# We planted about 100 bulbs yesterday and some critter dug up 30 of them last night (or maybe the morning.) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** gardening\ **Created:** [April 10, 2024, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104 "2024-04-10T16:24:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2024, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/41 "2024-04-11T20:43:12Z")
Oh. You have to pull those bulbs up every year to optimize reproduction. You put them in your greenhouse after hours of digging them up. Go have an Iced tea. Wait a few days. Well, actually you’ll forget about them til about next July. Then try and separate the bulbs like a garlic bulb. Plant each one about 4 in. apart, and 3 times the size of the bulb, deep. And do some sort of incantation, prayer or “dammit grow”. Leave. Have a snack. Next spring you’ll be pleasantly surprised. You’ll have **less** tulips. This year. Wait til time to plant more. Buy a butt load of bulbs. Let’s try daffodils this time. Don’t forget it’s in November, when you plant. After Christmas and New Year’s. Rent a gas powered hole digger to dig 100 or more holes in frozen ground. Plant. Have an adult beverage to celebrate your efforts. In spring. Awww. Little green shoots coming up. Yay! Soon flowers! Next morning. Go to the library get a book on animal tracks to figure out what ate your little green shoots. This time take a pill or two. Gardening is not for the weak. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/42 "2024-04-12T02:34:40Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Those tiny plants will do big work in beds. > > I’ve planted it everywhere. It is just a soldier in the garden. Easy grower. Easy keeper. > Nothing seems to eat it. I have hungry deer and they don’t bother it. I had terrible results planting Vinca in pots. It usually dies or stays stunted. I’ll try Vinca along my back fence. It’s sunny there. But, isn’t Vinca an annual? It’s in that section of the garden center. My favorite flower in my yard is Garden Phlox. I got some from a neighbor and it thrives and spreads. It gets about 3 to 4 ft tall. I have to stake it and even then a storm can knock the plants down. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/43 "2024-04-12T02:45:36Z")
A lot of Vinca is perennial and it generally likes shade to partial shade. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/44 "2024-04-12T02:53:10Z")
That may be why I had bad results with Vinca. Most of my yard is sunny. I get some shade from the house. That’s only a few hours of shade. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/45 "2024-04-12T03:36:09Z")
Look for the perennial ones, for sure. They’ll cost more. But mine have been in beds nearing 15 years. Some years we have to mow it nippy close around the beds. It’s a wanderer. Mowing doesn’t seem to affect it. Only makes it put new vines out. And thickens up. It’s as easy as phlox, maybe easier, to get going. It likes Arkansas weather. Mine are in beds around trees. Get loads of morning sun. Shady afternoons. I rarely water it. Maybe in late July or August I’ll have to. Now to fix my Clematis. It’s such a bitch. Some years it’s good. Never has been great. Looks like this year I’ll get but few blooms. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/46 "2024-04-12T11:56:53Z")
Along one edge of our yard a long line of daffodils bloom every spring. Each grouping of daffodils indicate the burial site of a pet; a dog, cat, chicken, koi, budgie. Whenever we bury a pet, a handful of bulbs go in as the hole is refilled. No headstones, flowers. People comment on how pretty that part of the yard looks, but it’s kind of bittersweet and sad for us. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/47 "2024-04-12T12:05:45Z")
Vinca can be invasive around here. But yeah, it mostly grows in the shade. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/48 "2024-04-12T12:28:06Z")
That sounds like an awful lot for one animal. Having once suffered a massive raid myself in a single night, I suspect raccoons. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/49 "2024-04-12T12:49:50Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I worked for a few years to get the biggest acorn I’d ever seen to germinate. I did stratification, … I presume you mean scarification? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/50 "2024-04-12T12:52:38Z")
No, stratification. I kept the acorn at below-freezing temperatures for months, then planted it in warm, moist soil. > In horticulture, seed stratification is the process of treating seeds to mimic the natural conditions they’ll experience before germinating. This process helps seeds break dormancy and begin the germination process. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/51 "2024-04-12T13:49:17Z")
My bad. Humblest apologies, o sage! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/52 "2024-04-12T13:56:33Z")
Hey, scarification is also a horticultural tool. I know someone who swears by sandpaper to scuff up cannabis seeds. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/53 "2024-04-12T15:44:36Z")
**Flower Bed project** [![](https://i.postimg.cc/v828Ms9n/2024-Apr-flower-beds-before.jpg) ](https://i.postimg.cc/v828Ms9n/2024-Apr-flower-beds-before.jpg) **Rocks and mulch delivered** [![](https://i.postimg.cc/sxxVS6F1/2024-Apr-Ton-of-rocks.jpg) ](https://i.postimg.cc/sxxVS6F1/2024-Apr-Ton-of-rocks.jpg) **Partially done** [https://i.postimg.cc/Fz6hxymp/2024-Apr-Partially-rocked.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/Fz6hxymp/2024-Apr-Partially-rocked.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/54 "2024-04-12T18:29:39Z")
I thought they meant ritual self-mutilation to seek the favor and protection of rhe gardening gods. Actually, I still think so. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/55 "2024-04-12T19:10:48Z")
Job is amazingly done and a picture of the Vinca between the Maples, just planted last fall and already taking off and flowering. **Thumbnails, click for large picture:** [![](https://i.postimg.cc/Jt8Xp9b7/2024-APR-done.jpg)](https://postimg.cc/Jt8Xp9b7) [![](https://i.postimg.cc/8fTrs61f/2024-Apr-Done-from-driveway.jpg)](https://postimg.cc/8fTrs61f) [![](https://i.postimg.cc/BtCKkMgT/2024-Apr-Done-from-the-road.jpg)](https://postimg.cc/BtCKkMgT) [![](https://i.postimg.cc/34XvKBHH/2024-Apr-Vinka-between-the-maples.jpg)](https://postimg.cc/34XvKBHH) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/56 "2024-04-12T19:15:58Z")
You got going on. Looks great! ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/57 "2024-04-12T19:46:08Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > People comment on how pretty that part of the yard looks, but it’s kind of bittersweet and sad for us. There have been two daffodil groves that pop up in my yard since I bought the place. They’re well within the grass lawn part of the yard, away from the usual spots for flowers and garden beds. I wonder if they’re to mark something. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/58 "2024-04-13T00:51:28Z")
nice job, What Jim! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/59 "2024-04-13T01:12:38Z")
Getting back to the OP, when that happens to us, it’s Piper Mutt. He just lurves digging up fresh soil and throwing out whatever’s planted with his huge paws. Squirrels can’t compete with him. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104/60 "2024-04-13T07:05:48Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I thought bulbs typically added more bulbs over the years. Spring blooming bulbs: Daffodils, crocus and snow drops multiply easily. Hyacinths, not so much. Theoretically tulips should come back every year, but they are not as reliable. Except for [species tulips](https://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/species-tulips), which are smaller. They multiply quite well. Summer bulbs Sould be taken up each year, if you really want to make sure they survive. They also have to be divided sometime between when you dig them up and plant them again. I can’t be bothered. Thanks for sharing the pictures. Gorgeous! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-planted-about-100-bulbs-yesterday-and-some-critter-dug-up-30-of-them-last-night-or-maybe-the-morning/1000104.md?page=4)