Want bulb flowers to bloom again? First, the key is nurturing the bulb
The flower bud formation of most bulbous flowers is stimulated by temperature differences. Most regions of our country have a climate with four distinct seasons, so without any stimulation, bulbous flowers can bloom again. That is to say, as long as you nurture the bulb well, reblooming is only a matter of time, and many kinds of bulbous flowers can bloom again. So it comes down to one point: you must nurture the bulb well.
Before talking about nurturing the bulb, let's first talk about the two major systems of plants, namely the vegetative organs and the reproductive organs. Roots, stems and leaves are vegetative organs; these things accumulate nutrients. Flowers, fruits and seeds are reproductive organs; these things consume nutrients. A bulb is none of these; it is a modified structure that stores nutrients. To nurture the bulb, you need to make the roots, stems and leaves well developed, while flowering and fruiting consume the nutrients accumulated in the bulb. Therefore, for bulbous flowers to bloom, the bulb's nutrients must be consumed, and once they are used up, they will not bloom the next year. To nurture the bulb, you need to grow more leaves.
Below are a few tips for nurturing bulbous flowers.
Experience one: choose fertile, loose soil. For planting bulbous flowers, nothing is more important than the choice of soil. Choose fertile, loose soil so the root system is well developed and vigorous, with strong air permeability and nutrient absorption capacity, which naturally helps nurture the bulb well. It is recommended to add peat and plenty of decomposed organic fertilizer to the soil; a large planting container and a thick soil layer naturally nurture the bulb well.
Experience two: let your flowers separate from the parent plant early. For example, with lilies, cut the first flower just as it is about to open and use it as a cut flower, keeping the stem and leaves to continue nurturing the bulb. For bulbous flowers such as lilies and gladioli that are naturally suited to being cut flowers, cutting them when the flowers first open can make the blooms last longer; leaving them on the plant actually makes them fade faster. Moreover, the parent plant with the flower stalk cut off reduces nutrient consumption, which is better for nurturing the bulb. For bulbous flowers such as daffodils and tulips, the flower stems should also be cut off promptly after blooming.
Experience three: create a cool climate to extend the growth time of leaves and stems, and seize the time to nurture the bulb. Bulbous flowers generally like coolness and fear heat. Once the weather gets hot, they begin to go dormant and stop growing; the leaves turn yellow and then gradually wither, creating a false appearance of death. People raising bulbous flowers for the first time usually think they are just gone like that. So only warm and cool climates suit their growth. Therefore, remember that after blooming you must let them "stay wherever it is cool." Be sure to let them stay in the soil for as long as possible for effective growth time. When the leaves turn yellow, it is the nutrients gradually shrinking back and being transported to the bulb; when the leaves wither, the roots are still in the soil absorbing nutrients.
For bulbous flowers to bloom again, you must first nurture the bulb
The flower bud formation of most bulbous flowers is stimulated by temperature differences. Most regions of our country have a climate with four distinct seasons, so without any stimulation, bulbous flowers can bloom again. That is to say, as long as you nurture the bulb well, reblooming is only a matter of time, and many kinds of bulbous flowers can bloom again. So it comes down to one point: you must nurture the bulb well.
Before talking about nurturing the bulb, let's first talk about the two major systems of plants, namely the vegetative organs and the reproductive organs. Roots, stems and leaves are vegetative organs; these things accumulate nutrients. Flowers, fruits and seeds are reproductive organs; these things consume nutrients. A bulb is none of these; it is a modified structure that stores nutrients. To nurture the bulb, you need to make the roots, stems and leaves well developed, while flowering and fruiting consume the nutrients accumulated in the bulb. Therefore, for bulbous flowers to bloom, the bulb's nutrients must be consumed, and once they are used up, they will not bloom the next year. To nurture the bulb, you need to grow more leaves.
Below are a few tips that a bulb flower enthusiast named gracious in Hangzhou, China explored, which can both let bulbous flowers bloom year after year and nurture the bulb as well as possible.
Experience one: choose fertile, loose soil. For planting bulbous flowers, nothing is more important than the choice of soil. Choose fertile, loose soil so the root system is well developed and vigorous, with strong air permeability and nutrient absorption capacity, which naturally helps nurture the bulb well. It is recommended to add peat and plenty of decomposed organic fertilizer to the soil; a large planting container and a thick soil layer naturally nurture the bulb well.
