The Marigold Potager – A Zone 3 Prairie Garden

It’s the month of August, the time when you want to put in your bulb orders to avoid sold outs. These 5 bulbs are must haves in the spring garden… but you have to order them now, in summer, and plant them in early fall.

1. Alliums

Alliums are easy to grow, deer and bunny resistant, long-lived, and they multiply each year for a larger clump of flowers.

Plant them at the back of the border garden to add interest and colour, but hide the leaves behind other spring flowering plants as they die back.

They tolerate poor, dry soil, are not fussy. They also make for a long-lasting cut flower, or if left in the garden, the seed pods give textural interest.

The seed pods can be taken in and spray painted for the holiday season. Some will even spray paint them in the garden, leaving them standing amongst the summer perennials.

Often reminds people of the Truffula Trees in Dr Seuss’s story book.

My favourite alliums are Purple Rain, Mount Everest, Purple Sensation, and for really big seed pods, both Christophii and Shubertii will stop people in their tracks.

2. Muscari (aka Grape Hyacinths)

Grape Hyacinths are always the first bulb I look for when I peruse bulb catalogues or on line. They naturalise (spread) with time, so your small bit of bulbs is a larger patch of bulbs in a few years time. They are just the cutest, sweetest things.

They are low growing, perfect for edging paths and containers. Some have a bit of sweet fragrance. The foliage comes up in fall and the flowers follow in early spring, making them a reliable staple for mixed plantings, rock gardens, or grassy naturalized areas. Bees love them!

These two toned are my first pick, but you can also get them in a mix of other pastel hues.

3. Puschkinia & Scilla (aka Squill)

There are two types of small flowering bulbs that are commonly called Squill. The striped ones (above) are feathery, pretty in white veined with blue.

These early bloomers are low-growing bulbs, perfect for naturalizing in the lawn, border gardens, rock gardens, or in spring bulb container plantings . They are relatives of Spanish and English Bluebells so you know they will gracefully spread and add spring charm.

I add a few more of these to my border beds each year. They will spread with time to become a lovely, low-growing border of white and blue in early spring.

Can be ordered from here and here.

Scilla, on the other hand, is a dainty little clump of the perfect blue colour. It also spreads slowly, over the years. Such a pretty addition to the spring garden.

Siberian Squill is one of the best naturalizing bulbs in Canadian gardens. It is hardy and spreads freely for a spectacular show of true-blue dainty flowers in early spring. Delightfully petite, Scilla brings brilliant blue flowers to the early spring garden. Native to Russia’s chilly plains, these resilient bulbs naturalize effortlessly. Each bulb sends up several flower stems—perfect for lining walkways, nestling into borders

Order Siberian Squill here or here.

4. Chionodoxa (aka Glory of the Snow)

One more low growing spring flowering bulb that I must share. This is a must grow in any garden. An absolute favourite of mine to put in border planting, this year I hope to put it into the lawn, as well (along with the other low growers mentioned above). You can actually buy these guys in a

Cheerful, star-shaped flowers burst into bloom as winter fades, often pushing through snow to signal the changing season. These little charmers are perfect for mass planting in rock gardens, beneath deciduous trees, or near early-flowering shrubs. Once planted, they require virtually no upkeep and will steadily multiply over the years. Though petite in size, they still make a sweet addition to springtime bouquets.

Get the beautiful blue ones here or here. If you want a colourful mix of pink, blue, white, and fuchsia, this package is for you.

5. Tulips – Darwin, Triumph, & Fosteriana

I only plant these three tulips types in the gardens. They are the most likely to return year after year. Most all the other tulips, especially fancier ones, will only bloom the first year. Those tulips will need to be lifted, stored for the summer, cleaned up, and replanted in the fall in order to rebloom.

For all my in-ground tulips, I go with Darwins, Triumphs, and Fosterianas. I will use the others in pots and planters as they are changed out with the seasons. Lift, clean, and store till fall.

As I tend to grow mostly pink tulips, here are some of my favourites. Oh, and for me, the taller the tulip, the bigger the flower head, the more I love it ; )

• Pink Promise Darwin Tulip Blend – salmon, pink, and orange blend.
• Apricot Darwin Tulip
• Big Love Darwin Tulip
• Bojangles Triumph Tulip
• Exotic Emperor Fosteriana Tulip
• Sweet Sixteen Fosteriana Tulip
• Cherry Lane Triumph Tulips
• Wildest Dreams Triumph Mix
• Mystic Van Eijk Darwin Tulip

That is just a smattering of some of the pink or white tulips that I would choose and highly recommend. Here is another tulip that I absolutely adore. It is so tall and stately, with such a huge flower head, that I get wow’s and questions about them all the time.

I add more bulbs to my garden annually. If I were rich, I would do it all in one shot, hahaha, and then still add more annually. However, as I am not, I buy a bit more each year to add to the yard, the garden beds, the lawn, and along the new pathway.

Not sure where you planted your spring bulbs? Look back on your spring photos so you know where to add more, and what to add.

This year, with the new front yard, I will be adding tons of the low growing, naturalizing bulbs around the pathway. I cannot do tulips out front as I have a bunny living under the front stoop and deer that come through on the regular.

Looking for deer and bunny resistant bulbs? Here are 8 great spring flowering ideas.

Start looking now so that you get what you want before they sell out. They will ship to you later in the year, at the appropriate planting time. Here in Canada, I have these three companies to recommend… Vesey’s, TnT Seeds, and Coast Farms (used to be Botanus – sort of). Order your planting garlic at the same time!

Happy Planning & Ordering ~ Tanja