Spring-Planted Bulbs

Asiatic lilies

Right around the time that seed and plant catalogs start arriving in my mailbox, I also begin to see racks of seeds for sale in the big box stores. A couple of weeks after that, the spring-planted bulbs, bare-root perennials and shrubs appear en masse.

Past experience has taught me that I’m not very successful with planting the bare-root stuff directly into the ground. I do much better with potting those into gallon-sized pots and nursing them along in the greenhouse, on the front porch or in the barn or garage until warmer weather arrives.

But I’ve had pretty good success with planting the spring bulbs directly into the ground. I prefer to add some compost and slow-release fertilizer to the the soil and heavily mulch because I am a project-oriented gardener, not a maintenance gardener. The heavy mulch reduces weeding and watering.

We planted dahlias (not really a bulb, but they are managed similarly) and lilies around the foundation of the tea room, and they gave us super tall, reliable, showy blooms every summer. Even though we didn’t dig the dahlias up in the fall. That was in USDA Zone 6, for whatever it’s worth.

Here in southeast Tennessee, we’re in Zone 7, and I did well with gladiolas and freesias last year. We’ll have to wait and see how they wintered over, but I’m optimistic.

This year, I’m planting dahlias and lilies again, plus more freesias and gladiolas. I like to have something blooming in the yard spring through fall.

I’m still contemplating just where to put them because we don’t have siding on the house yet, so around the foundation isn’t going to work. In the meantime, I thought I’d share some photos from the tea room to inspire your spring planting.