Experience two: let your flowers separate from the parent plant early. For example, with lilies, cut the first flower just as it is about to open and use it as a cut flower, keeping the stem and leaves to continue nurturing the bulb. For bulbous flowers such as lilies and gladioli that are naturally suited to being cut flowers, cutting them when the flowers first open can make the blooms last longer; leaving them on the plant actually makes them fade faster. Moreover, the parent plant with the flower stalk cut off reduces nutrient consumption, which is better for nurturing the bulb. For bulbous flowers such as daffodils and tulips, the flower stems should also be cut off promptly after blooming.
Experience three: create a cool climate to extend the growth time of leaves and stems, and seize the time to nurture the bulb. Bulbous flowers generally like coolness and fear heat. Once the weather gets hot, they begin to go dormant and stop growing; the leaves turn yellow and then gradually wither, creating a false appearance of death. People raising bulbous flowers for the first time usually think they are just gone like that. So only warm and cool climates suit their growth. Therefore, remember that after blooming you must let them "stay wherever it is cool." Be sure to let them stay in the soil for as long as possible for effective growth time. When the leaves turn yellow, it is the nutrients gradually shrinking back and being transported to the bulb; when the leaves wither, the roots are still in the soil absorbing nutrients.
Experience four: do not lift the bulbs rashly or casually. Among issues with bulbous flowers, the question of lifting bulbs is the biggest and the most controversial. One thing to remember: experience cannot be copied directly. The experience of nurturing and lifting bulbs in Beijing or in the Netherlands is ineffective in Hangzhou, China, because the climates are different.
Generally, bulbs are lifted because after a year of growing bulbous flowers, the surrounding soil nutrients are exhausted and they need to be moved somewhere to replenish nutrients. So I think potted bulbous flowers do not need to have their bulbs lifted at all; leaving the bulbs in the soil is both worry-free and effortless. Moreover, for the flowers, the soil is the warmest mother. Just pay attention to draining excess water from the pot soil, especially during the plum rain season; move them to a corner under the eaves to guard against rain, keep them dry and it is OK. When the weather turns cool and the bulbous flowers are about to sprout, dig the bulbs out and plant them separately, and it is OK. As for bulbous flowers planted in the ground, the bulbs must be lifted before the plum rain season arrives to prevent the bulbs from rotting.
Common bulbous flowers
In winter, under suitable temperature conditions, the bulbous plants that can continue growing vigorously include tulips, hyacinths, grape hyacinths, narcissus, daffodils, crocuses, amaryllis, ranunculus, cyclamen, Oxalis purpurea, Oxalis obtusa and other cool-loving oxalis species, and so on. Because they all have bulbs or perennial roots, these bulbs or perennial roots are both places for storing nutrients and the most distinctive feature of these plants.
Therefore, for these plants, winter and spring are their flowering season, so winter is also called the "bulb season."
According to the type of their bulbs or perennial roots, here is a brief classification and introduction (for some types, dedicated posts will be published in the future with more detailed introductions to their care points).
Onion-type bulbs: For this type of bulbous plant, the bulb is highly similar in form to an onion. Typical ones are hyacinth, amaryllis, narcissus and daffodil.
1. Hyacinth:A cool-loving bulbous herbaceous flower, belonging to the Hyacinthaceae family. It has many flower colors and varieties. Winter and spring are its flowering season, and it has the habit of summer dormancy. My personal evaluation of it is:
Reblooming ability: strong (it is a perennial plant, and one bulb can be grown for a long time).
Degeneration ability: relatively strong (whether water-cultured or potted, after the bulb is grown for more than the 2nd year, the flower quantity will more or less decrease).
Planting difficulty: easy (suitable for water culture, potting and ground planting).
Propagation method: division.
When planting: bury the corm shallowly.
2. Narcissus: refers to Zhangzhou narcissus, which has multiple flowers per scape.
A cool-loving bulbous herbaceous flower, belonging to the Amaryllidaceae family. Winter and spring are the flowering season, and it has the habit of summer dormancy. Its flowering time can be completely adjusted by the planting period.
Reblooming ability: weak.
Degeneration ability: strong.
Planting difficulty: easy (suitable for water culture, potting and ground planting).
Propagation method: division.
When planting, the corm can be buried completely, with shallow soil cover.
3. Daffodil:
A cool-loving bulbous herbaceous flower, belonging to the Amaryllidaceae family. Winter and spring are the flowering season, and it has the habit of summer dormancy. One scape bears one flower; the flower shape is large and the flower colors are also rich.
Reblooming ability: strong.
Degeneration ability: relatively weak.
Planting difficulty: easy.
