Daffodils and hyacinths near roses

15 years ago

Hi all. I have a climbing rose bed in the front yard. Six roses total. I am going to be planting some hyacinths and daffodils in the "front" of the bed. I bought 50 baby boomers, 24 lemon glows, and 25 blue hyacinths. Not all of them are going in the rose bed. Half the lemon glows, half the baby boomers, and about 20 hyacinths are going in the rose bed. ( I have a raised bed elsewhere where the others will go).

My problem is where the rose bed is there is heavy clay soil, amended for the roses, but not where the bulbs will go yet. I have only so much room in front of the roses to plant these. I made (4) 8 inch deep by 18 inches wide holes for the bulbs. I know that limits the amount of bulbs I can plant per hole. Is there a "lasagna" method of planting the bulbs? Can I put the three different bulbs in one hole? If so, how many of each can I place in the holes?

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Comments (4)

Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
15 years ago
hmmm...I for one would not layer them, but someone else maybe would.

Ok...for the record.
20-Hyacinths-approx height 14"-sug depth 7-8" and spaced 6" apart.
12 Lemon Glow-ht 14+"--I would suggest planting no more that 6" deep, and that is to the bottom of the bulb....1' or more apart
25 Baby Boomer-ht 8"-4" deep-maybe 1" apart.

That is about 16 bulbs per 18" hole. I would put the hyacinths front center, followed by a semicircle of the Baby Boomer, and lastly a semi circle of the Lemon Glow. I would adjust the depth of the whole for whatever is being planted. ...ie add some soil (1") where the hyacinths will be front and center... Add more soil (4")for the semicircle of BB. ...add 2 " for the semicircle of Lemon Glow.

Without having an actual hole and 16 bulbs, I don't know what the spacing would be, but I would think that there would be approx 1" on all sides of them. If so, I think they should be fine, but in years to come, they will become crowded as all bulbs (usually) multiply and become too crowded to bloom well. It will them be time to dig, divide, and spread them around elsewhere, or share or trade for other goodies.

