AUTUMN-FLOWERING BULBS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 31, 6 February 1941, Page 15

AUTUMN-FLOWERING BULBS

Nerines, belladonnas, brunsvigias, and some other autumn-flowering bulbous plants are dormant for a very short period just before throwing up their flowering spikes, and if any require moving through having become overcrowded or for any other reason, that is the time to do the work. Some bulbs are already sending up flowering stems in some instances. Nearly all these bulbs send up flowers from the bare bulbs, the foliage appearing later.

The soil round the clumps should be kept stirred and if a little bonedust is worked in and the ground is kept moist the results will be better. When planting be careful not to put.the bulbs too deep, as they do not flower so well unless they get thoroughly ripened. Keep the nose of the bulb just above the surface of the soil. Avoid animal manures as with all bulbs, but if the state of the soil necessitates its use, it should be worked into the lower spit of soil, well below the bulbs, so .that the roots have to work down to it. Most of this class of bulb do not require moving often, as they flower better when rather crowded, probably' because they force themselves out of the soil and so get well baked in the summer.