Summer Bulbs Require Tlc
Frost certainly has a way of shutting down the garden. With one stroke of its brush, handsome leaves of delicate flowers and vegetables cling to their stems in a macabre picture of black.
It seems like only yesterday we were busily dragging hoses out of the barn, uncovering roses and planting flats of petunias.
It always seems so sad when summer comes to such an abrupt end. And yet, this changing of seasons is one of the special treats we are privileged to enjoy here in the Inland Northwest. It’s time for sweaters and sweatshirts, hot apple pie and homemade soups. The hills and our gardens are ablaze in vibrant colors of red, yellow, gold, bronze and orange. Our senses are filled with aromas of pumpkin pies, canning, that unique smell of the halls on the first day of school, a burning jack-o-lantern lid and the rich earth.
And with fall comes the time for preparing our yards for winter. It’s the time to gather up the tools and hoses, remove the dead flowers and give the lawn a final mowing and dose of fertilizer. It’s also time to give particular care to our tender summer bulbs.
Glads, dahlias, canna lilies and begonias must be dug and stored for the winter months. Some gardeners choose to leave calla lilies and four o’clocks in the ground, but this is a gamble. These bulbs and roots should also be dug and stored.
Gladiolus: Glads are propagated from corms, not bulbs. Each year a new corm forms atop the old corm. The old one then shrivels up and dies. Simply pry the old one off and discard it. Little cormels found around the main corm can also be saved and planted the following spring, although they probably won’t bloom the first couple of years. Put the corms in ventilated bags or nylon stockings and store in a cool room. Thrips are the worst enemy to glads. Corms may harbor their eggs. Before storing, soak corms for three hours in a dip of 1-1/2 tablespoons Lysol to 1 gallon of water.
Begonias: Once the plant is hit by frost, remove the stem by snapping it off at the top of the tuber. I store mine on a bed of vermiculite in shallow boxes. I place them side by side without letting them touch each other for fear of spreading diseases. Once they are set in the boxes, I cover them with more vermiculite. They, too, are stored in a cool, dark room.
Dahlias: There seems to be a million and one methods for saving dahlias. This is the method I use: After the plants have been hit by frost (the plants will be black), leave them alone for another week. During this time, the skin on the underground tuber has a chance to mature and toughen up, just like the skin of a potato. A tough, mature skin will help prevent moisture loss while the tuber is in storage.
After one week, the black stems will be cut back to about six inches from the ground and the tubers lifted. Lifting the tubers can be touchy. Begin digging and loosening the soil about one foot from the stem. Don’t become impatient or you may stab a few. Once the clump of tubers has been lifted, wash the soil away with the hose. Set them out to dry a bit.
The clumps of tubers will eventually have to be divided. This chore can be handled now or in the spring, the choice is yours. The main concern is that each tuber MUST have an eye. The eye is found where the tuber connects to the main stem. Sometimes the eye is very evident. It looks like a tiny white or pinkish bud. Other times they are very difficult to see. Again, no matter how healthy or firm a tuber may be, if it doesn’t have an eye, it won’t produce a plant.
Divided or not, it’s time to store them. The whole trick to saving dahlias over the winter is keeping them from rotting (usually too moist) or keeping them from shriveling due to water loss. Dipping them in WiltPruf (an anti-desiccant) seems to help prevent this problem.
The actual storing varies from grower to grower. Some store them in sawdust, wood shavings, plastic baggies or dampened peat moss. I store mine in an old ice chest. I line the bottom of the chest with vermiculite and layer the uncut tubers, covering each of them with a blanket of vermiculite. I close the chest tight and store it away in a cool spot undisturbed until the following spring.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Phyllis Stephens The Spokesman-Review