Dan's Papers - March 21, 2008

If you forgot to plant spring flowering bulbs last fall you can make up for lost plans and fill some pots for Easter at the same time. The pots that you fill with soil now for a big spring display will be ready for summer annuals once the spring flowers have passed. After the bulbs are finished blooming, dead head the flowers to avoid seed production and let the leaves grow. Heaths and heathers are the perfect complement to daffodils and hyacinths, and once warmer weather arrives, they can all be put into the ground. The graphic green foliage will still be a great contrast to the fuzziness of the heaths and heathers, which can stay in the pots until November if you like their Mediterranean look.

Try hyacinths this spring. They come in many different colors - pink, blue and red plus peachy orange, lavender and yellow. Mix up all the colors for an Easter egg basket effect or stick to all one color for a stronger architectural statement. As the bulbs grow and swell, they produce a magnificent head turning fragrance. Fill the entire pot with only hyacinths. Don't bother filling in with pansies. Put the bulbs cheek to jowl and sprinkle a little extra soil around to fill in between. Then water, sprinkle again, water, sprinkle - until the soil is settled evenly between all the bulbs. It's best to find bulbs that aren't yet in bloom, look for those that are still in the slightly green bud stage. It's easier to pot them up, as there is less chance of breaking off a bud.

A solid bank of gardenias - like double white daffodils, or Narcissus, can be stunning in a window box. There's a variety available now that looks like paper whites - minus the odor. Use a large planter full of these, a medium planter of pink heather and a small planter of deep violet Muscari. Or really cause a stir with big planters full of the bright golden yellow of King Alfred Daffodils with Blue Jacket Hyacinths for contrast, using diminutive yellow Narcissus "Tete a Tete" and Muscari in the smaller pots.

Using one variety per planter gives a more uniform look perhaps, but planting bulbs in numbers intensifies the fragrance. Also, everything is finished blooming at the same time so there isn't that odd look that comes when a few things in a mixed pot are over while the pansies bravely soldier on.

Don't shy away from Ranunculas, pansies or tulips in their rainbow of colors. While none will make a good addition to the garden, they're all cheerful and the pansies can be incredibly fragrant. Look for Ranunculas with more buds than blooms. Plant these three types of flowers very closely together in your container. As they grow, the Ranunculas and tulips will spread out like a big bouquet and the pansies will make a fluffy mound. Buckley's Garden Center in East Hampton carries some interesting Italian varieties of pansies that have bigger flowers and more interesting color combinations.

When the bulbs are done and the foliage has elongated just lift out the contents of the pot into a wheel-barrow and add the bulbs to the garden. Add Bulbtone when you plant, and remember that daffodils and hyacinths need to be 6" down in the ground and 6" apart. Muscari and smaller narcissus only need a 4" deep hole. Also, the hyacinths won't put out flowers of the same size for many years to come. The blues and whites are the most reliable, but they won't do well if planted too shallowly. Since bulbs don't put out long roots there should be ample soil left in the pots to start the fun all over again.

Stock up on potting mix - you can use it for your bulbs, and later annual plantings. Ready made mixes like Miracle Gro or BMX, Pro Mix, etc. all have a light peat moss matrix mixed with vermiculite and nutrients that drain very well - maybe too well. For a long season, additional fertilization will be necessary even if you add an organic fertilizer like Electra into these light mixes.

Coir and compost can be added to make a heavier soil mix that's richer and has better water retention. Too much compost can get heavy and gluey, so try some of the new seaweed and crabshell compost to enrich potting soil. Heavily textured pine bark nuggets placed in the bottom of the planter can lighten the weight - great if you think that it will be moved around a lot - and improve drainage.

For more than 20 years, April Gonzales has been involved in garden design, installation and maintenance on the East End, as well as specimen plant scouting and site supervision for landscape architects.