Daffodils, tulips and hyacinths are providing beautiful colors – not only in parks and gardens, but also in shops and garden centers where people buy flowers to decorate their homes for spring and churches for Easter.
The beautiful flowers will soon begin to fade, but it doesn’t have to be a trip to the mainland. With a little care, the flowers can be given the opportunity to return next year by transferring the plants in the pot to the outside. If the plants are successful, return every year.
A good sign that this transplant will be successful is when the plant blooms at the same time the same plant is blooming outside. That’s probably because the plant isn’t “encouraged,” or tricked by the farmer to bloom early, said Jayde Grisham, field and horticulture specialist at Purdue Extension’s Allen County office. Stronger pulses are more difficult to change outwards.
Transplanting plants outdoors can begin after the last frost date and the night temperatures are still above freezing. This year, May 8 was the last snow day, according to Almanac.com, the website home of The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
Grisham recommends gradually introducing potted daffodils, tulips and hyacinths outside for a few hours in the sun, gradually increasing the amount of time they spend outside so they can acclimate to the temperature, the wind etc.
“Direct sun is hard on plants, as are people who get sunburned,” he said. “Plants have the same behavior, although they use the sun. And so maybe take it outside and put it in the shade or on a cloudy day (at first).
After a week of slow acclimation, the flowers should be ready to plant. Check how high the soil is growing above the plant in the pot, then shake off most of the soil, Grisham says. Light soil may not be suitable for the plants in your yard, and you want the soil to be consistent. After removing the large soil, plant the plant at the same depth in the pot.
Gilbert Young, director of horticulture at the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory, recommends finding a date for your flowers. It is also important to consider the distance from a house. Planting near the house, especially on the south or west side, will flower first because the earth will be warmer.
Although clumps can be separated, plants like tulips do best when planted in groups, he said. That’s how they grow in their natural habitat. Most plants produce one flower per cluster.
The conservatory’s annual bud sale will be on sale through April 30. It features hyacinth, tulip and daffodil plants adapted from the “California Dreamin'” show garden exhibit. Priced at $1.95 per pot, there are three to five pods. The final round of plants from the show will go on sale Tuesday, Young said.
The conservatory’s auction required scraps to be part of the exhibit, which opened in January. While he admits the demand for bulbs can be difficult, Young says daffodils and hyacinths are long-lasting and commercial tulips have proven successful as perennials for local gardens.
“We’ve had visitors who have bought here every year, and they say they’ve had great success and come back because they keep adding to their outdoor puzzle collection,” he said. him.
Keeping the flower in a well-watered pot until it begins to bloom is key to ensuring it lives to bloom another year, Young said. Even after the colorful petals have passed, there is still work to be done.
If you are restoring flowers or keeping plants in the garden, do not think that because the flowers are gone, the leaves are useless and can be cut. The leaves (and stem) collect the energy through photosynthesis that the bulbs need to grow again the next year, Grisham said. Dried flowers can be cut off – or “head dead” – so the plants store nutrients instead of spending energy on developing seeds or fruit.
Some spring perennials will do better in this area than others, Grisham said. Daffodils are hardy in our garden, ranking 5b and 6a on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Daffodils are also poisonous to many animals including deer, so it’s best to do it in the spring without them. Crocuses are also the first to grow naturally and spread well in our area.
Tulips are more difficult to maintain as perennials because bunnies and deer tend to taste them; if part of the leaves are eaten, this means less photosynthesis and less flowering.
Another popular spring flower that may not make it forever in the area is the Easter lily, Grisham said. The plant outside is not good in the cold winter of our gardens.
Leaving some of the bulbs in a pot with the hope that they will re-bloom indoors is unlikely to succeed, Grisham and Young agree. Most of the buildings are not able to provide the necessary conditions such as nature or green house with special maintenance capabilities.
While tulips and daffodils are early spring plants, there are late-spring perennials at this time of year. Grisham suggests shade-loving flowers like astilbe, blood hearts or hostas and sun-loving plants like salvia and rudbeckia as versatile options with slight tremors and anxiety about snow.
Those with low climates or garages have another option for turning spring plants into outdoor perennials, Young said.
Continue watering the pot until the leaves turn brown; can be done indoors or outdoors. If there are no green leaves left, the plant is dormant. Allow the bedding plant to dry out, cut off any dead leaves and place the pot in a dry place of 60 degrees or more. Seedlings can be planted outdoors in the fall.
When planting seedlings, give them time to send down some roots and establish soil before the cold weather sets in, Grisham says.
The best deals are often found in bundles at the end of the gardening season, he said. October is usually the time to plant seedlings, but November is cooler. Think of it this way: If you don’t want to go out in the cold to dig in the dirt, your tires probably don’t.
Crocus corms should be planted about 3 to 4 inches deep with a pointed edge, according to Almanac.com. Plant hyacinth bulbs 4 to 5 inches deep.
A little math may be needed for other common puzzles. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac website, tulip bulbs should be planted about three times as deep as the bulb height, and daffodil bulbs two or three times as deep as the bulb height.
When spring flowers begin to bloom next year, the gardener’s first thought is to clear away the leaves and other debris that has accumulated over the fall and winter. Avoid cravings, says Grisham. The litter provides isolation for plants and a home for insects that haven’t fully emerged.