PLANT A KALEIDOSCOPE FOR SPRING

~Written by Nan Sterman

I always caution gardeners in California and other hot, dry summer areas not to plant in summer. Plants just don't adapt very well when it is so hot. Instead, it is better to plan in summer and plant in winter.

That said, there are a few groups of plants are best planted now, one of which is the South African bulbs. These plants adapt to their hot, dry native habitats by dropping their leaves and sleeping through summer. That means, that summer is the best time for bulb growers to dig them and ship them, whether to the store or to your door.

In fact, mid-July to September is the only time you'll find South African bulbs for sale on a large scale.

Which bulbs am I referring to? Glad you asked. There are dozens of South African bulbs that are beautiful, fantastic, easy garden plants. In frost-free climates, they can stay in the ground year-round, as long as they don't get too much water in summer.
Their colors, shapes and sizes are fantastic. Plant them now, and you'll have a kaleidoscope come spring.

Here are a few to start with. They all prefer full sun, fairly well draining soil, are drought tolerant, and best planted now, while bulbs are dormant:

Bugle lily, Watsonia spp.

Bugle lilies make large clumps of sword-shaped leaves, two to four feet tall. Flowers form on long, stalks, and typically in shades of orange, salmon, coral, clear pink, raspberry, or white. They make excellent cut flowers. These are wonderful pass-around plants, too. After the foliage fades in summer, dig up too large clumps and share your spares.

Harlequin flower, Sparaxis tricolor

Harlequin flowers are smaller stand about a foot tall. Flower stalks are topped in single, star-shaped, almost cupped flowers in yellow, orange, or deep cherry, with a contrasting "flare" at the base of each petal. Once established, harlequin flower spread by seed as well as by making new bulbs. So, a few bulbs soon naturalize. They are easy to thin, but don't throw away the spares. Share with a friend or plant elsewhere in the garden. Harlequin flowers bloom earlier than bugle lilies.

Species gladiolus, Gladiolus spp.

Garish hybrid florist gladiolas all descend from the lovely species gladiolus. These bulbs are beautiful in their simplicity and worthy of much more attention in our gardens.

Yellow Marsh Afrikaner (Gladiolus tristis)

The yellow marsh Afrikaner (Gladiolus tristis) has narrow, almost grass-like leaves that stand about eighteen inches tall. Its yellow-ivory blooms are subtle but beautiful. They bloom as early as January in my San Diego area garden. In the late afternoon, they release a sweet scent lovelier than any perfume.

Sword lily (Gladiolus byzantius)

Sword lily (Gladiolus byzantius) has a larger stature than its cousin the Afrikaner. Its broad, green blades stand nearly two feet tall. Blooms are larger and hot pink. Not so hot to send you running for sunglasses, but hot enough to be the star attraction during their bloom. Sword lily bloom begins just as yellow marsh Afrikaner fades.

How to grow
Growing these bulbs could not be easier. Plant in 3's, 5's, or other odd number clusters.
Dig a wide hole, deep enough for the bulb to sit a few inches below soil level. Allow several inches between bulbs, more for larger bulbs. Mix a small amount of Black Gold Garden Compost, a sprinkling of Black Gold bone meal, and a handful of Black Gold Earthworm Castings into the hole.

Place each bulb root side down. The flat end is the root end, the pointed end is the shoot end. Cover with soil and water to settle the dirt around the bulb.

As the days grow shorter in October you'll notice bright green spears poking up through the ground. Those are your new bulbs reaching for the sky. They'll keep growing until, one by one, each patch of bulbs bursts open in its amazing, colorful glory.

Once flowers fade, cut the stalks to the ground but not the foliage. While leaves are green, they make energy to store in the bulb in preparation for next year's bloom. If you cut the leaves off before that process is done, your bulbs will likely die.

On-line Bulb Sources:
www.EasytoGrowBulbs.com
www.TelosRareBulbs.com
www.TheBulbMan.com
www.BrentandBeckysBulbs.com

Check out last month's article "Bye Bye Grass" By Nan Sterman

About Nan Sterman

I am delighted to be contributing to Sungro’s website! Writing about plants and gardens, talking about them, teaching about them, creating gardens are my absolutely most favorite things to do. Fortunately for me, that’s my profession!

I grew up gardening. Among my earliest memories is the sweet scent of sweet pea flowers that surrounded my childhood home in Los Angeles. Equally memorable was the musty tomato forest my grandfather planted each spring behind the garage. As a college student in the 1970s, I was in the first wave of the sustainability movement that arose from the birth of Earthday. That was the first world-wide wake-up call about the limits of our natural resources.

Outdoors, I was in charge of the edible landscape, the vegetable garden, the chickens, rabbits, and compost. Many lessons from those days became permanent features in my life. I’ve made a vegetable garden in every place I’ve lived. I composting and recycle everything. I am notoriously frugal when it comes to using energy and even more so about water. In fact, my specialty is low water gardens, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

After my botany degree, I earned a Masters in marine biology at UC Santa Barbara and another in educational design at San Diego State University. For a decade I worked as an education and training consultant for companies like Union Bank and Century 21 Real Estate and organizations like the San Diego Zoo and Scripps Aquarium. In the early dot.com years, I designed educational software.

When I started testing the first generation of garden design software, the editor of National Gardening Magazine (yes, it was a magazine once) invited me to write up my findings. Soon, I was garden editor of San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles Magazine. It was the end of one career and the beginning of the next. Today, I write for Sunset, the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union Tribune, Organic Gardening, and etc.

My first solo book, California Gardener’s Guide vII was published in 2007 and in early 2010, Waterwise Plants for Southwest Gardens will be released. I have a TV show called A Growing Passion and am a regular guest on the morning talk show on San Diego’s Public Radio station. I speak, teach, and lecture to garden clubs and at garden shows from Albuquerque to Seattle, though most of my work is in Southern California. At the same time, I consult with water districts, public agencies, and the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College in southeast San Diego County.

While many people promote low water gardening as a way to save water, I take a broader perspective. Low water plants are sustainable plants. Why? In addition to being low water, they need little if any fertilizers and have few pests so they don’t need to be sprayed or treated. Because they grow slowly, they seldom need pruning. Therefore, they contribute very little to the mountains of yard waste that are trucked and processed with fossil fuels while releasing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. How much “greener” can you get?

Somewhere along the way, I started designing gardens. I love to dig in other people’s dirt! My own garden is “slightly controlled chaos.” My 2/3-acre property includes beds of gorgeous perennials, shrubs, trees, and succulents, all adapted to growing with little water. I have a large vegetable garden, more than 20 fruiting trees and shrubs, an herb garden (couldn’t live without fresh herbs!) a brand new meadow, and a corner devoted entirely to California natives.

My goal with this column is to write about things that interest you. Please, email me your questions, comments, and photos of your garden. Let’s see what we can discover about gardening, together!

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