Garden Bulb Blog: Flower Bulbs & Gardening Tips

Plan your Spring Blooming Bulb Garden for Cutflowers!

So the weather is starting to get warmer and we are all ready for the summer months that are in the not-too-distant future, right? And I realize that fall may be the last thing you want to think about. However, in order to have a beautiful spring garden of tulips, daffodils, crocus, allium, and hyacinth, you need to start thinking about what you’re going to plant in fall NOW! After all, once the time to plant these bulbs come around, the blooms will be long gone and furthest from your mind. So why not select your bulbs for fall now!

A mixture of textures (such as daffodils and tulips) can make for professional looking floral arrangements.

The majority of gardeners plan their garden around one sole purpose: they want to have a yard that’s in bloom for a long time that looks great year round. While this is a very logical goal, you can get more out of your garden if you consider another factor when planning for the colors and types of flowers your garden will include: cutflowers! Who wouldn’t love to have a vase (or maybe two or three) of fresh cutflowers in their house at all times? Now think about how even more lovely it would be if they were flowers which you had grown yourself in your own yard!

If you’re somewhat of an experienced gardener, you probably already plan your garden so that the bloom time is spread out over as long of a period of time as possible, correct? But what about taking into consideration plants and flowers that can be used for cutting over a long period of time? By paying special attention to colors and textures that will look good in a vase together that are also in bloom at the same time, you can also lengthen the period of time you can enjoy these fresh cut flowers in your home!

Two tips when cutting flowers out of the garden: First, be sure to take flowers from various places within your yard…you should not even be able to notice any

Why not plan your garden for gorgerous bouquets?

are missing once you’re done And secondly, always try to cut back to another node or bud (the place where the next leaf comes out of the stem) or to the ground.  By doing so, you will help to disguise the stems which have been cut and still give your garden a “natural” look.

So go out today and bring a piece of your garden indoors!

Until next time,

Have a question about which bulbs work best for cutflowers or any other gardening topic? Ask Bridget! Email her at bridget@bulbblog.com! If she features your question in a future post, you’ll receive a Holland Bulb Farms coupon for your next order with Holland Bulb Farms!

HEY! That’s MY yard!

Our breezeway entrance, beginning to show life this spring!

My husband and I are relatively new in our neighborhood and have not yet had a chance to get acquainted with our neighbors. When we first moved into our house at the end of last fall, the landscape was quite stark, like a blank canvas just waiting for the artist’s touch. In the small amount of time I had before the snow fell,  I planted over 150 daffodil and tulip bulbs in the front yard. So you can imagine how thrilled I was this spring when the foliage began peeking out of the soil and continued to produce beautiful blooms. Did I mention that I also realized not one other house on our street had a yard as beautiful as ours???

Ever since the first sign of growth, my husband and I have been “charting” the plants’ progress. In fact, one day he said to me, “Bridget, I swear that I can actually see those tulips growing taller–they seem to be growing so fast!” It made me happy to have my husband as excited as I was at the success of the spring blooming bulbs I had planted.

The beginning of spring in the front of our house!

For a few weeks now, we’ve enjoyed the tulip and daffodil blooms and have made notes of which ones bloomed first, second, third, and so on. It is always interesting to me to observe how a garden can “evolve” over the course of a month or two while one plant finishes flowering and the next one takes over. And as it turns out, I wasn’t the only one admiring my spring blooms…

The tulips and daffodils brightening the walkway to our breezeway entrance.

This past weekend, I was dusting our living room (one of the worst house chores there is) and I happened to glance out our front bay window. I did a double take as I realized a young teenage couple, dressed to the nines standing in front of my flowerbed! As I took in the situation, I also noticed a corsage and boutineer, complete with a proud mother snapping photographs of the “prom-ready” couple! At first I couldn’t help but think, “The nerve! This is MY yard and these are MY flowers!” But just as I was about to run out into my front yard waving a baseball bat, I suddenly felt flattered. These neighbors of mine, whom I had never met before, had thought enough of MY flowers to want them in their picture! What better compliment could a gardener receive?!

The front flowerbed near to full bloom...and also the backdrop to a couple's pre-prom photograph

Now I’m not certain that I would ever have the guts to pose for a picture five feet in front of a house owned by someone I had never met, but the experience definitely made me feel good. After all, do we not plant flowers to beautify our surroundings? I like to think that my little piece of the earth makes it a nicer place to live. And for this young prom couple, it made a beautiful picture which will be viewed in photo albums long after the flowers fade.

Until next time,

Have a question about which bulbs are the most photogenic or any other gardening topic? Ask Bridget! Email her at bridget@bulbblog.com! If she features your question in a future post, you’ll receive a Holland Bulb Farms coupon for your next order with Holland Bulb Farms!