Propagation method: division.
When planting, the corm can be buried completely, with shallow soil cover.
4. Amaryllis:
A heat-loving bulbous herbaceous flower, belonging to the Amaryllidaceae family. It has the habit of winter dormancy. Under natural conditions, it wakes up, sprouts and blooms from late February to March; the natural flowering period is from February to June, and some varieties have the habit of blooming in autumn.
However, if its leaves are cut early in October to November, and it is allowed to go through low-temperature dormancy for a period before planting, then its flowering period will be advanced to January to February or even earlier (it may already bloom before New Year's Day).
Reblooming ability: strong (it blooms every year; with proper care, both the flower quantity and the number of bloomings will increase; an important point is that after the flowering period ends, there is a long growth period that allows its bulb to recover).
Degeneration ability: weak (with proper care, it will not degenerate; moreover, as the bulb grows larger over time, the flowers will increase year by year).
Planting difficulty: easy (suitable for potting and ground planting, but not suitable for long-term water culture).
Propagation method: seeding and division.
When planting, bury the bulb shallowly. This helps future flowering and also makes it easy to observe the condition of the bulb.
However, if you choose to plant it in the ground, then burying the bulb completely can be considered.
Garlic-type bulbs: For this type of bulbous plant, the bulb is very similar in form to garlic. The most typical one is the tulip.
Tulip:
A cool-loving bulbous herbaceous flower, belonging to the Liliaceae family. The flowering period is in winter and spring, and it has the habit of dormancy in midsummer.
Reblooming ability: relatively strong.
Degeneration ability: relatively strong.
Planting difficulty: easy (suitable for water culture, potting and ground planting).
Propagation method: division (after lifting the bulbs each summer, the flowering bulb will disappear after blooming, and at the same time several new small daughter bulbs will grow. Among the daughter bulbs, the larger ones will continue to bloom when planted again; the smaller ones are difficult to bloom).
When planting, the bulb can be buried completely, with shallow soil cover.
Horseshoe-type bulbs: In form, the bulb resembles a horseshoe (water chestnut). Common ones are crocus (cool-loving) and gladiolus (heat-loving).
Crocus:
A cool-loving bulbous herbaceous flower, belonging to the Iridaceae family. Its main flowering period is in winter and spring, and it has the habit of summer dormancy. Although it is a perennial, its flowering corm is one-time only, because after blooming, the flowering corm disappears and the nutrients are transferred to several newly grown daughter corms (the heat-loving gladiolus is similar, only differing in habits).
Reblooming ability: relatively strong.
Degeneration ability: relatively strong.
Planting difficulty: relatively easy (suitable for potting and ground planting).
When planting, the corm can be buried completely, with shallow soil cover.
In addition, here is a brief introduction to other bulbous herbaceous flowers that bloom in winter.
Freesia:
Belonging to the Iridaceae family, it likes coolness. The flowering period is in winter and spring, and it has the habit of summer dormancy.
Its reblooming ability is relatively strong, but it does not degenerate easily; after blooming in spring, many small corms will grow at the underground corm and on the aboveground part of the plant (the phenomenon of regenerated bulbs may appear), making it suitable for division and propagation.
When planting, the corm can be buried completely, with shallow soil cover.
Cyclamen:
Belonging to the Primulaceae family, it likes coolness. Winter and spring are the flowering season, and it is a perennial.
Its reblooming ability is relatively strong, and it also does not degenerate easily.
However, in terms of care, pay attention: use the soaking method when watering, and the corm must not be exposed to water for a long time, so as to avoid bulb rot.
In summer, the duration of dormancy is related to temperature. If the summer is cool, then the characteristic of leaf-drop dormancy is not very obvious, and instead it continues to grow as in winter and spring.
Usually, the corm should be kept in a shallowly buried state.
Ranunculus:
Belonging to the Ranunculaceae family, it has a particularly claw-shaped perennial root. Winter and spring are the flowering season, and it is dormant in summer.
Its reblooming ability is also relatively strong, and it also does not degenerate easily. When planting, the corm can be buried completely, with shallow soil cover.
Cool-loving oxalis species represented by Oxalis purpurea.
They all belong to the Oxalidaceae family. Winter and spring are the flowering season, and they have the characteristic of summer dormancy.
Their reblooming ability is also relatively strong, they also do not degenerate easily, and care is also easy.
However, when planting, pay attention: if the root buds on the corm are not easy to identify, then laying it flat is the best method. The corm can be buried completely, with shallow soil cover.