The first flowers of spring are always a welcome sight after the long, cold winter, and probably the most eagerly anticipated blooms in the spring garden are tulips.
They come in many colours, including yellow, pink, red, purple and white and they seem to shout spring as their single, cup-shaped, waxy flowers nod in the spring breezes. Some tulip varieties even have double blooms.
Like many gardening activities, planting spring flowering bulbs takes a lot of forethought. The bulbs must be planted in the fall, and that is the time you will find tulip bulbs for sale in stores.
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When making your purchase, choose large, healthy looking bulbs that have no sign of injury or mould. This is particularly wise if the bulbs are enclosed in a plastic bag that might have prevented the bulbs from breathing and enabled moisture to gather in the bag.
Remember that the bigger the bulb, the bigger the bloom.
Plant the bulbs in groups of at least six bulbs in moist, well drained, fertile soil to a depth of about 12 centimetres. Like all bulbs, the deeper they are planted, the longer they will take to appear in the spring and the later they will bloom. Planted too deep, the bulbs will suffocate and not emerge.
Planted too shallow, the bulbs may winter kill, dry out or be subjected to rodent damage.
Make sure newly planted tulip bulbs are kept watered during the fall and in the spring after the snow has melted and the ground begins to dry. The flowers will dry up and fail to bloom if the bulbs become dry.
Plant tulip bulbs where they will receive at least six hours of sunlight each day.
Bulbs that are planted in full sun will bloom first and those receiving less sun will bloom somewhat later so plant tulips in a variety of exposures to extend the bloom period.
Bulbs planted along the south wall of the house will finish blooming before clumps in an open flower border, while those in part shade will come up later. As a result tulip blooms can be enjoyed from late April until late June.
After tulips have bloomed, remove the flower stems but leave the foliage intact, because the leaves will manufacture food to create flower buds for next year.
The leaves will gradually yellow and begin to dry and when they are brown and dry, remove them.
If you find the spent foliage unsightly in the early summer garden, plant your tulips behind slow emerging perennials such as lilies and speed-wells so that the tired looking tulip foliage is camouflaged as the perennials develop.
PINE BEETLE MOVING EAST
Too many variables exist to give a definite prediction of how far or how fast the Western pine beetle will move east from forested parts of Alberta, but if pine trees in forests, parks and shelter belts are turning red brown, the pine beetle has definitely arrived.
After destroying more than 40 million acres of pine forest in British Columbia during the last decade, the battlefront against the pine beetle has recently moved to the northeastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta.
The beetles are migrating from B.C.’s lodge pole pines to the Jack pines of northeastern Alberta, putting at risk the mixed boreal forests of the Prairies that contain Jack pine.
Aerial spraying is impractical for and environmental reasons so the main method used to combat the infestation is integrated forest management or cutting older, weakened trees to allow saplings of a variety of tree species to get a foothold.
In the past, forest fires used to get rid of older mature trees that had lost their vigour, the prime target of the pine beetles.
Years of clear cutting the forests for logging and mining operations also contributed to the forest’s susceptibility to attack.
Replanting tended to be a mono-culture of pine trees and now those trees are all the same age and ripe for attack.
Mixed forests and stands containing variously aged trees are less susceptible to attack. Colder winter temperatures of the northern plains might also stop the beetle.
Albert Parsons has a diploma in horticulture from Guelph University. He operates a garden design/landscape consultation business from his home in Minnedosa, Man. He can be reached at countrygarden@producer.com.
