The Durango Botanical Society’s annual bulb sale had something for everyone – master gardeners seeking rare varieties or novices just trying to figure out how to grow their first daffodils.
The sale was held Saturday at the Durango Public Library. The proceeds from the 43 varieties on offer will support the society’s Demonstration Garden behind the library and its educational and testing efforts. Organizer Cheryl Lynn said the society was offering 2,834 bulbs in the sale.
“We’re calling them bulbs in the broadest meaning,” said Mike Smedley, who gave a talk on the subject to about 60 avid gardeners at the sale. The Durango Herald Action Line columnist’s garden features 10,000 bulbs in 72 varieties, including daffodils, tulips, croci, snow iris, allium, anemones, cyclamen and hyacinths. His bulbs come from Europe, Asia, the Mediterranean and South America. “We’re also including tubers, corms, roots and rhizomes.”
Despite the common perception, tulips did not originate in the Netherlands, Smedley said.
“They come from northern Iran and the area where all the ‘-stans’ are,” he said. “They come from a savage land where Genghis Khan once rode. They like frigid winters, crappy soil, intermittent rain – and we can certainly provide those conditions.”
For novices, Smedley recommends starting with daffodils and allium.
“They’re easy, prolific and there’s very little you can do to mess them up,” he said.
Smedley had a checklist for successful bulb growing:
Plant three times as deep as the bulb is around.
The soil should be below 55 degrees before planting, which in our area is usually between Halloween and Thanksgiving.
Don’t put fertilizer in the hole when planting; do not use bone meal.
When growing tulips in deer country, spray them with something “putrefying.”
The sale was also a chance to share gardening stories. One woman had planted 250 tulip bulbs that managed to bloom without being consumed by deer, only to have a chipmunk dig up all the bulbs and eat them.
“I planted my tulips in the wrong place,” said Joan Rhoades, after learning tulips like it dry. “I put them by a rain spout.”
Smedley was determined to send his audience out committed to planting bulbs and more bulbs.
“If you do it right, you can have blooms from the end of February or early March until early November,” he said. “There are 64 days until the first day of winter. In March, you’ll wish you’d planted more bulbs.”
abutler@durangoherald.com
