Slugs and Salal: Flowers

SPRING FLOWERBULBS -- a blueprint of blooms to guide your fall bulb planting

For home gardeners in the Pacific Northwest, the "spring" flowerbulb season actually lasts for close to half a year. The act of planting bulbs for spring bloom is a statement of faith in new beginnings. It speaks of the human desire to continually expand and enhance the richness of life.

When buying bulbs in the fall, the trick is to make selections from a broad range of bloom times for flower color that reflects the wonderfully extended season afforded by our benign climate. Select and plant small batches of spring-flowering bulbs at a time, beginning with the first to bloom because they need to root early. All daffodils and Narcissi benefit from early rooting as well.

It helps to have in mind (or on paper) an overview of the spring bulb season. With that in mind, here is a sequential description of the spring parade of bulb blooms on our west coast.

The progression of blooms
The spring bulb season begins in JANUARY with the white nodding bells of snowdrops, buttercup yellow Eranthis (winter aconite), species or snow crocus and the miniature orchid-like speckled yellow Danford iris.

Crocus with early daffodils. This bloom coincides with that of the perennial Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) and winter-blooming shrubs such as Chinese witch hazel, winter jasmine, Himalayan sweet box (Sarcococca humilis), Viburnum bodnantense 'Pink Dawn' and winter heathers.
Flowerbulb bloom time is not necessarily the same every year. A very cold, late year can delay bloom by a month or more. And bear in mind that newly planted bulbs will flower later than they will once established in the garden. Warm, sheltered gardens commonly experience earlier bloom times.

The first wave of flowerbulbs is closely followed in FEBRUARY by the blue to violet varieties of dwarf Iris reticulata, large-flowered Dutch crocus -- Giant Yellow and Vanguard are the earliest -- and the early-flowering forms of species tulip and Narcissus.
Lent Lily (Narcissus lobularis), an eight-inch miniature trumpet daffodil, Tulipa turkestanica and Tulipa pulchella violacea start flowering around the beginning of Lent in most years. Winter pansies and primroses will be blooming at this time.
As February drifts into MARCH, the cool weather will keep many of the earliest flowers in bloom as the delightful daisy-flowered Anemone blanda enters the picture. It's sold in blue, pink, white, and a color mixture.

Iris reticulata planted at the base of a tree.

Early-flowering tulip
with budding wallflowers.
The wide-open blossoms of waterlily (Kaufmanniana) tulips will open in the sunlight above ground-hugging foliage, and the major daffodil season will begin with more miniatures and the nostalgic, cheering hosts of trumpet daffodils -- superb companions for the glistening blooms of Fosteriana tulips, sometimes called Emperor tulips. Red Emperor is a classic in lipstick red.
Next come large-cupped daffodils, Siberian squills in rich, startling blue, dainty blue star-shaped Triteleia (Ipheion, spring star flower), and Greigii tulips with their deep maroon mottled foliage. Triteleia is a flowerbulb with a mind of its own. I've found it blooming at all sorts of odd times, including late spring and autumn as well as in March and April.

Darwin tulip

All this March color is echoed in sunny forsythias, primroses, heathers, flowering plum trees, and early-blooming rock garden plants such as rock cress (Arabis), Aubrieta, and Basket of Gold perennial alyssum.
In the latter part of March and early APRIL, the fragrance of hyacinths enters the garden along with small-cupped daffodils, double and split cup daffodils, sweetly scented jonquils, and the majestic crown imperials (Fritillaria imperialis).

Single Early and Double Early tulips will start to bloom, then Triumph tulips, grape hyacinths (Muscari), and the Erythroniums (dog's tooth violet, trout lily). Don't miss some of the more unusual varieties of Muscari. M. latifolium is a particularly elegant, tall form in deep, dusky blue topped in light sky blue.
The April tide of spring flowerbulb bloom harmonizes with the flowers of many familiar shrubs -- flowering quince (Chaenomeles), yellow Kerria, rhododendrons, evergreen azaleas. As April winds down the main season of tulips begins with the sturdy, large-flowered Darwin Hybrids followed by the stately MAY-flowering Single Late and Double Late tulips, the Lily-Flowered, Parrot, and Fringed tulips.
May also begins the flowering onion season with low-growing white, yellow and pink flowers. For all the confusion surrounding its name, Scilla campanulata (wood hyacinth, Spanish bluebells, Hyacinthoides hispanica), remains a woodland stalwart and easy naturalizer, its simple spikes of blue, white and pink bells unchanged in charm over the years. The transition from May to JUNE brings Dutch iris, Ixia, and more flowering onions including the tall, giant-flowered types.

