We all learn differently. Some of us read up on techniques before venturing into new territory, and others of us (me) stumble into knowledge.
Last fall I read about tuber storage in Horticulture. I stored lots of dahlia tubers in the basement as instructed. The story stopped there, and so did I, when maybe I should have read up on what to do next, in spring. Here’s what happened with the stored dahlia tubers, some cannas tubers a friend gave me, and colchicum bulbs I bought in late August.
I learned that timing of planting is worth noting. I didn’t think about putting the dahlias in the ground until sometime in late June. The canna tubers a friend gave me, along with some gladiola bulbs, languished unplanted for 2 or 3 extra weeks. The colchicum bulbs got stashed in a closet.
The results: If not for the very unusual summery fall weather here in the Northeast, a frost would have killed the plants long before they had time to bloom. The dahlias were about to bloom at the end of October. The cannas were just beginning to flower.
The gladiola bulbs yielded fantastic blooms that kept on going for weeks. The lesson learned with those: They would have been really nice in the garden, instead of slumped over in too-small containers with barely enough dirt. (That’s where I shoved them in a desperate summer effort to just put them somewhere.)
As for the colchicums, I found them blooming in the closet one day. I had forgotten to plant them and in the dark closet they began to bloom. I quickly got them into the ground but in that haste I didn’t bury them at the correct depth and although they bloomed they looked ridiculous sticking up many inches higher than they should have.
So why confess to all of these blunders? It’s my nature I guess. And I guess it’s my nature to learn by trial and error. Or at least that’s been the case before. This year I plan to store everything in one place. I’ll label the tubers and bulbs and prepare a journal with informed information on when, where, and how to plant. Here’s hoping for abundant blooms on the dahlias, showy cannas to punctuate the end of the season, colchicums nestled in at the right depth, and gladiolas standing straight in the garden where they belong.Read Meg's Blog
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