About Long Island Gardener Expertise Growing Tulips? Dahlias? Daffodils? Gladiolus? It doesn't get easier than bulbs and tubers. Once in a while, something goes wrong: The dreaded Narcissus Bulb Fly, which resembles a honeybee. Mosaic virus, which can ignite a field of tulips in a single season. Nematodes, lurking underground. Here on the North Shore of Long Island, the garden is full of surprises. If you live in the Northeast/Atlantic Coast, I can help you pick the right bulb for every season, indoors and out, and help you fertilize, bloom and harvest for home or work. How: I have degrees in related fields, but my best understanding is all learned from trial and error. For most of my 53 years I have been gardening somewhere. No matter what the problem, I've learned the best answers are always Organic -- Earth friendly, less expensive, healthier for people and pets, easier and cleaner than toxic liquids and powders that big chemical companies sell so smoothly.
Experience Besides degrees in related fields, and a few favorite horticultural societies, I work as a docent at our local botanical gardens -- but it's the years of work in the garden that's the real test.
Question I live in southern NJ 08753. A neighbor was disposing of bulbs, what I think are Gladiolas or Hicynthias. There large bulbs with small, alsmost white tiny bulbs attached (babies?). They are about 3+ feet tall with round green stalks that then flatten out to a point towards the end and are about an inch wide. I wanted to plant these in my garden. I am not sure if I should plant them now in the fall, or if I could hold onto them to plant in the spring. If I plant them in the spring how should I store the bulbs until then.
Answer Gladiolus and Hyacinths are totally different plants. One is hardy. The other is tender. It doesn't get more different than that.
Luckily, they also LOOK different.
You know what Tulips and Daffodil bulbs look like? Hyacinths look like those.
Gladiolus doesn't even have a Bulb -- it grows from a 'corm', a smaller disk that looks like someone took a bulb and stepped on it before they put it in the ground. There's no curly tip at the top where someone scooped up frosting at the end. This looks more like the bottom of an onion that was sliced off while you were cooking.
Got that?
If it's a Hyacinth, plant it asap.
If not, place in a paper bag and keep in the basement, totally dry, until next Spring. After you can get a shovel in the ground, you can plant it. And you can do this all Summer long.
