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What is a bulb anyway?

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Bulb, Corm, tuber, Rhizome! What does it all mean?

The term “bulb” is commonly used to refer to the thickened underground storage organ produced by some plants. However, many of what we call bulbs may be corms, tubers, tuberous roots or rhizomes.

You might think of a bulb as you would a chicken egg. The outside of a “true bulb” is a compressed stem (basal plate) bearing a growing point or flower bud and enclosed by thick, fleshy scales called bulb scales. Much like the egg’s shell protects the growing chick enclosed inside the egg.

Some true bulbs such as narcissus, amaryllis and tulip are protected from drying and mechanical injury by dry and membranous outer scales called a tunic. Other true bulbs such as lilies are called non-truncate or scaly because their outer scales are succulent and separate, giving the bulb a scaly appearance.

A corm is a solid mass of stem tissue with a basal plate on the bottom and a terminal shoot bud on top. In addition to the terminal shoot bud, axillary or lateral buds are produced at each of the nodes along the sides of the corm. In the event that the terminal bud should be injured or otherwise prevented from growing, these lateral buds are capable of producing a shoot. The solid stem structure of the corm is protected against injury and water loss by dry leaf bases that are similar to the tunic that enclose true bulbs. Gladiolus and watsonia are typical cormous plants.

Tubers such as caladium and gloriosa are thickened underground stems with many buds (eyes) present in regular order over their surfaces. Unlike true bulbs and corms which are covered with dried leaves or scales, tubers are covered with a tough skin. Tuberous roots such as dahlia and ranunculus are true roots and lack nodes and internodes. Buds are present only at the crown or stem end of the root.

Rhizomes are thickened horizontal stems growing along or below the surface of the ground. Underground rhizomes such as canna and calla produce roots on their lower surface and send shoots above ground.

The term bulb will probably always be used when referring to plants that produce underground storage organs.






Glorious Annuals

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Annuals are usually grown to provide color. Since they are only temporary plants in many gardens – if they are always treated as such, they tend to thrive anywhere. Annuals permit gardeners in cold areas to briefly ignore the prospect of inter bleakness and inject a touch of tropical summer color into their gardens.

Annuals are subject to all the normal climatic considerations – wind, salt spray, and summer heat – but they are remarkably resilient plants that carry on flowering under most conditions, except severe cold.

Tender annuals must be planted in spring, after the last frosts, with a view to summer and autumn flowering. However, the so called hardy annuals are often planted in the autumn and left to over-winter for spring flowering. Pansies, Sweet William and Iceland poppies are among the best known hardy annuals. It’s true that the majority of my Pansies (provided they survive the heat of summer), Sweet William (pinks, dianthus) and Iceland poppies often do survive our Canadian zone 6B/ USD zone 5B winters.

With careful planning- depending upon your zone of course, it’s possible to have blooms almost all year round. I tend to have blooms outdoors in my garden from perennials, annuals, bulbs and rhizomes from Mid-March well into November; and indoors my plants such as Thanks Giving and Christmas Cactus, Jasmine and amaryllis give me blooms inside through November to March.

Obtaining Annuals and Perennials for your garden

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When you are first establishing a perennial garden you will probably buy all of your plants from a nursery, garden center or an online mail order gardening company. However, one of the great advantages of perennials is their ease of propagation. By the end of the first season you will have quite a few large plants ready for dividing.

I’ve divided my Hostas, Rudbeckia (Daisies), heuchera and astilbes several times. Some perennials, such as peonies, will grow for many years without needing to be divided. Some, such as peonies, will grow for many years without needing to be divided, and may not recover quickly once broken up, but to maintain their vigor most perennials need dividing at least every three years.

Many perennials can also be grown from cuttings, usually of the fast growing spring shoots.

Annuals must be raised from seed. You can do this for yourself or buy ready to plant seedlings from a garden center. I’ve found that by growing several of my annuals from seed I tend to have access to a wider variety of types of annuals and or colours as opposed to the offerings at most garden centers and nurseries which tend to sell the most popular varieties of annuals.

For small quantities, raising your own seed is seldom cheaper than buying seedlings, but if you have large beds to plant out, raising your own plants often represents a considerable saving.

Seed sowing and germination are usually fairly straight forward. In many cases the seeds may be sown directly where the plant is to grow in the garden bed. Some annuals need to be started in late winter or very early spring indoors in order to be large enough to plant out come late spring or early summer.

Most perennials and bulbs are planted in early autumn or early to mid-spring, whereas annuals are often started indoors in February or March and planted as seedlings from mid-May through June; or purchased as seedlings in late April and May and planted out after the last frost.

Enjoy your lovely garden.

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