Bring summer bulbs indoors for their winter soujourn

The garden season is almost gone, but there is something we can do to preserve some of its beauty for next year.

Many of our summer bulbs like dahlias, begonias, callas, caladiums cannas, and gladioli will survive the winter only if we store them inside.

Storing tender bulbs and roots is a simple process that often becomes more complex than it needs to be. Ask 10 gardeners how they store bulbs, and you’ll probably get 10 different answers, each of them swearing that theirs is the only way that succeeds.

Don’t be intimidated. Try a few different techniques and go with what works best for you. Remember, the same process may not work for all different types of bulbs, so make adjustments as you need to and ask other gardeners for help.

Here are some standard ways of storing tender bulbs in the Spokane area.

Wait for frost to kill the top of the plant and then cut the stems down to 2 to 4 inches. Loosen the soil around the bulb, taking care not to damage it.

Gently lift it out of the ground and shake off as much soil as possible.

The next step varies depending on the type of bulb you’re storing. Experts recommend washing all the soil off dahlias, while cannas do best stored with some soil on them. The remainder fall between these two.

Callas, begonias, gladioli and caladiums should be cured by leaving them in a cool, dry place for about one week. Once they have had a chance to dry, brush off the remaining soil and remove any roots and stems still attached.

For gladioli, remove the old shriveled corm from the base of the new one and then let them cure five to seven days more before storing.

Cannas, crocosmia (other than the hardy variety Lucifer) and gladioli do best in storage with more air circulation. Try open paper sacks or mesh bags in a cool, dark area where the temperature stays 40 to 50 degrees.

Begonias and the rest of the bulbs are more prone to drying out, so store them in lightly dampened sawdust, sand or peat moss. Be cautious with peat, because if it gets too wet, the bulbs will rot, and if it’s too dry, it will draw moisture out of the plants, causing them to shrivel.

Except for the caladiums, you can store these in the same cool, dark and dry area as the cannas. Caladiums need to be stored at about 60 degrees.

Dahlias in a clump can be stored like begonias. If you divide your dahlias in the fall, however, make sure you leave a growing bud on each piece and let the cut tubers dry overnight.

A new process being discussed at the American Dahlia Society Web site suggests wrapping the cured tubers in plastic wrap. For all the details, check with the American Dahlia Society at www.ads.org.

You must check all bulbs monthly through the winter. Discard any that show signs of rot.

If they start to shrivel, try sprinkling a little water over them. Expect to lose some during your experiments.

This week in the garden

Check out trees with good fall color to see which ones you might want to buy next year.

Add organic matter to your garden now, and soil microbes will break it down over the winter, making nutrients available for plants next spring.

Prune and dispose of any diseased plant material.

Do one final weeding. Our recent long cool spell has allowed many weeds to regrow.

Make sure you rake leaf piles off your lawn before they start to kill the grass.

Once leaves have fallen, you can begin dormant-season pruning of most trees and shrubs.

Apply copper sprays to fruit trees that had coryneum blight this year and lilacs that suffered from twig blight.

Wait to mulch roses until the soil begins to freeze.

Clean and store tools properly to extend their lives, and be sure to drain gasoline out of power tools so it doesn’t go bad over the winter.