Bulb Planting Guide (Daylily Planting Guide Below)
Prepare Your Planting Site
Make sure that you select a planting site with appropriate sunlight and
good water drainage. Tulips and narcissi prefer part-day, full sunlight
or filtered sunlight for optimum coloration and prolonged flowering periods.
Bulbs will not grow in an area with poor water drainage (they hate "wet
feet"). For clay soil, add sand or peat moss. For sandy soil, add peat
moss or aged leaf compost. Flower bulbs prefer neutral pH soil (soil test
results should be "7"). Never add horse manure, mushroom compost
or other "hot" manure or compost to your flower bulb beds. Determine
the planting depth. The general rule of thumb is to cover the top of each
bulb with 3" to 4" of top soil without breaking off any sprout
growth. Dig 2" to 3" below the planting depth to loosen the soil
to promote thorough root development.
Plant Your Bulbs
Plant your bulbs once the weather has turned consistently cool and before
the ground has frozen. Place the bulbs firmly in the soil with the pointed
end up. Feed your bulbs three times a year: at planting time in the fall;
when the sprouts first push through the soil in the spring and when the
foliage dies in the summer. To prevent the possibility of root burn, lightly
dust the bulb food over the surface of the garden bed as a top dressing
after you finish planting your bulbs. Please do not mix fertilizer into
each hole; broadcast the fertilizer over the surface of the bed and water
it in. If there is a prolonged, dry fall, water your flower bulb beds occasionally.
Cover the beds with about 2" of mulch after the ground freezes completely.
Mulching helps retain ground moisture and helps protect bulbs from temperature
spiking. Some good mulching mediums include straw, salt marsh hay or oak
leaves.
After Flowering
Don’t cut the leaves from your plants, since they are essential for
building next year’s flower. Don’t tidy up the garden by cutting
off or braiding sprawling green foliage after flowering. The plant needs
those leaves! When the foliage has yellowed or dried up, you may remove
it, and cultivate the ground a bit, so that insects do not have a path down
the hole left by the foliage directly to the bulbs.
Dividing Bulbs
Many varieties of daffodils will naturalize on their own and not need dividing
to keep them healthy. Daffodil bulbs divide, and one bulb will, in time,
become a clump of bulbs. They should be dug and divided when, and if, the
flowers become smaller and fewer (about every 4-5 years). Otherwise, they
may be divided to increase the number of bulbs or to share with friends.
Dig the bulb as the foliage turns yellow. Store until fall in a cool, airy
place. Do not forcefully break the side shoots off of the bulbs.
When to plant Daylilies can be planted very successfully at any time the ground can be worked --- spring, summer or fall. Fall planted Daylilies should be mulched to prevent winter frost heaving. http://www.bloomingfieldsfarm.com/planting.html "mulch mulch"
Where to plant Daylilies are sun loving flowers but they also bloom rather well in partial shade. Six or more hours of direct sunshine is preferred. Despite this preference, we are occasionally surprised to find colorful Daylily blooms under the constant shade of tall trees. Wherever some shade is present, the Daylily flowers will face away from it toward open sky. Site conditions to avoid, or to improve, are low wet spots where water collects in rainy spells, and high dry spots over ledges where the soil is shallow.
Soil Loose loamy soil is excellent. Sand, gravel and clay are very poor. Mediocre soils will be improved by adding compost, rotted leaves or wood chips, old manure, or almost any other organic material.
Spacing In a mixed perennial flower border allow a circle of 16-18 inches in diameter if the Daylily will be divided and replanted in 3-5 years. If you expect to leave the Daylily clump intact for 10-15 years, it will need a 24-30 inch space. The same applies to a Daylily flower border. In a landscape setting, such as a bank to be covered with Daylilies, space the Daylily plants in a triangular pattern with each plant 24 inches from its neighbors. 100 square feet of bank will then require 30 Daylily plants. (Multiply square footage by 0.304.) As an edging along a walk, space the Daylily plants 12-18 inches apart in a single line.
Mulch One to four inches of mulch will retain soil moisture and inhibit weed growth among the Daylily plants. Leaves, hay, woodchips and grass clippings are suitable, but they withdraw some of the soil nitrogen during their own slow decomposition. You may wish to add some fertilizer, especially with freshly cut woodchips. Where the ground normally freezes in winter, fall-planted Daylilies should be mulched heavily the first year to prevent them from being heaved out of the ground.
Fertilizer An organic compost filled soil is seldom deficient in plant nutrients. To maintain excellent Daylily growth, add any slow release, composted organic matter such as horse, sheep, or cow manure, or your own compost, in either spring or fall.
Dividing This may be helpful after 8 to 15 years, or it may not be necessary at all.
Water For best performance, Daylilies like a lot of rain, or evening watering, just before and during flowering. Flowers will be larger and more numerous, prolonging the Daylily bloom season.
