April showers introduce bright blooms from autumn planting’s bulbs

April showers bring May flowers, the saying goes. And it seems to be true, as gentle rains last week nudged the thick waxy leaves of tulips and daffodils from the cold soil in a matter of days. The blooms might actually burst long before May arrives. Their color will be a welcome contrast to the winter-worn lawn that is ever so slowly transforming from brown to green.

Spring-flowering bulbs hearten weary gardeners as we emerge from winter. Eyes thirsty for color focus instantly on the first tiny, vivid crocuses that stand out against the brown sod. The crocus’s delicate white, purple, yellow or bicolor petals barely wait for the snow to recede before they leap forth from the nearly frozen soil. Even with its small stature and its modest display of simple blooms, the crocus is no less lovely than some of the showier tulips, daffodils and hyacinths that follow.

In northern New England, spring flowering bulbs are planted in late autumn. They rest in the soil over the winter, cueing for perfectly timed spring emergence.

If you indulge in the varied beauty of seeds in spring, know that autumn planting of bulbs provides another occasion for visual indulgence. If you marvel over the robustness of the castor bean, the velvety blackness of nigella and the fine, delicate beauty of the sweet Annie seed, you’ll also ponder the diverse beauty of assorted bulbs.

Diminutive crocus bulbs are coated with a fine, golden, papery layer, called the tunic. Tulip bulbs also have a papery coating, but it is thicker than that of the crocus and is amber in color. Crocus and tulip bulbs are smooth and sleek. Daffodil and hyacinth bulbs are stout and rather tough and ragged looking.

For simplicity’s sake, we often apply the term bulb to any plant that stores energy or is propagated by specialized underground stems or roots. Botanically speaking, however, true bulbs have fleshy scales that contain a complete flower deep at their core.

An onion, for example, is a true bulb. If you slice an onion in half from the point where the leaves surface to the point where the roots appear, you can view each part of the bulb. If you dissect the onion from the outside layers to the inside, you’ll strip away the scales of the bulb until you come to the compressed bud at the very center of the onion. The thick mass of compressed tissue at the bottom is called the basal plate: It is the hub of root development. If you slice an onion in half from side to side, the scales appear as rings.

True bulbs all work the same way; they are a complete, self-sustaining package of life, with both an embryonic plant and a food source. The plant-in-embryo within each bulb contains a miniature flower, stem and roots. The scales surrounding the core plant function as a source of food for the leaves and flowers as they emerge from the bulb in spring. The scales of bulbs can be thoroughly compressed, as with the tulip, or scaly and loose, as with the lily.

As the leaves and flowers of bulbs mature, the original bulb dies back. During the growing season, new “bulblets” or “offsets” may form at the base of the bulb. These structures may initiate new plants in subsequent years and may be apparent to the gardener. Tulip bulbs, for example, yield only several sturdy leaves and a single large bloom in the first year. In subsequent years, they produce a greater number of stockier leaves and several small blooms. These leaves and flowers arise from the bulblets produced by the original parent bulb.

Whether in a monochromatic massive planting or standing alone, spring bulbs provide an excellent, low-maintenance opportunity for the Northern gardener. Adaptable to the most diverse conditions, bulbs offer color and function in any landscape setting. From the thin soil beneath deciduous trees, to the open rock garden, bulbs accent the garden and act as a harbinger of greener scenes to come.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, RR1, Box 2120, Montville 04941, or e-mail them to dianagc@midcoast.com. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.