Bulbs, Annuals and Perennials
About Mixed Plantings
The art of mixing bulbs with other flowering plants, trees, and shrubs in your landscape is a step beyond simply growing them alone and planting them in groups.
This mixing integrates bulbs as features of your yard that change with the seasons. Mixed-bed plantings of bulbs and other plants make your landscape colorful all season long.
Key Differences
Before beginning, consider how the needs of bulbs is unlike that of other flowering plants. Try to provide growing conditions that safeguards the health of both the bulb and the flower plantings.
Deep-rooted, drought-tolerant annuals and perennials are the best companions to most bulbs. Some examples include: globe amaranth, baby’s-breath, Dahlberg daisy, common geranium, lavender, and morning glory. Mix them or plant side-by-side patches with hardy begonia, dahlia, society garlic, lily, and ornamental onion.
For full-sun locations in early spring, mix Iceland poppy with daffodil and tulip to give a bright contrast in color and foliage.
In shade, surround bluestar, Canterbury-bells, and forget-me-not with plantings of anemone, bluebell, and bleeding heart.
Water Needs
Bulbs need periods of drought to force them into dormancy and avoid fungal disease, while annuals and perennials typically require consistent irrigation. To serve both, divide your beds into clearly defined planting and watering zones so you can apply or withhold water as needed.
Drip irrigation systems are a good answer, with solid planning. They deliver pinpoint watering according to plant needs, but multiple circuits are required, with one for the bulbs, a second for the annuals, and a third for perennial flowers, shrubs, and trees.
Lifting and Division
Clearly mark bulbs that require lifting or division, or both. Ice-cream sticks make good, shallow markers. A quick photo during bloom will help you remember the exact location of plants that require autumn care or lifting.
Place such markers as reminders once the bulbs’ foliage begins to yellow. You’ll need them in autumn to find the bulbs.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Local quarried stone or fieldstone defines a flowerbed’s edges, holds soil, and is one easy way to build a raised bed for mixed plantings of bulbs, annuals, perennials, and shrubs.
Fill the planting area with soil to raise it above the surrounding lawn. Add a few small boulders inside the bed for contrast to the plants and flowers.
Many turfgrasses colonize new soil by sending out subsurface roots, or stolons, so plan to remove the turf where the stones will sit.
Dig down at least 6 inches (15 cm) into the soil. Place non-woven landscape fabric around the edge of the bed, and bed the boulders in sand.
To build a stone-edged mixed-planting bed, follow these easy steps:
Creating a Bed for Bulb and Flower Plantings
Mark the bed’s outer edges with a hose or other flexible marker. Use a sod-cutting tool or shovel to cut through the turf at the outer edge of the bed. Roll the sod up in sections for removal or reuse. Reserve some sod for site finishing once construction is complete.
Examine each stone to choose its face side. With a helper, move the stones to the outside of the bed’s edge. Use a shovel to excavate a bed for the stone and line the hole with landscape fabric.
Add 2–4 in. (5–10 cm) of sand in the excavated hole, then seat the stone. Rock it to settle it into the sand, stopping when is becomes stable and resists the rocking.
Continue placing the rest of the edging stones, working around the bed’s perimeter marking. Use a mix of short and tall stones to define points and create features of interest along the edge.
After the edging stones are set in place, fill the bed with topsoil. Tamp and water it to settle and fill all voids.
Following completion of the bed’s edge, use reserved sod to fill any voids along the outside edge. The bed is ready to be used for planting bulbs, annuals, perennials, and shrubs according to a planting plan.