The Bradner Barker
  • News
  • Local Businesses
  • Advertising
  • Contact
Picture

Learn about Summer Bulbs with the Mt Lehman Garden Club!

5/25/2015

0 Comments

 
Tiger Lily Eva ElijasTiger Lily - Photo by Eva Elijas, Pexels
By The Mount Lehman Garden Club 

Most of us are familiar with Gladioli for summer colour, but there are many other summer bulbs that will give a real splash of colour in your garden. Some are hardy, but many have to be lifted in the fall and stored in a cool dry place until the last frost has passed. Many of them are cheap enough to replace every spring if you don't want to store them.


The stars of the summer hardy bulbs are the lilies. There are many different varieties now, such as the Asiatic Lilies. They are short, and face upwards, with many blooms bunched at the top of the stem. They come in a myriad of colours, and there are now double ones. The new Patio Lilies are shorter, and do well in pots. The pots would need to be buried in the garden for the winter, otherwise the roots will freeze. There are also the Oriental Lilies. They are the tall ones - up to 6 feet with blooms opening in succession up the stem. They are usually very fragrant, and winter hardy. Tiger lilies are the old fashioned stars of the garden. They are tall, with spotted blooms with turned back petals that hang from the stems and open in succession. If they are happy where they are, they can have as many as fifty blooms on the stem, and the bulbs will multiply. Trumpet lilies are, as they sound, long trumpet shaped blooms, usually with incredible fragrance. The only thing you have to worry about is the fact that the pollen can stain fabric, so if they are brought indoors the stamens should be cut off to avoid the problem.

Other hardy summer blooming bulbs are Croscosmia (used to be called Montbretia), and Oxallis. Montbretia looks like a small Gladiolus, but the stem is arched and the orange, red or yellow blooms hang down. They bloom for a long time, and multiply readily. Oxallis looks like a shamrock. The leaves have three or four lobes and make a tidy mound about 9 inches high. They can be blue-green or burgundy red. The blooms are usually white or pink, and are flared trumpets. They are quite happy in the shade.

The tender bulbs include Gladioli, with which we are all familiar, and begonias. Begonias do not have to be in pots or baskets. They are very happy in the ground and can light up a darker corner of the garden. A close relative of the Gladiolus is Acidanthera.  The flower is almost orchid like, white with dark splotches and the centre of the flower. Canna lilies can lend a exotic look to the garden. They are a large tuber, and can be 6 feet high by the end of the summer. If started off in a pot underwater, they can be put into a pond when the weather warms up. They come in all shades of red and yellow and sometimes the foliage is spectacular. It can be red and green striped, yellow stripes or green and burgundy splashes. 

Dahlias are, strictly speaking, not bulbs, but tubers (like the potato), but can be treated as bulbs. They should be lifted in the fall, dried, then stored in peat or vermiculite in a cool, dry place. Don't put into plastic bags as they are likely to rot.  Paper bags are fine. They can be separated to make more plants, but it is important that some of the stem is left on the tuber, as the new growth starts from where the stem joins the tuber. There are different kinds of Dahlias. The ones most useful are the bedding types. They grow to about 12" to 14" high and the same wide and are covered in blooms right up to the frost. They are mostly single or semi-double, and put on quite a show. Their big cousins are usually about 48" high and make a big plant. They can be decorative, cactus flowered, pom pom and other different shapes, but are all very free flowering. They may need staking if the weather is wet and/or windy. The largest ones are the dinner plate dahlias. The
flowers can be up to a foot across, and definitely need staking.

There are some small bulbs that can be used to fill the odd nook and cranny. Sparaxis come in a variety of bright colours.  They are about a foot high with upward facing crocus like flowers, but many to a stem. Tigridias are just a little taller and have very exotic looking flowers. They face upwards, and have three large flat petals, with a well in the middle of the flower that is a darker colour with dark splotches. Ixias are a little taller, and also come in many different bright colours. The bulbs of all these plants need to be dug in the fall, but they are usually cheap enough that they can be treated like
annuals and planted fresh each year.

The last ones I want to mention are the Calla Lilies. These have the Arum Lily shape of a large funnel. They now come in many different colours, and some have variegated foliage. They are often sold as a pot plants, but can be put into the garden when the weather turns warm. 

There are many more summer flowering bulbs, but this selection should give colour for most of the summer. For more information and these and other gardening topics, join a garden club. All are welcome, and the more experienced gardeners are always willing to share their experience. 

The Mount Lehman Garden Club meets on the third Thursday of the month at the Mount Lehman Community Hall,
6418 Mount Lehman Road, at 7 pm.  They do not meet is August or December.  For more information please call Yvonne, at 604-856-0313
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Bradner Community News

    News at your fingertips!

    Categories

    All
    4 H
    Abbotsford Airport
    Abbotsford School District
    Aberdeen
    Agriculture Land Commission
    Aldergrove
    ALR
    Annual Celebrations
    Baby Announcements
    Bertrand Creek
    Birthdays
    Bradner Agriculture
    Bradner Artisans
    Bradner Childcare
    Bradner Community Club
    Bradner Elementary School
    Bradner Hall
    Bradner History Committee
    Bradner Memorials
    Bradner PAC
    Bradner Presbyterian Church
    Bradner Store
    Bus Service
    CGLAP
    City Of Abbotsford
    Community Alerts
    Community Profiles
    Community Warning
    Contests
    Crime
    Crown Land In BC
    Delfresh
    Dunach Elementary
    Elections
    Endbridge Gas Line
    Entertainment
    Environment
    Events
    Fire & Ambulance
    First Nations
    Flower Show
    For Sale
    Fraser River
    Fundraising
    FVRD
    Garden Club
    Glen Valley Watersheds Society
    Guest Posts
    History
    Interurban
    ISO
    Jubilee Hall
    Kickstarter
    Kinder Morgan
    Legion
    LEPS
    Letters To The Editor
    Local Produce
    Lost & Found
    Matthew's House
    May Day
    Missing Persons
    MLA Media Releases
    Mount Lehman History
    MP Media Releases
    Mt Lehman
    Nathan Creek
    OBITUARIES
    Opinion
    Police
    Press Releases
    Programs
    Protest-rallies
    Protest-rallies
    Save Our K 7s
    Sports
    Thunder Kings
    Traffic
    Trains
    Transit
    Trans Mountain Pipeline
    Wedding Announcements
    Wildlife


    Chitter Chatter Fabrics

    Bradner Farms
    Certified Organic - Dairy, Poultry, Feedmill & Beef

    LAVU Design

    Brought to you by...
    Bradner Hall


    Dishlink Surrey BC

    Tweets by @BradnerBarker

    Bradner BC

    The Barker Belongs to Bradner...

    Submit an Article

    Red Dog Mobile Welding Abbotsford BC

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    July 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    August 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    April 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    Welder Abbotsford


    Land Based Fish farms Canada

    Bradner News Abbotsford BC

    Bradner Bulldogs Abbotsford BC

    The Barker Belongs to Bradner...

    Submit an Article
    Bradner Hall
    A Mark HVAC Vancouver BC

    Spring Health Centre
    Reisinger Electric
    Prodigy Orthotics

    The Bradner Barker Abbotsford BC

    The Barker Belongs to Bradner...

    Submit an Article


    Harris Road Farm Organic Blueberries Abbotsford BC Upick

    Heritage Mountain Heating and Cooling AC Repair Furnace repair and installation BC
Bradner Barker Abbotsford BC

© 1994 - 2025 - The Bradner Barker - All Rights Reserved
The Barker Belongs to Bradner!
  • News
  • Local Businesses
  • Advertising
  • Contact