6 Weeks of Beautiful Spring Color

LAYERED BULBS

by: Joy Sailor

As with most things preplanning is a key to success.  This is also true with your spring blooms.  Now is the time to plant your bulbs to get the beautiful spring blooms we all dote over.  The question is, how much work do you want to put into getting those blooms?  A great way to get more bang for your buck, or sweat of your brow, is to layer your bulbs.  This is also referred to as lasagna-style or sandwich-style planting.  By doing this you will get not only the half glass full but the pot over flowing with color. 

Many people think of tulips when we talk about spring blooms, but there are so many wonderful colors, shapes and sizes of flower that pop up in spring it’s hard to choose just one.  So why not choose three or four?  When you layer bulbs you can go wild with the type and colors you use.  You will need to check on the bulb package to see when they bloom.  You want some that blooms early-spring, mid-spring, and late spring.  An example of this would be Crocus, Hyacinth, Tulips and Daffodils.  This gives you four sets of blooms that will last you all spring.  You can play with the mixes as you go and while you are at it, plant something that blooms all season just to give it a power plant. 

Let’s talk about choosing a pot.  When layering bulbs, bigger is always better.  A good way to think about your bulbs blooming is that they are waking up.  When you first wake up you want to stretch…so do the roots and stem of your bulbs, so you’ll want to give them room to do so.  A 30cm wide and tall pot is a great size for doing three layers.  A large pot also keeps the bulbs protected from things like wind and freezing.  The placement of your pot during the winter should also be a spot to protect it from such things.  Put it against the house for the winter and then come spring move it to a place you can see it daily to watch the magic happen.  You can always do the $20 simple big pot from Target or Walmart and dazzle it up with paint, artwork, beads or shells if you want to go the cheap route.  If you aren’t worried about price you could get a bit more expensive and look into getting a whiskey or wine barrel to plant in.  No matter what you choose to plant in the blooms will look glorious.    

Now onto choosing the bulbs you will use.  Some people enjoy doing a little sketch of what there pot will look like if they use certain plants, others pull up pictures on the web, while others just use their imagination.  Any way you choose to do this is fine because it’s all about you being the artist.  The first step is to choose what colors you would like to see in your pot.  Some color schemes I have found to work well together are the patriotic Red, White & Blue; the spring fling of Yellow, Blue or Purple & Orange; or the mesh of Red, Blue & Yellow.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all combinations of blooms are stunning.  Another option is to ask your local nursery which bulbs tend to look the best together.  Do note that plants with a lot of leafy greens tend not to be the best for the layered look as it takes away from or can hide some of the other flowers coming in.  This list from Burpee Gardening is great for narrowing your search as to which fall bulbs you want and where in the pot they should go http://www.burpee.com/flowers/flowering-bulbs/fall-planted-bulbs/. 

Now that you have you bulbs chosen let’s look at how they should be planted.  Remember those two 16oz plastic bottles you just got rid of…go dig them out because we are going to use them.  Put them in the bottom of your pot along with some mulch to help the draining process, and then put some soil on top of that.  Here comes the reason they call it lasagna or sandwich planting; layers, it’s all about the layers.  The largest bulbs go on the bottom layer about 11 inches deep starting from the rim of the pot.  Note that the stems grow stronger and seem to fall less if you plant the bulb lying on its side.  Hopefully you have chosen more than one type of bulb for each level to give you more variety and color.  Disperse these evenly and fairly close together then top it with a three inch layer of soil.  You will need to leave a perimeter of open area around the inside of the pot because you don’t want your bulbs touching the pot since they will be sitting during cold weather and perhaps a freeze.  Insert your next layer of medium size bulbs in the same fashion as you planted the first and again top with three inches of soil.  Now come the smallest bulbs.  Plant those just as before except this time you will cover them with five inches of soil.  If you are like me you won’t want to see a beautiful pot of dirt sitting next to your house all winter so on the top plant some pansies to tide you over while you wait for your masterpiece to bloom. 

The great news about this type of layered pot is you don’t have to lose the plants once you are done.  You can take the bulbs out of the pot after they are done blooming and plant them in your garden or by your walkway for them to die out and grow again.  Now you have an empty pot ready for a brand new project at your fingertips.  Time for planting is coming to an end so don’t wait, start now.  If you like visuals check out these two easy how-to videos that show you exactly how to plant the bulbs in layers.