Iris

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The progression of blooms The spring bulb season begins in JANUARY with the white nodding bells of snowdrops, buttercup yellow Eranthis (winter aconite), species or snow crocus and the miniature orchid-like speckled yellow Danford iris.
Crocus with early daffodils.	This bloom coincides with that of the perennial Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) and winter-blooming shrubs such as Chinese witch hazel, winter jasmine, Himalayan sweet box (Sarcococca humilis), Viburnum bodnantense 'Pink Dawn' and winter heathers. Flowerbulb bloom time is not necessarily the same every year. A very cold, late year can delay bloom by a month or more. And bear in mind that newly planted bulbs will flower later than they will once established in the garden. Warm, sheltered gardens commonly experience earlier bloom times.
The first wave of flowerbulbs is closely followed in FEBRUARY by the blue to violet varieties of dwarf Iris reticulata, large-flowered Dutch crocus -- Giant Yellow and Vanguard are the earliest -- and the early-flowering forms of species tulip and Narcissus. Lent Lily (Narcissus lobularis), an eight-inch miniature trumpet daffodil, Tulipa turkestanica and Tulipa pulchella violacea start flowering around the beginning of Lent in most years. Winter pansies and primroses will be blooming at this time. As February drifts into MARCH, the cool weather will keep many of the earliest flowers in bloom as the delightful daisy-flowered Anemone blanda enters the picture. It's sold in blue, pink, white, and a color mixture.	Iris reticulata planted at the base of a tree.

Early-flowering tulip with budding wallflowers.	The wide-open blossoms of waterlily (Kaufmanniana) tulips will open in the sunlight above ground-hugging foliage, and the major daffodil season will begin with more miniatures and the nostalgic, cheering hosts of trumpet daffodils -- superb companions for the glistening blooms of Fosteriana tulips, sometimes called Emperor tulips. Red Emperor is a classic in lipstick red. Next come large-cupped daffodils, Siberian squills in rich, startling blue, dainty blue star-shaped Triteleia (Ipheion, spring star flower), and Greigii tulips with their deep maroon mottled foliage. Triteleia is a flowerbulb with a mind of its own. I've found it blooming at all sorts of odd times, including late spring and autumn as well as in March and April.
Darwin tulip	All this March color is echoed in sunny forsythias, primroses, heathers, flowering plum trees, and early-blooming rock garden plants such as rock cress (Arabis), Aubrieta, and Basket of Gold perennial alyssum. In the latter part of March and early APRIL, the fragrance of hyacinths enters the garden along with small-cupped daffodils, double and split cup daffodils, sweetly scented jonquils, and the majestic crown imperials (Fritillaria imperialis).
Single Early and Double Early tulips will start to bloom, then Triumph tulips, grape hyacinths (Muscari), and the Erythroniums (dog's tooth violet, trout lily). Don't miss some of the more unusual varieties of Muscari. M. latifolium is a particularly elegant, tall form in deep, dusky blue topped in light sky blue. The April tide of spring flowerbulb bloom harmonizes with the flowers of many familiar shrubs -- flowering quince (Chaenomeles), yellow Kerria, rhododendrons, evergreen azaleas. As April winds down the main season of tulips begins with the sturdy, large-flowered Darwin Hybrids followed by the stately MAY-flowering Single Late and Double Late tulips, the Lily-Flowered, Parrot, and Fringed tulips. May also begins the flowering onion season with low-growing white, yellow and pink flowers. For all the confusion surrounding its name, Scilla campanulata (wood hyacinth, Spanish bluebells, Hyacinthoides hispanica), remains a woodland stalwart and easy naturalizer, its simple spikes of blue, white and pink bells unchanged in charm over the years. The transition from May to JUNE brings Dutch iris, Ixia, and more flowering onions including the tall, giant-flowered types.	Iris