Here are three wonderful bulb plants that are seldom grown but flower profusely. Achimenes is an easy plant to grow if you give it part shade and lots of moisture. It makes an excellent container plant and deserves to be grown more often. The low growing trumpet shaped flowers come in a wide variety of colors from reds through blues and bloom for an extended period of time in the garden. Overwinter by digging up right before frost and store warm (65F) and dry. You can also simply leave it in the pot and stop watering for the winter. Camassia is a North American member of the lily family and it prefers a sunny spot where the soil doesnt quite dry out. Blooming with blue flowers in mid-summer and each flower spike on a mature bulb can have 75 100 sky-blue flowers. This hardy bulb overwinters easily outdoors in USDA zone 4. Eremurus is a rarity in that it is a tuberous rooted member of the lily family. But theres nothing rare about the giant flower spikes it sends shooting skyward in mid-summer. This plant is a showstopper when planted in a sunny garden with good soil. The reason many gardeners shy away from this plant is difficulty with transplanting. As soon as they know the roots have to be handled with extreme care (no bruising or cutting up) then success rates soar. Mulch this plant with a deep layer of straw the first year and after that you can safely ignore it. If youre going to kill it, youll do it in year one. After that, it is cast iron in USDA zone 4. These and other interesting summer bulbs can be found at this flower bulb website |
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