Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
arbo_retum

Fall Planting of Bulbs in Glazed Pots: Layering Possible?

arbo_retum
11 years ago

I've been experimenting with fall planting of bulbs (tulips w/ muscari, and lilies) in glazed pots and then keeping the pots on a covered screen porch for the winter and bringing them out in Spring. I think it was Fine Gdng that had an article on doing this.

Since tulips (the types i tend to order, anyway) don't come back reliably, the rec was to plant them shoulder to shoulder in the pot (and trash them after bloom.). I'm wondering if anyone has tried planting one layer shoulder to shoulder with another layer on top of it shoulder to shoulder (or not, with more space if necessary, but w/ 2 layers- one w/early blooming tulips and the other w/late blooming tulips, or other spring bulbs.) Tulip foliage is so big that I'm thinking the lowest layer of bulbs might not have enough room to get up through it. But then again, bulbs seek the light.......Anyone? And placement>Early bulbs at the lowest level and later bulbs above them?

thx much,

mindy

www.cottonarboretum.com/

Comments (8)

  • denninmi
    11 years ago

    My experience is that you can cram as many bulbs in a pot as it will hold, with the caveat that the top layer really does need to be at least a couple of inches deep so that, as they grow, the top bulbs don't get pushed out of the pot. And yes, you can mix species and varieties. I don't think it will make any difference what goes where other than putting the smaller bulbs to the top, i.e. daffs on the bottom, tulips in the middle, crocus on top.

  • MollyDog
    11 years ago

    Is there any watering at any time until spring?

  • NHBabs z4b-5a NH
    11 years ago

    I don't plant in layers in pots since I am so much colder and I don't have a porch or weather-tight garage, but I often put layers of bulbs in the ground. I tend to plant the tulips or daffodils on the bottom, 6-7" deep, with earlier small bulbs scattered above. I've done this with the tiny early species crocus (not vernus), with mucari (which go well with the small dafs), and with snow drops. If you want it to look nice on your porch during the winter, you could also put low-growing hardy succulents in the top of the pot so there is something of interest before the bulbs. You could replant into the garden the small bulbs and the succulents can go into the garden or a pot without the old tulips for the summer.

  • adona6ct
    11 years ago

    I've had great luck with this method. I've planted mostly grape hyacinths (muscari) and tulips together. The most fantastic success was a large, low, cobalt blue pot with several packages of 'Apricot Impressions' tulips and 100 grape hyacinths. So pretty.

    I've also used white daffodils with light blue muscari 'Valarie Finnis'. That was a lovely and soft combination.

    One fall I found small quart-sized perennials on sale for next to nothing and tucked one or two into each pot along the very edges. Those came out beautifully - the emerging foliage of heuchera and pulmonaria and creeping veronica was so fresh and lovely with the bulbs. They were like miniature gardens in a pot. Violas and pansies could be tucked in, too, once available in the spring. And little lettuces would be cute, wouldn't they?

    I know I planted a pot with a red tulip and narcissus 'Jetfire' that turned out well, but I'm more partial to the height difference with the grape hyacinths and the taller tulips and daffodils. The little muscari also bloom for such a long time that there is less of a problem with planning the bulbs to bloom together, which is what I like.

    I haven't tried crocus, chinodoxa, scilla, etc. but I'm sure they would all work well. And yes, you can really stuff them into the pot "cheek to jowl"! Like Dennis said, leave some room for "heaving" and "flexing" when the bulbs are planted so densely.

    I've planted them in fresh potting soil, used potting soil, and both with and without bonemeal or bulb fertilizer and have always had great results. After the blooms are spent, the pot can be shuffled away to allow to foliage to decline in privacy, which is nice. It is also easy to decide where to plant the bulbs that you've grown in pots when things are up and growing. Empty spots in need of spring color are easier to note in April than in September, after all.

    I would recommend finding and using bulbs that bloom at approximately the same time (early, middle, or late spring) for the best show. I keep my pots stacked in an unheated mudroom. I water them very lightly when I plant them and then water them lightly again in mid winter. I move them outside in maybe mid-late Februaryish when I start seeing little bits of growth and want them to slow down and "become one with nature" again. Of course, depending upon your climate and the fragility of the pots you're using, this might vary.

    By the time the bulbs go into deep clearance here I am done digging outside anyway, and my pots that held annuals have been emptied. It works out well for me to putter around in the relative warmth of the garage or mudroom with bulbs that are so inexpensive I am not required to feel guilty if I don't find a spot for them in the ground the following spring.

    Sorry for so much enthusiastic gushing! Just talking about this has me excited to get started again this fall!

    Adona

  • diggerdee zone 6 CT
    11 years ago

    Ditto to everything! Much success here with cramming bulbs in, layering, overwintering in garage with water when planted, water when going into the garage, and if remembered, watering once mid-winter.

