Tender Bulbs Versus Hardy Bulbs: What’s the Difference?
Bulbs are those beautiful perennials that grow from a fleshy root, blossom each twelvemonth, and die back to the root. Some bulbs are "hardy," which means they survive our winter. Others are "tender," meaning they won't overwinter in Illinois without some assist. Which ones are which? And how do you protect the tender perennials? Read on for the answers!
The Basics of Bulbs: What Are They?
If we're going to get technical, a bulb is a flower with an hole-and-corner, fleshy storage organ. Oft, the root is shaped like an onion, which is one bulb that fabricated it to the kitchen. Sometimes they're more irregular, similar the rhizome of an iris. The important function is that they store free energy in the root, bloom for a period of time, absorb free energy through their leaves, and then die back to the root with enough reserves for next year.
What is a Hardy Bulb?
Hardy bulbs are the tough bulbs that keep returning year later on year. A lot of them bloom in the spring, and some are the kickoff flowers of the year, like crocuses and tulips. These bulbs spend the winter exterior in Chicagoland no problem. In fact, many need a period of frosty temperatures in lodge to blossom the following year.
Examples of hardy bulbs include: crocuses, snowdrops, tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, grape hyacinths, alliums, and iris.
What is a Tender Seedling?
Tender bulbs are all those other bulbs that bring beautiful flowers to the garden, simply tin can't brand it through our winters. They don't demand the cold and don't want it. In warmer climates, they are perennials , but if we want these tender ones to bloom again here, we take to give them special intendance over wintertime. Alternatively, many gardeners grow them as annuals.
These tender perennials include: dahlias, callas, elephant ears, caladiums, cannas, and tuberous begonias.
How to Protect Tender Bulbs Over the Winter
If you want to keep your tender perennials for adjacent year, you tin can dig them up and store them indoors. Just like storing vegetables , yous need to follow a few steps to protect them from rotting—here's how to principal this easy process!
- Dig Them Up: After a low-cal frost turns the leaves brown, dig up the tender perennials within a few days. Ane dazzler of bulbs is that they're easy to dig up. Exist careful to keep the bulbs complimentary of cuts and bruises for the best success in wintertime storage.
- Make clean Them Off: Shake off or gently brush away backlog soil from the tender perennials, but don't wash them. A little dirt is no trouble, and keeping them gratuitous from moisture prevents rotting over winter. Discard any damaged bulbs and keep whatever insects exterior.
- Cure Them: To protect the tender perennials over winter, most bulbs need to exist cured before storing. Let them dry out in a dark room at threescore-70°F for one-3 days.
- Shop Them: Afterward curing, place the tender perennials in a box of sand, peat moss, sawdust, or wood chips. Proceed the lid loose or off and so that moisture doesn't build up inside. Keep the bulbs from touching each other, so if whatever rotting occurs, it doesn't spread. Most importantly, keep them in a cool, dark room, at 35-fifty°F.
With these unproblematic steps, you don't need to kiss your tender bulbs farewell in the fall. You can protect them until side by side jump, savour their blooms again , and repeat the procedure for many years to come.
The fall is an important fourth dimension for all bulbs, whether you're planting hardy bulbs for next spring, or digging up those tender perennials. It'south these seasonal tasks that make gardening so pleasurable, and that we wait forrad to twelvemonth after year!
Platt Hill Nursery is Chicago's premier garden middle and nursery in the Chicagoland surface area.
Source: https://platthillnursery.com/tender-bulbs-versus-hardy-bulbs/
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