Nature’s Surprise Packages
Some of the most popular bulbs are grown like bedding plants or annuals--you plant the bulbs, they grow and bloom, then you dig them up and toss them out. Anemones, ranunculus, most daffodils and the ever-popular tulips are grown this way. The 20,000 tulip bulbs planted by Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge are discarded each year. “I start fresh each fall,” display gardener Brian Sullivan said.
Many daffodils are also temporary plants in Southern California, especially near the coast. The popular ‘King Alfred’ seldom comes back, but “it is so reliable the first year that I still plant about 2,000 bulbs,” Sullivan said. He throws out the bulbs after they bloom.
The higher into the mountains you live, the more kinds will come back. Way up at Big Bear, most dafs are permanent plants, but even at Descanso Gardens (elevation: 1,200 feet), a number will come back year after year, including ‘Unsurpassable,’ ‘Dutch Master,’ ‘February Gold,’ ‘Jetfire,’ ‘Tete-a-tete,’ ‘Hawera,’ ‘Jenny’ and ‘Minnow,’ according to Sullivan. Paperwhites and many small-flowered narcissus are often permanent in Southern California gardens.
Daffodils are the one bulb gophers will not eat, another reason they are popular in low-mountain areas such as Topanga.
Hyacinths are also temporary in most gardens, as are most kinds of spring-blooming crocus. Tulips, hyacinths and many crocuses need to spend at least six weeks in the refrigerator’s vegetable crisper before you plant them because they need a fake winter. Many gardeners buy them now and refrigerate them until the December holidays. Then they plant.
Ranunculuses and anemones would most likely come back if their beds were kept bone-dry in summer, but because the tubers are so inexpensive, most everyone simply pulls them out and starts fresh each year. These two are even sold as small plants in nursery six-packs like any other bedding plant. Though you can find smaller tubers for as little as 29 cents each, the larger, more expensive tubers yield many more flowers.
