Longfield Gardens Blog

It’s always such a long wait for spring’s first flowers. When they finally burst on the scene, the bounty of blooms combined with months of pent up flower energy is almost too much to handle! My favorite way to cope with this delightful moment of excess is to cut lots of stems and make lots of bouquets. Week after week, every room in my

Topics: Cut Flowers , Daffodils , Fall Planted Bulbs , How-To , Spring Blooming Bulbs , Tulips

  The National Garden Bureau has put tulips in the spotlight this year, by declaring 2018 the Year of the Tulip. These cheery, easy-to-grow bulbs are already the world’s favorite spring flowers. Yet demand is still growing! According to Statistics Netherlands, commercial tulip bulb production reached an all-time high in 2017, with the number of tulips grown by Dutch farmers increasing by

Topics: Cut Flowers , Fall Planted Bulbs , Inspiration , Spring Blooming Bulbs , Tulips

Voles are cute little mouse-like rodents with long tails and big appetites. Unlike moles, which are carnivores, voles are strictly herbivores. They eat plant roots and tubers, mushrooms, berries, seeds and nuts, and the bark of shrubs and small trees. And, unfortunately, they have a special fondness for flower bulbs.

Topics: Fall Planted Bulbs , How-To , Spring Blooming Bulbs , Tulips

Wouldn’t it be fun to plant a LOT of tulips this fall? Maybe 200. Or why not 500? Enough to have your own spring cutting garden with a full range of flower styles and bloom times. To finally experience some of the varieties you have only seen in photographs. To inject a big shot of color

Topics: Cut Flowers , Fall Planted Bulbs , How-To , Spring Blooming Bulbs , Tulips

Want to stand out in a crowd? Try wearing stripes. It works for tulips! When our spring trial garden is in bloom, it’s a kaleidoscope of color. We plant 25,000 flower bulbs each fall, including more than a hundred varieties of tulips. During April and May, there’s so much color going on, that it’s hard

Topics: Fall Planted Bulbs , Spring Blooming Bulbs , Tulips

  I don’t know about you, but I can never find enough space for all the tulips I want to grow. There are so many colors and styles and bloom times. So many creative combinations waiting to happen. Planting tulip bulbs goes fast. My challenge is finding places to put them all. At my house,

Topics: Tulips

Spring-flowering bulbs have got to be tough. On an early spring day, it can be freezing in the morning and 80 degrees by afternoon. Climate change is intensifying these temperatures swings, especially on the warm end of the spectrum. With this in mind, we are using our trial garden to identify varieties with superior staying power. We are looking for heat-resistant, long-lasting spring

Topics: Daffodils , Fall Planted Bulbs , Spring Blooming Bulbs , Tulips

Tulip bulbs make it easy to paint a masterpiece with spring-blooming flowers. This year’s lineup of new varieties offers some unexpected color combinations and unusual flower styles that are sure to inspire your creativity.

Topics: Spring Blooming Flowers , Summer Blooming Bulbs , Tulips

The world’s flower farmers produce about 8.5 billion flower bulbs every year — and 80% of them are grown in Holland. Others try, but it’s difficult to compete with hundreds of years of experience and Holland’s almost perfect growing conditions for spring bulbs: sandy soil, cool and moist spring weather, and warm, relatively dry

Topics: Spring Blooming Bulbs , Spring Blooming Flowers , Tulips

One of the best things about spring-flowering bulbs is how quickly they come into bloom. At the first sign of warmer weather, they practically leap from the ground and burst into flower.  Spring bulbs are uniquely adapted to being the first flowers on the scene. Their buds aren’t bothered by freezing temperatures and are able

Topics: Alliums , Daffodils , Spring Blooming Bulbs , Spring Blooming Flowers , Tulips