Texas Tough Bulbs - Plant Now for Springtime Color
by Tom Spencer / Soul of the Garden
Oxblood lilies.
Every autumn, Texas gardeners go Dutch, trooping to area nurseries to indulge
their passion for spring flowering bulbs, the tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths
of bulb catalog fantasies. These imported beauties are the stuff of dreams,
however. In our climate they are often a shortlived and expensive nightmare. You
can do all of the recommended song-and-dance routines (wooden shoes or not) but
these little Dutch boys rarely survive from one year to the next.
For most of the past three decades I have resisted buying bulbs because they
rarely live up to my childhood memories. I grew up in the northeast where most
of these plants have no problem naturalizing and becoming a dependable part of
the gardener’s arsenal of perennials. Here in Texas we are told to refrigerate
them until Christmas, build special well-drained beds, sprinkle fairy dust, and
click our heels together three times—only to watch them croak in the first
spring heat wave or rot during a winter monsoon. If they actually do survive,
many varieties fail to re-bloom, so most folks just use them as expensive
annuals that provide a short burst of color.
I have always longed for native and well adapted bulbs that don’t have to be
babied, and now, fortunately, more and more bulbs for southern gardens are
becoming available. These are plants that can survive our often wet winters and
hot summers without having to be lifted and stored away during the off-season.
What follows is a short list of species that will dependably brighten your
garden for many years to come.
Several of my favorite bulbs for Texas gardens actually bloom in late summer or
early fall and include the beautiful Oxblood Lily (Rhodophiala bifida). This
plant is a stunner, though it could use a better public relations person.
Surely, someone could come up with a better way to describe its brilliant red
color! The Oxblood Lily is a junior-sized member of the Amaryllis family and
features trumpet-shaped blooms. (Pink and white forms also exist but are rarely
offered for sale.) These plants grow well in light shade under deciduous trees
and are not particularly fussy about their soil conditions. The first rains of
autumn trigger the blooms making them a true harbinger of the coming season.
Red Spider Lilies (Lycoris radiata) could also use a more poetic common name.
This is another fall bloomer that performs exceptionally well in area gardens.
Some old-timers call if Surprise Lily because it seems to pop up from out of
nowhere. It is a delicate, graceful flower with orangey-red coloration. Like the
Oxblood Lily it seems to enjoy being planted under deciduous trees. I have found
that you may need to divide these plants every three or four years, but other
than that, little or no care is involved.
Summer Snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum) is yet another plant with common name
issues. This delightful, yet tough, bulb actually blooms in early spring, not
summer, and is often seen in older gardens and cemeteries here in Central Texas.
This plant seems to have no problem growing in sun or shade and tolerates the
poorly drained clay soils that so many of us are cursed with. The small white
blossoms hang like pendants from the bloom stalks and the petals have a tiny
green dot on their tips. You can’t beat this plant for a dependable touch of
spring color.
The tiny Grape Hyacinths (the various members of the Muscari tribe) are another
sure-fire family of bulbs for Austin area gardeners. There is a field not far
from my house that is literally blanketed by these deeply fragrant little
flowers every spring. No one fertilizes or divides them, but they really put on
a show. I use Grape Hyacinths around the edge of several flowerbeds and enjoy
their deep purple color and sweet aroma. Grape Hyacinths can be purchased in a
variety of colors, including yellow and white, but you probably have to go
on-line to find them in anything but the traditional purple.
All of the bulbs referenced above are commonly available at our local nurseries,
so get out there and support the home team.
There are many different species of plants called Rain Lilies, so many that I
could not possibly hope to list them all. Many of us look for these diminutive
plants popping up in area fields and gardens a day or two after a good shower. I
love them for their ephemeral beauty and dogged survival instinct. Among the
Rain Lilies, the nearly countless forms of Zephyranthes and Cooperia are hard to
beat. Yucca-Do Nursery (www.yuccado.com) in Hempstead offers a host of the
Zephyranthes with a wide range of colors as well as sun and soil preferences.
Many species of Rain Lily are native to Texas and are being offered by a new
Austin based internet venture, Tejas Native Bulbs (www.tejasnativebulbs.com).
Look for the white flowered Cooperia and the eye-catching Copper Lily.
Those of us who long for spring flowering bulbs can’t resist trying Daffodils,
the classic bulb of the northern garden. I have had mixed luck with most of the
imported varieties, but in recent years I have been reading a great deal about
an old-fashioned form that is supposed to be extremely well adapted for Southern
gardens: Campernelle. The Campernelle Jonquil or Daffodil is nearly legendary in
the South and is said by some to be as carefree as a wildflower. Some area
nurseries will occasionally sell them, but again, like many of these
hard-to-find bulbs, your best bet may be tracking them down on the internet.
Happy hunting!