'No Dig" Bulb Planting

"No Dig" Planting of 'Pink Perfection' Tulips

Digging all the holes to plant 25, 100, or 500 tulip bulbs can be a backbreaking chore. It doesn’t have to be that way. 

More than a decade ago, plant researchers at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, developed a planting method called “top-planting”. It eliminates all the digging and the tulips come back and bloom well for several years.

Top-planting, also called “drop and cover,” is a planting technique that requires a lot less effort.

No Dig bulb planting is a lot simpler:

·         Choose a site in full sun and good soil drainage.

·         Till the planting area 3 to 4 inches deep with a roto-tiller.

·         Spread bulb fertilizer and lightly till in the fertilizer (optional).

·         Set the bulbs on top of the tilled area (no need to press the bulb into the ground).

·         Cover with 2 to 4 inches of composted mulch or aged compost.

·         No Dig works as well for daffodils as tulips.

Do not over-mulch. Adding more mulch will result in less blooms. Any good garden compost or double ground bark mulch should work. Brent Heath with Brent and Becky’s Bulbs in Gloucester, VA recommends adding  two inches of mulch in the fall of each year.


Bulb Spacing: Tulip (or daffodil) bulbs should be spaced 3 times the bulb size or 6 inches apart. That’s 4 bulbs per square foot.

Tulip varieties that perennialize well are recommended, particularly Darwin hybrids. They will regrow and re-bloom for several years. Again, don't forget to add 2-3 inches of new pine bark chips or pine needles to replace depleted mulch additions from past years.

Caveat: dormant tulips and daffodils like to spend their summers in dry soil. Too much irrigation during the summer months may rot the sleeping bulbs.

'Cassata' -Not Your Typical Daffodil

photo by Susan C. Morgan, Horticultural Manager at the Dallas Arboretum

I found this among my daughter Susan's Facebook photos: Narcissus 'Cassata'. Cassata is her favorite daffodil -bar none.

The creamy white flower of 'Cassata' is a unique bright yellow split corona (cup) which matures to white. The reflexed "petals" from the split cup are ruffled and lie almost flat against the rear white petals.

Cassata blooms early to mid- spring among other narcissus. Plant size is 16 to 18" tall.

Bulbs will naturalize in USDA Zones 4 to 8.

Cassata is for sale in the fall catalog of Brent and Becky's Bulbs, a mail-order bulb emporium in Gloucester, VA. Check them out on thewebsite: http://www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/

Winter Flowering Bulbs

Photo: Galanthus naturalized in woodlands (courtesy of Brent and Becky's Bulbs)

These bulbs are the early birds. Give them a week of warm weather in the 50's, nights slightly above freezing, and little to no snow cover. A beautiful flowering patch of winter aconite (Eranthis), snowdrops (Galanthus), glory of the snow (Chionodoxa), or early crocus appears in January and February in USDA zone 6 and 7.

These "special" bulbs naturalize and come back every year. Bulbs are planted in the fall and are purchased from bulb emporiums on-line or through mail order nursery catalogues. Two personal favorites for purchasing bulbs are Brent and Becky's Bulbs in Gloucester, VA and van Bourgondien's Bulbs in Dix Hills, NY.

Dec. 21, 2009 conversation with Brent Heath: he identified additional early flowering gems in the winter garden in zone 6: The earliest daffodil is Narcissus 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' with golden yellow opening in mid-to late January in zone 7. Flowers last and last in the cold winter weather. Many species crocus bloom in February and March. Crocus ancyrensis 'Golden Bunch' opens with small tangerine yellow blossoms, one of the earliest to bloom in the winter season. Other early bird crocus species are C. imperati and C. tommasinianus.

Muscari armeniacum 'Christmas Pearl' bears 4-6 inch double blue flowers beginning in late February.