Planting Bulbs for a Spring Cut Flower Garden Display
A mix of beautiful spring bulbs.
Sleeping Beauties: What would spring even be without this cut flower category? Spring bulbs are some of the cut flower garden's most astounding, hardworking, and rewarding plants. They bloom when almost nothing else is - and they don’t just show up - they announce life and the arrival of spring.
In the post, you are going to learn:
How to care for your spring bulbs
Tried and true spring bulbs
Some fun, exciting spring bulbs to grow that never get the spotlight they deserve
How to grow spring bulbs in your garden
Harvesting tips and tricks,
All about vase life.
Success with Spring Bulbs:
1. Most bulbs like good drainage and full sun. Don’t put them in the wettest part of your garden; they will rot in the ground, and you’ll be so disappointed as you stare at the blank ground, wondering what happened.
2. Bulbs generally like to be planted relatively deep—around three to four times the bulb's height.
3. There are several styles and ways to plant your bulbs, including wide strips, blocks, or clumps for a more landscape-style look. If you use them exclusively for cut flowers, I recommend strips or blocks. If you combine them with your landscape garden, I would do clumps. Make the clumps anywhere from 5 to 10 bulbs rather than the typical 3 to 5 to compensate for the fact that you will be cutting from each patch and don’t want them to look sparse.
4. Most of the bulbs listed here will come back year after year and get bigger and better each season. They may even need to divide after several years. Tulips are the only ones listed that should be treated as annuals (one year, and that’s it). They do not rebloom well, and you are going to be so disappointed.
5. After harvesting your flowers, leave enough foliage on the plant. Those leaves absorb the sun's nutrients and feed the bulb for next year’s flowers.
Tulips:
Tulips are a must grow. They are easy to grow, reliable, make a stunning display, and come in a wide variety of colors and forms that you cannot find at the grocery store. There are so many varieties of tulips you could try new ones every year.
Parrot Tulips some of my favorite
Tulips I’m growing this year:
Avante Garde
Charming Beauty
Double Sugar
Double You
La Belle Epopque
Other tulips worth growing:
Any of the parrot tulips have been hard to get this year, but this series of tulips is just stunning.
Foxtrot
Sunset Tropical
Margarita
Aveyron
Tulips come in so many different shapes. It's fun to get a few different ones and create a stunning bouquet out of tulips. There are so many different shapes, colors, and textures. Every year, I create a Pinterest board with my favorite varieties and then slowly, ever so, narrow it down.
In the Garden:
There are so many ways to plant tulips. As I mentioned above, it depends on your intended purpose.
I plant some in my landscape, and I don’t cut those. I plant The ones I plan on cutting in my garden.
I dig a wide, deep trench and line them up, or toss them in ( which is more accurate) and spread them out so they do not touch but are very close to each other. Similiar to eggs in an egg carton. I backfill the hole and then hope and pray that when spring comes, they will wake up and give me the show of beauty I desperately need in the spring.
As hard as this can be, treat those tulips like an annual. I harvest them bulb and all. I was one of those people who laughed at those people who replanted their tulips each year (that’s what I get). I don’t replant the ones in my landscape because I don’t cut them, and they seem to do okay, but in my cutting garden, they will not perform well again next year. Just trust me on this one.
In the VASE:
Garden-grown tulips are so fresh that they have a super long vase life of up to TEN days!
For the longest vase life, harvest just as the buds are beginning to color but before they have opened.
If your tulips tend to droop, wrap them in paper and tie them with a string to hold the stems up. As they sit in the vase and hydrate, their stems will straighten.
Tulips are incredibly versatile. They can be used in bud vases, displayed as a huge arrangement, or mixed with other spring blooms. It’s up to you and your imagination. I like to try all different things, but one of my favorites is four to five bud vases down the center of my table.
Tulips keep growing after they are cut, so when you arrange them, cut them slightly shorter than normal.
If the stems get droopy, cut them and place them back into the water. You can tie them with paper and string again, but I haven’t found it necessary. It is so fun to watch them straighten back up. Flowers truly are amazing!
Daffodils and Narcissus
This species of flower does not get the credit it deserves. When you say daffodil, people picture a yellow flower with an orange center. I guess I did, too, before I discovered so many varieties of daffodils; you just have to know where to find them.
My cutting garden is filled with the double and frilly varieties in the more unusual colors of peach, apricot, orange, and coral. They have large double-flowered heads, some with multiple flowers. Each spring, I pick these, bring them in the house, and am carried away with the most amazing scent. It’s nothing like the daffodils found at the store in the spring. Maybe one of these years, my gardening friends will grow them and learn this for themselves.
Look for these specialty bulbs online. I rarely see them in the regular stores. Order bulbs in late summer for the best selection of varieties.
Daffodils I’m growing this year:
Daffodils and Narcissi's
Obdam
British Gamble
Gay Tabor
Cheerfulness
Sir Winston Churchhill
Apricot Whirl
Pink Charm
Tahiti
And many more…..
