{"id":3957,"date":"2012-10-18T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T16:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=3957"},"modified":"2018-10-15T20:13:07","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T00:13:07","slug":"minor-bulbs-get-a-jump-on-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2012\/10\/18\/minor-bulbs-get-a-jump-on-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"Minor Bulbs Get A Jump On Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_3959\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/DSC_0396.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3959\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3959\" title=\"DSC_0396\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/DSC_0396-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/DSC_0396-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/DSC_0396-1024x685.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3959\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Snowdrop (Galanthus) in early March<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Companion bulbs, often called \u201cminor bulbs\u201d, are early signs that spring is coming.\u00a0Three of the most reliable are\u00a0snowdrops, winter aconites and Glory of the snow. They bloom before crocus.<\/p>\n<p>Winter aconite (<em>Eranthis hyemalis<\/em>) returns with floral beauty less than three months after planting. Plants poke through the ground, grow and flower 3 to 6 inches high and wide. Bright yellow cup-shaped flowers appear in mid- to late winter. Green leaves\u00a0emerge as the flowers begin to fade. All\u00a0evidence of their presence disappears by late spring, when the bulbs go dormant.<\/p>\n<p>Pure white, nodding, bell-like snowdrops (<em>Galanthus nivalis<\/em>) often peak through\u00a0the\u00a0winter snow in February. Leafless 3-4 inch stems support individual flowers. Plants\u00a0grow only 4-6 inches high with 2-3 strap-like leaves.<\/p>\n<p>Glory-of-the-Snow (<em>Chionodoxa forbesii<\/em>) is so-named because, in northerly areas, their bright blue six-petalled flowers poke up through the snow\u00a0in the winter. Bulbs and seeds often spread very aggressively.<\/p>\n<p>Bulbs are planted\u00a03-4 inches apart and\u00a02-4 inches deep in the fall. Sow in large numbers for maximum flowering impact under trees and shrub and in perennial beds. They\u00a0should receive\u00a0full day winter\u00a0sunlight. All three\u00a0companion bulbs are critter proof, not bothered by deer and voles. All are hardy in USDA hardiness zones 3\u20137. They often naturalize and the planting can last a lifetime.<\/p>\n<p>All companion bulbs prefer compost-rich soil that is well-drained and moderately moist. Before planting pre-soak the bulbs overnight to hasten germination.<\/p>\n<p>Snowdrops, winter aconites, and Glory of the snow are native to southern and eastern Europe.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3962\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/DSC_0397.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3962\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3962\" title=\"DSC_0397\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/DSC_0397-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/DSC_0397-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/DSC_0397-1024x685.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3962\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Winter aconite (Eranthis)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Companion bulbs, often called \u201cminor bulbs\u201d, are early signs that spring is coming.\u00a0Three of the most reliable are\u00a0snowdrops, winter aconites and Glory of the snow. They bloom before crocus. Winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) returns with floral beauty less than three months after planting. Plants poke through the ground, grow and flower 3 to 6 inches [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,1319,959,626,853,625,729,958,630,705,785,1,113,957,708,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3957"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11048,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3957\/revisions\/11048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}