Black Friday Bulb Planting in my Wake County Woods.

I do LOVE the turkey with all the traditional fixings, but I may be more excited about the daffodil bulbs now spread out on our dining room table than the upcoming feast.

For years, I have devoted the day after Thanksgiving to planting my spring blooming bulbs.

The timing is right. The soil must be cool for bulb planting in the South. And I always used to have the day after T’giving off when I worked my big girl job.

But blub planting on Black Friday works for me on a much deeper level. Like a lot of creative people, I struggle with balance. That means the holidays are a mine field.

Bulb planting grounds me (literally) on one the year’s craziest days. And it gets the job done before the busiest part of the season so my bulbs DON’T end up stuffed in the garage and forgotten until 2015.

This year, I’m planting two old favorites. Both February Gold and Ice Follies naturalize in my woods garden. That means their foliage has time to ripen and store energy for the next spring’s bloom before the trees leaf out.

Note that I’m planting them in large numbers. Bulbs are small, especially viewed from a window on a cold early March day.

Also note that until planting time, the bulbs are spread out in shallow boxes in a place that is not too hot or cold. Temperature and air circulation are very important when storing bulbs. Don’t worry– I’ll clear off the table before the feast, though.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Blub Planting! Enjoy!

Planting Bulbs in my NC Woods–4 Tips to Remember

No heavy-duty shopping on the day after Thanksgiving for me.  Instead, I have a bulb planting marathon. 

Setting aside  a special day for planting bulbs keeps me from forgetting them.  That’s tip number one–

• Get them your bulbs out of the garage, basement, porch  and put them  in the ground before for the end of November.  Yes, you can plant them later in year and have success.  But sitting around the house isn’t going to help them one bit.  Plant now for best results. 
• Bulb flowers only look large in catalog photos.  On a big canvas like my woods, they seem very small.  So buy in bulk.  I try to add 100-150 daffodils every season and plant them in drifts of 10-20 bulbs. 
• Plant bulbs where you can see them from the house and drive.  Winter and early spring days are short.  You want to enjoy your flowers.  Also, put the earliest varieties in the back of the planting so you’re not viewing  new flowers though the fading blooms of the old.  And remember, daffodil flowers will face the sun–important to remember when you plant in the woods. 
• Finally, since I plant around trees, it’s often hard to get a shovel in very deeply.   I dig as deeply as I can, work in some organic Bulbtone Fertilizer, plant bulbs,  then add a few inches of extra soil over top.  Come spring, I hope I’ll have lots more of this–Spring daffodils like the ones in the photo below. 

 So what are you doing to get ready for next season?