In the GARDEN:
Planting your daffodils. Here again, it depends on your intended purpose. If you are planting them into your landscape, you will want to plant them in clumps—five to ten bulbs per clump. Daffodils do multiple, so you must thin them out after a couple of years. I plant in rows if you are planting in your cut flower garden like I do. I have a big row along the east side of my garden along a fence. I often interplant the daffodils with peas or another vine that will climb the fence.
After the flowers have all been cut and faded and all you have left is foliage, I beg you to resist the urge to cut the foliage. Your daffodil bulbs need those leaves to feed the bulb again for next year’s flowers. Hold off until the leaves have started to turn yellow.
Plant in late summer or early fall
Full sun and good drainage
Plant three to four times the depth
Dig up and divide every three to four years.
In the VASE:
Pick the flowers once the bud has colored up but not yet opened, and it's in what we call the gooseneck stage. I often gently squeeze the bud between my fingers, and if it feels soft, I pick it. If it’s firm, I leave it a little longer.
When harvesting, I run my fingers down the stem, poke my pointer finger into the soil as far as I can get it, and then pull up on the stem. This gives me a couple of extra inches of stem. It can be done quickly, and there is no need for clippers.
Narcissi do ooze a milky sap that can be irritating. The sap will shorten the vase life of other flowers if you create a mixed bouquet. To offset this problem, cut your narcissi to the desired length and let them rest in a vase for a few hours. This lets the sap run out of the stem. Do not recut the stem, or you will have to start the process again.
Fritillaria
I don’t know why, but I love fritillaria. Maybe it’s because the first time I saw them being used was by the amazing floral designer Willow Crosley. She took these hairy bell-shaped flowers and made the most magical arrangements. They are so easy to work with, and they are so beautiful and even a little exotic.
Fritillaria Alba
Fritillaria I am growing this year:
Persica
Meleagris
Uva-Vulpis
In the GARDEN:
The smaller varieties are one of the few bulbs that like to be in a damp location. Because they are very affordable, I plant them all over my garden and landscape.
The larger varieties, like Persica, prefer well-draining soil. These bulbs are quite expensive, but they are so pretty and amazing. I have found that they don’t always rebloom the next year if you cut them, which is too bad because they are pricey. I only grow a few of these, just for myself.
In the VASE:
Pick when the bottom third of the flower is open. The bell-shaped fritillaries are best picked when they are just starting to open. They should last five to seven days.
Hyacinths:
I do not think there is a more fragrant flower. These grow in a small corner of my cutting garden. I don’t use many of them. You only need a few stems in a cut little bud vase. Growing them yourself opens you up to a variety of colors you won’t find at the florist’s shop or the grocery store.
Varieties to grow:
Woodstock
Apricot Passion
Miss Saigon
China Pink
Dark Dimension
In the GARDEN:
Some say to replace them every year, some every two years. It depends on where they are growing, your purpose, and their performance.
I have had some that grow amazing EvERY single year and some that barely send up a cut little flower.
I do add a few new bulbs every year to keep things fresh. I tend to pull
In the VASE:
I tend to pull them like I do narcissus. If done carefully, it gives a longer stem and leaves the foilage behind to feed the bulb again the following year.
Pick hyacinths when one-third of the flowers are open.
Grape Hyacinths (Muscari)
I don’t know why I get so excited when I see these little beauties each year. I love their pretty texture and uniqueness. They are unassuming yet scream spring. They come in various colors, from purple to white to pink to blue.
Varieties to GROW:
I choose by color.
Sky Blue
White
Blush
Navy
In the GARDEN:
Easy to plant and easy to grow. I plant these in my landscape borders and pots for the deck and porch. They are plants and forget about their bulbs for sure.
In the VASE:
I tend to harvest these the same way I do hyacinths and narcissi: by running my finger down the stem and then gently pulling. This sometimes gives me a longer stem by a few inches.
Lecojum Aestivium: Summer Snowflake
This bell-shaped white flower is another stunning addition to the spring garden. Green stems shoot up from the ground from the adorable white bells with green dots. They look similar to snowdrops but are taller and flower slightly later.
In the GARDEN:
I have clumps of these all over the landscape and garden. They are so unassuming. One day, it seems like nothing is there, and the next, they are blooming away.
You can grow these in clumps or a designated spot in your garden. They are easy to grow; plant them in early spring, they will greet you with their happy floating bells.
Vase LIFE:
Cut the flowers just before the buds open. Expect a vase life of around five days.
Whew! That was a lot of fun and inspiring. Going back through these spring bulbs has definitely inspired me to order my bulbs and get planning for next year.
I was just at a club store, and they had their bulbs out, but I really do encourage you to find some fun, unique varieties at places other than the big box store.
Because I hate leaving you hanging while you try to figure this out on your own, I made something for you.
My list of my favorite bulb suppliers, along with my favorite bulb varieties.
Grab that list HERE.
Do you know a friend who loves flowers, too? I’m sure she would love this blog and the list as well because, ya know, sharing is caring. Please pass this on to her, and maybe we can brainstorm together and even share a bulb order for a better deal on your bulbs.