    My only question, Mindy, is your glazed pots. I use mostly plastic, foam, or resin pots for this. Would your glazed pots survive the temps on the porch? I'm not saying they won't, I just have no experience with this specifically so I'm not sure. I do store my terra cotta pots in the garage for the winter, but usually empty (i.e. no moist soil in them). But I am guessing you do have more experience with these pots than I do, so you would know better than I. But I wanted to raise this point just in case.

    Of course, we will expect photos in spring of any great combos. Adona, after hearing of your plantings, we expect photos from you too!

    ;)
    Dee

  • arbo_retum
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    WOW!! You gals is the best! I am so psyched. A few specifics:
    babs, yes, i plant muscari with EVERY bulb i plant in the ground because they are 'marker bulbs', their foliage coming up in the fall, telling me where not to dig and destroy previously planted bulbs. this includes alliums !

    yes, i have had no problem w/these huge glazed pots, full of dirt and planted, on the screen porch over the winter, no cracking. the one real challenge is getting them UP and onto the screen porch, and for a few more yrs at least,My Love is willing to do it. happy about it?no,but willing.
    Yes,i am a VERY lucky girl.

    This leads me to another thought. Because of the shape of our urns (they curve out near the top and then curve in)
    i have not had luck finding plastic pots(liners, so to speak) that i could use for the bulbs and thus,much more easily deal with putting in and taking out of the urns, thus moving the urns, empty and LIGHTER, onto the porch.I haven't been able to find 'potential liner' pots that have the right combo of width and depth. now, just maybe i haven't looked hard enough..... but my thought is>> i wonder if i could MAKE a liner by using landscape cloth or something else... but i don't think that would really work because everything would fall apart and make a mess when i lifted it(??!), full of a great deal of heavy dirt and spent bulbs, out of the pot( so that i could then insert another liner full of dirt and pre-planted lily bulbs)...so i guess i should just go somewhere w/ a huge plastic pot selection,eh?

    adona, your perennial pot edgers are a BRILLIANT idea for me. just brilliant. and i am so appreciative of your specific recs. I'magonnadoit!! but i just want to make sure that you DO think i could plant, specifically, a packed layer of tulips over a packed layer of tulips? as long as one layer is earlier blooming and one layer later, and planted deep so they don't heave up? you really don't think that that dense layer of wide leaves of the earlier blooming layer- would suppress and/or deny enough light to the later blooming layer? I mean: a deep layer of tulips, topped w/ 1-2 inches of soil and then a layer of tulips, and 1-2 inches of soil and then a full layer of muscari, topped w/ 5" soil- to bloom along with both types of tulips.That's how i would do it.You think this would work?

    and adona, do you, in CT, actually plant out your spent tulips and then they actually BLOOM the next yr?With the tulip varieties that I like and repeatedly plant(except for the species ones)i get about 2% rebloom.

    thank youall so much for all this help!
    best,
    mindy
    i will soon post lily pot photos that i have from last yr.

  • adona6ct
    11 years ago

    I've never tried planting more than one layer of tulips, Mindy. I also wonder how they would do if they were put shoulder to shoulder in two layers. I have a feeling that not all would make it to the surface. Maybe if you're set on two layers you could plant fewer bulbs in each layer?

    I haven't had great luck with the tulips I've used coming back and blooming the following year, but I've wondered about storing them out of the ground for the summer - I know that some public gardens and estates dig their tulips after bloom, dry and store over the summer and then replant in fall. One day I'll research that more and try it. My daffodils and grape hyacinths reliably return, of course.

    I will try to post a couple of pictures. Wish me luck- I haven't tried this in a few years. I'll also try to post a link to an article from fine gardening on layering bulbs. There were lots of results when I googled "layering bulbs in pots".

    {{gwi:245987}}
    Tulip 'Apricot Impression' and muscari - just starting to really bloom.

    {{gwi:245989}}
    Red tulips (Greigii?), grape hyacinths and lamium

    {{gwi:245990}}
    Tulips and daffodils

    {{gwi:245993}}
    Tulips, anemone, heuchera, creeping phlox and alyssum. I forgot about how lovely the anemone was in a pot! Have to do this again. It came back strong the next spring after being planted in the ground.

    Adona

    Sorry if the photo size is too large. I'll have to figure out how to resize for next time.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Fine Gardening article

  • adona6ct
    11 years ago

    Here is another bulb-layering article. It is written by Sarah Raven, a gardener I always find original and inspiring. While the description of how deep and far apart to plant the bulbs is sound, this is written for gardeners in England, so the watering advice and instructions on how to insulate the pots may not be something to follow.

    But, oh, don't those bulb combinations sound fantastic?!?

    Adona

    Here is a link that might be useful: bulb lasagna