PB1610-Flowering Bulbs

A wealth of spring-, summer- and fallflowering bulbs can be used to extend the garden floral display from early spring until late fall. Some of these will be winter hardy and remain in the ground year-round. Others will not survive freezing temperatures and must be replanted each spring. Many are not even true bulbs, but are often sold along side true bulbs in mail order catalogs and at garden stores. The different types of underground storage structures that are frequently called bulbs include corms, tubers, tuberous roots, tuberous stems and rhizomes. These underground storage structures collectively are called “bulb-forms” or geophytes. Geophyte comes from the Greek word geo — meaning earth, and the Greek word phyte — meaning growth or plant; therefore, geophyte means “earth growth” or “earth plant.”