Sue
kentstar
Original Author
15 years ago
If needs be I can put less of each in each hole. And use the rest as "spot" plantings in the raised bed (which will be getting crowded too!)
In the raised bed (7 ft wide by 4 ft length) I already have planted tulips, 2 coneflowers tiki torch and sunrise, 1 sunny border blue veronica, 1 blanket flower, bonfire euphorbia, alliums, and early sunrise coreopsis!
I know I have "CHAD" (compulsive horticultural aquisition disorder)! :)
So, I can adjust if I have to.
I would however put the baby boomers in front because they are the shortest at 8", and bloom the same time as the hyacinths which are a little taller at 10", followed by the lemon glows in the back because they are the tallest at 14" and are midseason bloom daffs.
All the bulbs are due to come in this week. I guess I will just have to see when I get them. I just might have to give some to friends at work! I did, however, put down some sand in the bottom of the holes and mixed it into the bottom soil to help with drainage. I am also going to amend the soil that I fill in with. I know, I am "amending a clay pot hole", but it has worked for me in the past.
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Thank you all for your comments. My daffodils are pretty much done, as well as the tulips. Once it starts over 80 degrees, the bulbs blow out pretty quickly here. When I wrote that only 25 bloomed, I should have stated that only 25 grew leaves and then bloomed. The rest didn't even bother to come up with leaves! When I planted the bulbs I also planted other bulbs in the same hole. The other bulbs were grape hyacinths, ipheion (starflower), and tulips. I dig an 8" hole and group the bulbs in layers, so that I have them all come up at the same time at different heights. The grape hyacinths, ipheions and tulips came up and bloomed, but the daffodils did not. With the cheaper bulbs, the daffs as well as the hyacinths, ipheions and tulips all bloomed. The daffodils were massive bulbs too, while the cheaper bulbs were probably half the size. I know where I planted each type of daffodil, and from which seller, since I put the bigger "better" bulbs in a place of honor in front, since I expected them to look the best. Plus I maintain a notebook where I map out where I plant things. I consider it good planning, so I can see what works best. My teenager considers it obsessive compulsive. We don't have voles, moles, or chipmunks here, but we do have armadillos, but not in my yard. (Cross my fingers and knock on wood there!). You know when you have armadillos, since they can destroy a yard in no time. They don't just pick a few bulbs and move on. They plow up the whole yard! I have huge quantities of squirrels, since I feed the birds in the middle of my driveway, so the neighborhood cats can't sneak up on them. The squirrels help themselves too, so they are pretty tame, and love me dearly. They do try planting acorns in my beds, but I don't think they would eat daffodils, and I don't see how they would eat the poisonous daffs and leave the other 3 bulbs behind 575 times. I believe I will contact the seller and see what they have to say. If I can figure out how to post a photo, I will add pictures, since it is kind of funny to see the empty spots. I will let you all know what happens. Thanks!
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Great suggestions already. Yes, you can get Ice Follies quite cheaply in the stores in fall. Don't get too many of this one. As Chemocurl said, it multiplies very quickly. The earliest Daff to bloom for me is Rijnveld's Early sensation. It blooms much earlier than Muscari, though. I believe it blooms with rock garden Iris. I have blue Iris reticulata 'Harmony'. Next to bloom in my garden is a miniature daff Tete-a-Tete. If you would like to pair Daff with something blue, I would like to suggest Scilla sibirica, because it blooms before Muscari. I believe it starts to bloom in March and continues to bloom for a very long time, whereas my Muscari does not bloom until April. Scilla sibirica ÂSpring BeautyÂ is much larger than the species. I have both. They multiply very well when happy. This is Narcissus Tete-a-Tete with Scilla sibirica. My garden is stuffed with daff and blue Scilla sibirica. I aim for blooming succession and fragrance. Most of these are white. A few are soft yellow. The fragrant ones are: -all the Poeticus series (I have Actea and PheasantÂs Eye), -all the Jonquilla series (I have a couple whose name elude me at the moment Â one maybe Jonquilla Simplex), -all the Tazetta series (I have Geranuim and Sir Winston Churchil. Extremely fragrant late bloomers). Had Earlicheers but disappeared after a few years. -Thalia, Fragrant Rose, Ice Follies, Carlton, Fragrant Breeze, Patrel: this one is soft yellow and smells like primrose, absolutely lovely, -Tripartite:this one is the latest bloomer, usually buried by perennials by then. -Fragrant Daffodils that I donÂt have, but neighbor does: White & Yellow Cheerfulness. -There are a few miniatures that are supposed to fragrant but I have not tried them. I have not had much luck with mini daffs, except Tete-a-tete. Others died on me. Hope these suggestions will help you make a decision on choices. I have the common Muscari that smells lovely. I get my bulbs exclusively from Van Engelen now. HereÂs the link: Van Engelen. You can get smaller quantity from John Scheepers, its sister company, John Scheepers link Colorblends is also very good, but it does not carry as many varietires as VE/JS above Coloblends link. Have fun. You can order now from all three outfits. They wonÂt charge you until right before they ship the bulbs in the fall. You can always change the order anytime. I just place an order with VE yesterday for some minor bulbs, because I can no longer fit in any more big ones. Lol DonÂt order Lilies for VE/JS, though, if you are particular about the lilies you want. They would send you the wrong ones quite often.
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Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
15 years ago
Sounds like a good plan to me!

...all these years I never knew the name of the disorder I too have. "CHAD" (compulsive horticultural acquisition disorder)!

That explains my pot ghetto, (I counted 19 that are shrubs, besides the other smaller misc plants) all the new irises that need planted...and all the (maybe 80 or so)new varieties of daffs I will be planting later.

Is there any self help for those of suffering from CHAD?

I too have clay soil, but it is not too bad. I amend the soil when planting and usually don't amend whole bed areas. I am fortunate to have good drainage here, as there is a slight slope to the property.

The other day I was doing some planting at a friends house and saw first hand what bad clay was. They had hauled in good dirt but if one dug below the top 4 inches, it almost looked like some sort of clay subsoil....the most horrid dirt I had ever seen.

Sue
kentstar
Original Author
15 years ago
Discouraging I know, but it takes years to produce rich soil out of crappy clay soil. We have a lot of that here in NE Ohio! I dig down about 10" or so and I hit some light brown colored sub clay! I can only hope my efforts are worth it in the long run.

Daffodils and hyacinths near roses

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Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana

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Daffodils and hyacinths near roses

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