Plan ahead for fall and winter blooms

KAREN WIGHT

Bulbs are one of nature’s great masterpieces. Whether planted in the

garden or forced indoors, their beauty, fragrance and general

ambience are unequaled.

Planning ahead for your house and your garden can keep your home

in continuous bloom from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day and

beyond. Bulbs that can be forced in containers indoors include

paperwhites and amaryllis. These bulbs can grow in almost any

planting medium, in almost any container. The only limit is your

imagination.

If you are using a planting mix, you can use a pot with a hole in

the bottom and a saucer to catch the overflow (like a dressed up

terracotta pot sprayed gold). If you have closed containers, fill the

vessel with gravel, marbles, sea glass, crystals or shells. Fill your

containers with enough material to provide support for the bulbs.

Nestle as many bulbs as you can in your container, and keep it filled

to the root line with water.

Paperwhite bulbs need three to five weeks to bloom, depending on

the conditions. Keep the bulbs in a dark corner until the green

shoots start to show. When the shoots start to grow rapidly, move

your pots into a sunny location. If the stalks get “leggy,” use a

bulb brace, or tie a ribbon around the base of the stems. It will

help to keep the flowers from falling over. Hint: if you plant

paperwhites every two weeks starting in the middle of October, you

will have live flowers through the holidays.

Amaryllis bulbs are also easy to grow. The flowers are huge and

very dramatic. The flowers can be white, coral, pink, red or

two-color red and white. Amaryllis bulbs will bloom repeatedly if you

give them a little attention. Use soil-based planting material and

keep the bulbs in indirect sunlight. Once the blooms are spent, cut

the stems back and fertilize. The bloom cycle will repeat.

For your garden, you need to plan ahead, especially if you want

bulbs that require refrigeration before planting. Tulips, iris,

hyacinth and crocus require weeks of refrigeration before planting in

warm Southern California soil. Tulips require the longest chill

period, at least six weeks. It helps to use a bulb booster fertilizer

and to plant the bulbs at the recommended depth. Bulbs that can be

planted immediately include anemone, callas, cyclamen, daffodils,

freesias and ranunculus.

By January, you will begin to see the fruits (or flowers) of your

efforts. When you buy your bulbs, be sure to get enough to make a

splash. Clump masses of bulbs together to make a statement. Annuals

to plant in October include calendula, candytuft, chrysanthemum,

dianthus, Iceland poppies, larkspur, nemesia, ornamental kale,

pansies, English primrose, snapdragon, stock and viola.

These cool weather flowers will bloom for six months if you

nurture them, and they are the perfect foil for your bulbs. If you

are feeling brave, sow some seeds in place over the next two months.

Bachelor’s buttons, nasturtiums, oriental poppies, sweet peas, Queen

Anne’s lace and forget-me-nots will be positively ecstatic by spring.

Seeds love to grow where they’re planted.

Since you’re in the planning stages, consider your color

combinations. For fall, orange and purple make a big statement. Add a

few chartreuse flowers and foliage to make the colors pop. It’s hard

to resist a red and white (or blue and white) color scheme to

highlight the holidays. And if you estimate well, your red bulbs and

flowers can bloom through Valentines Day.

And, if you’re a real die-hard, you can always plant cardinal and

gold during football season, or blue and gold ... depending on your

preference.

Don’t laugh; I’ve seen people do this. All the University of

California’s are blue and gold, USC’s are cardinal and gold, OCC,

Occidental and Princeton’s are orange, Brown’s are red and white (I

know, it sounds confusing), Stanford’s are cardinal and white ... and

the list goes on.

The palm trees may not turn colors, but your garden can. Keep

planting.

* KAREN WIGHT is a Newport Beach resident. Her column runs

Thursdays.