JW: When we see masses of tulips and daffodils and other colorful flowers blooming-- so happily-- in the spring, that's probably because someone put in a lot of hard work the previous fall. And just like that, it's almost time to plant bulbs. I'm Judy Wagley, and this is “From the Ground Up!” WCMU listeners may hear Peggy Brisbane’s name on Sunday night. She is the “Duchess of Juke.” But Peggy is also a photographer, an artist, and a gardener extraordinaire, and her home garden in Mount Pleasant stops traffic every season. Thanks for joining me today, Peggy.
PB: Oh, it's a pleasure, Judy.
JW: Peggy-- when it comes to gardening, you've pretty much done at all.
PB: Little bits at a time. I actually brought in one photograph of my grandmother who had a farm in Oregon, and it's a picture of her with her tulips. And it's just funny because I do. I do love planting fall bulbs on our corner-- we live on a corner. And it's kind of known. It's funny, I was out watering yesterday just a little bit and a woman pulled up and she was in her car and she said, “Oh your garden looks so pretty now, but I can't wait for the tulips in the spring!”
JW: Yes, in your garden, there's something happening all year long. But let's talk about bulbs today, since it's almost time to plant bulbs. Tulips, daffodils, iris, crocus, all of those beautiful flowers that greet us in the spring. And I'm so enamored of bulbs because they work so hard under the snow all winter.
PB: I agree. I mean, I think of planting bulbs as kind of a ritual. You know, you're sort of cleaning up your garden. You're cutting back perennials and you find little spaces where bulbs can be tucked in, and it doesn't just even have to be tulips and daffodils. Crocus are really fun, they come up earlier. I have some iris that are tiny little bulbs-- not tubers, they really are bulbs. And the snow drops--it's just so fun to see as they begin to come up. I mean, I remember coming home from work at noon and going out and seeing if the if the crocus had opened up yet. It's just a fun ritual. And honestly, when you plant the bulbs in the fall, they're ready to go. They've stored their energy, they're really ready to go. So if you plant them, you'll have color in the spring, and it's just such a welcome sight after winter.
JW: How do we get started planting bulbs?
PB: Well, there's two things: I'll talk just briefly about sort of the, the requirements. They don't need special soil-- you don't want to add, you don't want to plant them in a place that's got a lot of manure in it or something like that. Good soil with a little bit of compost, slow-release fertilizer, bulb food. You don't need special tools. The rule of thumb is you plant the bulbs--if you're talking about tulips and daffodils that maybe are two inches tall--you plant them three times as deep as they are tall. So generally, tulips daffodils, you'd plant six to eight inches deep. The smaller the bulb, the shallower they can be. A lot of people will plant tulips and daffodils and then sprinkle crocus bulbs on top of that, and sort of layer them-- and that works fine too.
JW: Is there a certain direction to plant them?
PB: Well, most bulbs will have a flatter side and a pointed side, and the flatter side is the bottom and that goes down. Loosen the soil a little bit below the level that you're going to plant them, then fill in your soil, sprinkle a little bit of bulb food on the top and mix that in with a top inch of soil or so. And a lot of places the instructions will say water them in if you're having a dry fall, water them and a little bit. But honestly, tulips especially don't need a lot of water. They like it dry.
JW: What is the best time to plant bulbs?
PB: Well, later is better. Honestly, I order bulbs from catalogs. And I think most of the catalogs don't ship bulbs until about the middle of October. And I looked in my garden notes, and last year, I didn't plant my last tulips until November 10. So anytime until the ground is frozen is fine. But middle of October to middle of November is prime planting time. And that's a good time because your garden is basically sort of cleaned up by then and you've got space.
JW: Let's talk a bit about designing with bulbs. Sometimes we see a tulip here and there in someone's garden. It just doesn't seem to have the impact is when you see big masses of flowers.
PB: I agree. And that's partly why I ordered them because I will order 25 of one bulb and 50 of another. I might only order three or four kinds of tulips. The thing about tulips is they do not improve. Year after year they do not die. They diminish rather than multiply. Daffodils will multiply and then eventually you need to dig them up and spread them out a little bit because they'll crowd, but tulips not. So every year I add a few more tulips to my garden, because I like them that much. And it's fun to do. So I might order 25 of one and 50 of another and 25 of another, so that I have enough that I can sort of do a wave of color. I tend to order pastel colors because they blend together nicely. So if you've got yellows and light pink and dark pink, or yellows, and purples, and they they'll all sort of blend together. One of the tricky parts of bulbs is in the fall, when you go to add more bulbs, you have to remember where your bulbs are. So in the spring when the tulips or the bulbs began to come up, I will walk around my yard and take photographs of where they are. And then I will go to the drugstore and get inexpensive prints made. And number the prints 12345--so I remember where I am in the yard. And then in the fall when I'm planting, I will look at those and I'll go, “Okay, there's an empty space here.” And instead of planting two or three bulbs, I go for a place where I can put nine together or 11 or 13. So it's better to have a few clumps that are denser than a straight line of tulips or daffodils. And daffodils are great. I actually buy small daffodils, the shorter ones, because they're so fun to tuck in around the base of a perennial. If you've got peonies, you can tuck a few around. And then the peonies will come up and totally obscure the foliage as its as its ripening. You don't want to cut off the tulip or daffodils or any of the bulb leaves until they've ripened because that's where they get their energy for the next year. So if you've got perennials, or if you're going to plant annuals, you can plant annuals in amongst them and they will grow up and fill in where your bulbs were.
