Tips for picking and planting spring flowering bulbs so critters won’t eat them

The end of September is the perfect time to add spring flowering bulbs to your garden. Planting daffodils, tulips and crocus this month will make next spring come alive, plus you get to enjoy the anticipation of your digging and planting all winter.

This is also the time of year to cut back the tops of tender bulbs as they become damaged by cool night temperatures. This means dahlias, cannas and gladiolas that you want to dig and save for replanting in the spring.

Peonies also can be cut to the ground at this time of year — especially if you notice any black spots or margins on the leaves. Do not compost diseased plant material. Place it in a plastic bag and send it out with the trash.

Here are a few tips for selecting the right bulbs so they survive the critters who would like to devour them:

Q. How do I keep voles and moles from eating my tulips? I plant them and only some come up and bloom. — J.V., Olympia

A. Tulips are edible and delicious to voles and mice, but moles are after earthworms, not your tulips. The best way to grow tulips in a landscape full of voles and mice is to put them in pots. A large (15 gallon or more) container can hold a dozen or more tulip bulbs and you can place them shoulder to shoulder as long as the bulbs are not touching. If you plant your tulips in recycled black nursery pots, you can move them into your garden beds to add instant spring color, or place them inside decorative baskets or pots for porch displays.

Tulips grown close together in containers can be moved out of sight once the flowers fade but in our climate, they rarely return the following year with as much vigor. Consider tulip bulbs annuals and add them to the compost pile after they bloom.

If you insist on growing them in the ground, surround each tulip planting with a wire mesh cage underground to keep the hungry mice away.

Q. Last spring, deer ate the buds right off my tulip bulbs. Any deer-proof bulbs? — W.R., Buckley

A. Daffodils to the rescue, if you want to say “not tonight, deer” and enjoy spring blooms. The daffodils will bloom from early spring (Tete a Tete and February Gold dwarf varieties) to late spring (the fragrant Jonquilla Narcissi flower in May) and all varieties of daffodils are toxic to deer. Deer also ignore crocus and hellebores that also provide early spring color.

Q. Will rabbits eat Flowering Onions? We have a family of rabbits that devour every spring bloomer they can reach! — B.B., Enumclaw

A. No! Deer, rabbits, mice and other rodents do not like the alliums or flowering onions, and this spring flowering bulb is available in many forms, with colors that range from purple and pink to white.

Just give allium bulbs well drained soil in full sun and they will multiply and return year after year. The large bulbs are considered more expensive than daffodils and tulips (my favorite Globemaster can be $8 each!) but their longevity and pest resistance make up for the initial investment.

Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of several books. Reach her at binettigarden.com.