Bulb – wildeherb.com

Snowdrops and Bittercress Flowers Bloom First

March 19, 2011 by wilde

The warm winds that have blown our way for the last few days have been awakening. Geese flocked by overhead, bird activity in general is picking up, and chipmunks have been seen. I’m not sure if the juncos have flown away yet, but the red-winged blackbirds are back. Record high temperatures were tied in several local areas yesterday. It was in the mid-70s, well above normal. Now, it’s one day away from the calendar start of Spring and flowers have started blooming.

Although wildeherb concentrates on the wild herbs or plants that you might find blooming on a hike in the woods or other natural area, sometimes garden variety plants are included. It’s only natural to relate what we find out in nature to what’s going on in the flower beds or vegetable garden.

Our first-blooming plant was a bulb, the snowdrop. The first snowdrop was spotted blooming on March 12th and it has bloomed for a week now. These are hearty little flowers that you can sometimes see blooming in the snow. Once their blossoms are seen, the thawing of Spring can be felt.

Snowdrop blooming among the heritage flower rosettes. Photo taken 19Mar2011.

The snowdrop bulbs were planted in a bed where the heritage flower grows. You can see the crumpled-looking, velvety leaves of the first year rosettes that have overwintered. They will sprout long stalks with beautiful magneta flowers in May-June.

Snowdrop flower dangles. — Snowdrop flowers dangle. Photo taken 19Mar2011.

The snowdrop flower opens up its three petals on sunny days. On cloudy days the petals remain dangling. The linear leaves are broad compared to the shorter, variegated ones of the crocus bulbs that are just starting to develop blossoms underneath the snow drop flower above.

Pennsylvania bittercress was first spotted blooming yesterday, 18Mar2011. Its miniscule flowers are quite low to the ground.

PA Bittercress blooming between the flagstones along a walkway. Photo taken 19Mar2011.

In our little micro-climate the first blooming garden plant is the snowdrop and the first natural plant to bloom is the Pennsylvania bittercress. With respect to first-blooming times, the plant pictured here most likely had an advantage living among the warm flagstones and sand. No bittercress plants were found blooming in the yard away from the heat of the rocks next to the house.

Photo taken 19Mar2011.

Red Amaryllis Blooms Beautifully in Winter

February 6, 2016February 12, 2011 by wilde

January flowers are few around these parts unless they’re flown in here from warm places like Africa or South America. It sounds crazy expensive to bring those posies from the other side of the Earth, where it’s warm when we’re freezing up in here.

The only other chance we have of watching plants blooming during January in Pennsylvania is to keep indoor plants. We’ve enjoyed a few blooming the past couple months and that’s brought a sunny feel to the cold of Winter.

Picked up an Amaryllis bulb for $5 at an after-Christmas sale and planted it in the beginning of January. Planting consisted of placing the included desiccated coir block in the bottom of the provided plastic pot and adding two cups of water. Once the growing medium was soaked, half of it was scooped to the side with one hand while the bulb was nestled into the pot with the sprout side up and the remaining soil tamped around it.

These bulbs unfortunately have the common name Amaryllis, as they are members of the family Amaryllidaceae, but are more correctly called Hippeastrum.

These Amaryllis bulbs are fun to watch. They grow so quickly it is truly amazing! We watched it grow up a couple of feet – literally! – over the next three and a half weeks. The linear leaves get over 20 inches tall and are thick and succulent.

Three weeks growth of amaryllis bulb. — Three and a half weeks growth from a single Amaryllis bulb. Photo taken 28Jan2011. Bulb planted 5Jan2011.

Flower stalks are more cylindrical than the leaves and one or more will appear after the greenery has grown up almost a foot tall.

Two flower stalks of amaryllis plant. — The flowering stalk on the left still has its blossoms wrapped up tight, while the other stalk has opened its capsule to reveal three flowers, one of which has opened up. Photo taken 30Jan2011.

The huge, blade-like leaves are erect and continue to grow at this stage. The blossoms are gigantic, too.

Big red bloom of amaryllis. — Big, beautiful red blossoms bigger than your hand. Photo taken 31Jan2011.

Glittery sheen of amaryllis petals. — The petals have a glittery gleam in the sunshine. Reminds me of the man-eaters in Lil' Shop of Horrors. Photo taken 31Jan2011.

This particular bulb bloomed beautifully and it was the fullest that I’ve ever seen. There were two flowering stalks with three gorgeous red blossoms on one stalk and four on the second stalk.

Four blooms in one amaryllis flower head. — Four blooms packed into the head of one flower stalk. Photo taken 3Feb2011.

Seven flowers of amaryllis. — The Amaryllis flowering stalks are now as tall as the oven window. The leaves continue to grow. Photo taken 3Feb2011.

Seven flowers opening. — Seven Amaryllis flowers. Photo taken 3Feb2011.

Amaryllis in bloom. — First flower stalk dying back while the second group of flowers are blooming in full. Photo taken 9Feb2011.

Six stamens of the amaryllis bloom. — Pretty Amaryllis blossom with six powdery stamens. Photo taken 9Feb2011.

It would be nice to keep this bulb for next year, but I’m not sure how. I’ve never successfully kept an Amaryllis bulb for the following year. Either I didn’t have a place to keep the bulb or I tried to keep it but had the wrong conditions. They either dried up or just didn’t bloom when they did re-grow.

This year I plan to continue to lightly water the greenery and keep it indoors in bright room that receives filtered sun. The flower stalks had withered fairly quickly after blooming, so they were cut off at the base once they were dried out.

Keeping the bulb watered in a sunny spot should recharge it with new food for next year. But for how long? Do I water it for the whole growing season? Should it be fertilized? When should it be stored for next winter so that we can take it out and watch it bloom again? Store it in a cool basement for how long? Should it have any cold storage, like refrigerator temperature for a time?

Crocus Blooms Open Up with the Sunlight

August 14, 2012March 23, 2010 by wilde

We planted a few sets of crocus bulbs three years ago and now the area they occupy has at least double, probably triple, the amount of crocus bulbs we started with. That’s one thing to like about bulbs…they multiply over the years to make for really colorful patches in your flower beds or lawn. To keep up the expansion of color going, dig up the bulbs in the fall and spread them out for an even more beautiful display the following spring!

Crocuses are probably favorites of many people by virtue of their early blooming time in the Spring. Since they are among the very first ones to flower it sort of makes you feel like winter is over and that spring is really here when you do see the crocuses coming out of hiding.

The time of day will make all the difference as to what kind of display you’ll see. If you are viewing the crocus flowers in the early morning, say before going to work in the a.m., you’ll likely see the flowers closed up. After nightfall, the crocus flower petals all relax into the center of the bloom and remain closed until the next day’s sunlight nudges them open.