our forested land. Ack!!

This is my plan. I have a really fun project that I taught lots of students as my daughters were growing up. It is simply using pinto beans at different stages of germination and taking them apart so the kids can see how germination works.

Everyone starts with a dried bean and over the course of the discussion, I give out about 5 beans to each child. Each of the five beans is slightly farther along in its germination and shows: the developing root, then tiny leaves, bigger leaves and roots, the leaves as they start to turn green, and then finally a seed with the root and leaves emerging. Then I send them home with a dried bean seed so they can grow it themselves.

Emerging leaves from a germinating bean.

This is totally a science fair project but so appealing because each child has their own seeds to dismantle, to study, and to contemplate - and to show off to me!

It is a project that ALWAYS engages the students, can be taught to almost any age kid and can be as simple or complex as the class needs - drawings, technical terms, problem-solving questions.

Now that I'm not teaching full time, I have talked with a couple of teacher friends and they are happy to have me come in and do this project with their students in the spring.

Cut flowers for winter

In winter, I like to buy cut flowers at the grocery store. I try to find the ones on sale, though you have to look carefully at the blossoms and judge their age. My favorite grocery store flower is alstroemeria, which is the longest lasting cut flower I know. Carnations are my second favorite and some of the colors reward me with the clove-like scent.

This is a bouquet of sale alstroemeria that I bought just after their sell-by date. It is now going on the 3rd week at my house. They came home with 18” stems and I have repeatedly cut their stems and given them fresh water. They are shorter but still lovely.

As soon as you get them home, pull off any leaves that might go under water in the vase, and cut off about 2”-3” of their stems with a sharp tool. I keep clippers in my kitchen drawer, but a sharp knife works, too. Then put them immediately into warmish water at least ½ way up their stems. Leave them there for a couple of hours and then arrange them in a vase.

By cutting the stems, you open up the vascular tubes (think drinking straws) that allow the flower to pull water up the stem. These tubes are TEENY and close up pretty quickly with the debris that grows in the vase water. So cut the stems every couple of days and give the flowers clean water.

This is the fresh cut end of a head of leaf lettuce. The white dots around the outside are the vascular tubes. Note the brown dots on the cut-leaf stem to the left. These are sealed vascular tubes that won't let water through.

Sometimes, cut flowers come with flower food. I will use a bit of that - maybe a teaspoon in a vase. Since it often clouds the water or leaves sediment on the bottom, I don’t use the whole package. The key to longevity though, is to cut the stems and reopen the tubes.

All the chrysanthemum varieties respond well to this treatment, but they will drop petals and wilt faster than the other two kinds of flowers. Other grocery store flowers seem to respond well to the packaged flower food.

I have found that roses are the most difficult to keep from wilting. My theory is that cut roses don’t pull water up the stem as successfully as other flowers. If you cut the stems pretty short, maybe 6”, roses do better. But that goes against the “long stemmed roses” view that folks have. Some recommendations also suggest crushing the woody stem – but that crushes the vascular tubes, so I don’t see that as a usable solution.

Other ideas include cutting upward from the base of the stem, again with a sharp pair of pruners. This, plus cutting the stem at an angle instead of straight across, gives more surface area for water absorption, so I can appreciate the validity of these practices.

There are the theories of adding soda pop, aspirin and who knows what else to the water. I haven’t experimented with any of these. Additives in water could be beneficial for some types of cut flowers.
But for those of us with a bouquet from the grocery store, clean water and fresh cut stems are the most important steps in long-lasting flowers.

Summer greens in winter

I miss summer green in the non-gardening months, even though I have lots of houseplants. One of my favorite, inexpensive green additions is a bunch of parsley in a vase. With it still in a bundle, I wash it (since I do eat it in salads), and fill my vase with fresh water. Then I remove the rubber band, cut the stems and pop them into the vase.

Presto!

Leaf lettuce also makes a satisfying ‘bouquet’ that you can harvest for salads.

Amaryllis Part 3 - Keeping an amaryllis after blooming

Amaryllis are easy bulbs to save for reflowering if you are interested in trying.

As your blossoms start to wilt, remove each dying flower with a sharp knife or clippers. Cut it off close to the stem, being careful not to damage the other blooms. The cut will ooze for a while, but this isn’t anything to worry about. 

Wilted amaryllis photo by Liz West under CC.

When all the blossoms are wilted, you need to cut back the flowering stem to about 2-4” tall, but don’t cut any of the leaves. As with tulips, daffodils and other bulbs, the leaves make food that is stored in the bulb before it goes dormant. As I said in an earlier post, this is like a bear eating and storing energy, so it can survive a long sleep. 

The cut flower stem will ooze sap for a while and will turn brownish all the way to the bulb over a couple of weeks. This is normal. While it is green, it will continue to make food like the leaves.

Treat the leaf-only plant as any other house plant at this point. Put it in a bright, preferably sunny, window. Water it when the top 1” is dry and use a dilute water-based fertilizer at about ½ strength.

If you have a garden, you can plant the bulb in the ground when there is NO danger of frosts – maybe early summer. Harden it off, meaning ease it into being outside, by keeping it in a mostly shady location for a few days and gradually giving it more sun. It will not take our intense sun without damage to the leaves, so plant it where it will be mostly shaded from noon onward. If you don’t have a garden, you can move the pot outdoors but again, not in full sun here in the west.

In either case, water it deeply every so often because the roots are deep, not close to the surface like petunias or even most perennials.

In the fall or after the first frost has damaged the leaves, carefully dig it up, loosen and remove all the soil. Cut off the leaves just at the top of the bulb and bring it inside. Let it dry out for a day or two. If you have kept it as a houseplant, stop watering it in the fall, and cut the leaves off when they have died.

Store the bulbs in the dark in a cool place, like your basement (but not your refrigerator, since it is too cold) for about 2 ½ months. The bulbs need this long storage at a cool temperature of 50-55° for about 10 weeks in order to bloom again.
 
After that time, repot the bulbs or bring the potted bulbs back into the light and start again. If your bulb sends up only leaves and doesn’t rebloom, it’s likely that it didn’t manage to store enough food reserves in its bulb. Another possibility is that the cold storage period wasn’t long enough, so make sure you give it the full 2 ½ months at about 50-55°.

Good luck, and let me know how your bulbs do!