Flowers, Plants & Vegetables That Grow From a Bulb

All plants initially begin as seeds and several reproduce like that. Some, nevertheless, develop enlarged parts along their roots that contain sufficient energy and nutrients to produce new plants. Bulbs significantly reduce the growing time for gardeners who do not want to bother beginning particular types of plants in seed. More often than not, bulbs may be dug up and moved to a different area of the garden or stored for planting in subsequent decades.

Flower Bulbs

The daffodil (Narcissus spp.) Is only 1 kind of flower that is grown from spring coats. They are called spring bulbs, because that is usually when they bloom in areas that fall in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 to 9. Planted in the late autumn, the bulbs spend the chilly season in the earth putting down roots and also manufacturing the food they’ll use to feed the plants once they begin growing over the soil. When that occurs, the visible parts of the plants begin to process nutrients with help from the sun through photosynthesis. Plants categorized as spring bulbs comprise tulips (Tulipa spp.) , hyacinth (Hycinthus orientalis), grape hyacinth (Muscari), snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis), anemones (Anemone spp.) and crocus (Crocus spp.) .

Flowering and Foliage Plants

Once spring bulbs have finished blooming, other plants grown from bulbs take over in the garden. All these are perennials that are left in the ground lawns but that should be dug up and separated should they become too congested or start generating less than satisfactorily. These include amaryllis (Hippeastrum spp.) and cyclamen (Cyclamen spp.) , which can also be grown as houseplants, irises (Iris spp.) , calla lilies (Zantedeschia) and dahlias (Dahlia spp.) Non-flowering plants grown from bulbs comprise caladium (Caladium spp.) And elephant ears (Colocasia), both of which create large impressive foliage plants. These bulb plants are hardy in USDA zones 6 to 9.

Vegetables

Onions, garlic and shallots are grown from bulbs. While they may be grown from seed, many gardeners prefer to speed up the process by beginning their plants in bulbs, which are smaller undeveloped types of their plants. Garlic intended for planting is sometimes obtained from the prior season’s harvest and stored until ready to go in the ground. Onions, grown from little undeveloped plants called places, can be increased as spring onions and harvested when the tops are mature or left in the ground to enlarge to storage size. Young shallot bulbs grow into segmented mature bulbs, and while fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is grown from seed, the plant develops into a bulb as it grows.

Factors

A flower bulb is composed of five main parts, as stated by the University of Illinois Extension. They comprise a basal plate in which roots develop and an outer covering called a tunic that covers the growing part of the bulb. Flowers like tulips (Tulipa spp.) , daffodils, (Narcissus) lilies (Lillium spp.) and alliums (Allium spp.) Produce new, smaller bulbs called bulbils or bulblets just over the basal plate and that eventually can become so many they choke the plant. Digging up and separating the smaller bulbs not only aid the parent plant but also provide more bulbs from which to develop new plants. Other types of plant origins that fall under the heading of bulbs include corms, which are smaller than accurate bulbs, tubers, tuberous roots and rhizomes. Plants that grow from corms comprise gladiolus (Gladiolus spp.) and crocus (Crocus spp.) . Plants that grow from tubers comprise oxalis (Oxalis crassipes) and anemones (Anemone spp.) . Begonias (Begonia spp.) and dahlias (Dahlia spp.) Grow from tuberous roots, lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) in rhizomes that grow horizontally just below the dirt, and daylilies (Hemerocallis spp.) Exemplify a perennial grown from fleshy roots.

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