JW: That's a great idea about taking the photos because yeah, how do you know where they are? So you're all ready to go in the fall? And do you plant bulbs every fall?
PB: I do. And you don't have to. I mean, I think if I missed a year they would be OK. The bulbs are the strongest the first year. And then the second year they'll be fine. The steps might be a little bit shorter, the blossoms might be a little bit smaller. By the third or fourth year they began to kind of diminish, and then they'll ultimately disappear. That's why in Holland, they dig out all of the tulips every single year. You know, they want prime ones. I don't do that. But I do add each year. It's just a ritual of fall--it's a cool, crisp day, you're outside, you've got this space, you've got your bulbs, you're tucking them in and it's just hope for the future. You know, you think about how nice it will be when the snow drops first come out. And then we have snow and ice and they're still there. And the crocus-- the crocus can be snowed on and they'll still open up and have color. My tulips are almost always at peak time at the time of CMU graduation in the spring, and it's just they're the first color--- the first really masses of color, and it's just such a welcome sight. So yes, every fall, I try to add a few for next year.
JW: And there's something really special about seeing those delicate little flowers, toughing it out under the snow.
PB: Yes, it is. And we have winters where even the tulips get snow or ice. And I have some photographs because I looked in the spring, you know, you're just so hungry for the color. So I love to photograph them. And I came across a photo where the tulip blossoms they were showing-- they were purple ones. And they were basically sort of laying down. We'd had ice and you know they have moisture in the stems and they get mushy and kind of lay down. But after a few warm days and some sunshine, they perk up again. So I know they are as hardy as Michiganders.
JW: I love that! Peggy What about critters?
PB: Well, I think that one thing that helps is if you wait until later to plant your bulbs. For one thing, the soil temperature needs to be about 50 degrees and your bulbs never want to be stored warmer than 75 degrees normally 60 to 65. So if you buy bulbs ahead of time before you plant them, keep them in a cool place a dark cool place. You don't want them to sprout. So if you wait until a little bit later and toward the end of October, the squirrels have already found their places to plant their nuts. In my yard anyway, it seems like the squirrels are not necessarily just trying to dig up the bulbs, they're trying to bury their own walnuts from a big walnut tree nearby. And in the process of them digging for the walnuts, they upturn some bulbs. But I know some people have more issues than that. But in the spring the bunny rabbits will eat the tulip leaves, especially if they're close to the sidewalk or the street easy access. But last year, last year they had some really chewed on leaves, but they were gone before the got enough of their salad before the beds came. And so the tulips still bloomed.
JW: Peggy we've talked about lots of different bulbs, do you have a favorite?
PB: Oh boy-- I do love the tulips, just partly the connection that my grandma in Oregon had tulips. I just started planting a few tulips and then it's just sort of grown, and people expect them to be in the yard. But honestly, I have some little iris that a friend gave me when my dad died. And they come up so early. And they're so sort of fragile looking. And they're very special too. So I love them all. And there are so many kinds of bulbs. That's why it's fun to look through a catalog instead of just going to the hardware store. Because there's so many choices. Some will bloom in April, some will bloom April and May and some won’t bloom until May. So depending on when you're going to be home when you think you're going to enjoy them the most you can get bulbs that match, you know how your spring unfolds.
JW: And you can start planning now.
PB: Yes, it's very fun to plan. Now I did just place my order the other day for bulbs. So now what I'm doing is I will go out in the yard and I'll take my photographs of where the bulbs were in the spring. And I will start scouting out locations. Oh, there's room for 13 here, a few feet away. There's room for 11 more. Sometimes I'll take a plastic spoon and I'll stick it upside down in the ground. And that will remind me that that's a good space to put bulbs as I'm cleaning up the perennial garden.
JW: It sounds like you're going to have a busy fall. But as we mentioned, people do stop. You do stop traffic with the flowers in your yard. So thank you for doing that. And thank you for being my guest today on “From the Ground Up!”
PB: It was fun.
