Native Bulbs in a Chickenwire Ravioli, Anyone?

I grew some pretty Triteleia laxa "Queen Fabiola," AKA Ithuriel's Spear, in pots last year (see above) . They were leftovers from a CNPS propagation session. The plants bloomed wonderfully - these are about the easiest bulbs you can grow. Then they obligingly made a lot of little baby bulbs for me to plant this year.

Thanks to the propagation group, I learned that you have to keep the bulbs dry all summer, so I put aside the pots containing this treasure in a safe dry spot.

Recently the propagation group planted their triteleia bulbs, and so did I. They are actually corms, but I'm not going to belabor the point.

Hairy little beasts, aren't they? Maybe I didn't keep them quite dry enough.

Bulbs (and corms and tubers and rhizomes- oh my!) are generally yummy food for wildlife. We want to support wildlife, but we also want to grow plants. The wildlife can have the seeds and the nectar, a few leaves, and the insects that live on the plants.

Like this bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus), one of a flock that recently descended on the (non-native) cape honeysuckle blossom (Tecomaria capensis) that's right behind the bulb planting area. They gleaned insects for a happy few minutes, while I watched:


I'm too prone to chocolate box plantings, one of this and one of that. This year I'm trying to make bolder mistakes! groups and drifts of them! So I want to try a drift of Ithuriel's spears on the mound (an old lawn heaped up and decomposing for over a year now).

I contemplated making many tiny chickenwire cups for each tiny corm, because despite Duncan's best efforts we do have gophers in the pool garden.

And then I had another idea. Will it work out? I don't know, but this entire project only took me an hour and that ain't bad. Here are the easy to follow steps:

1. Dig out the planting area four inches deep and lay gopher wire. I figured the bulbs are about an inch tall max, and the general rule seems to be to bury bulbs three times the height of the bulb [update: I've since read that 4 inches is recommended!], so I first laid my strip of gopher wire diagonally on the mound to get the dimensions, and dug out three inches deep or so, to that shape. Then I pinned the gopher wire in the space, using a few of those longish u-shaped staples that are cheap.

2. Put the soil back, leaving the edges of wire sticking up, and plant the bulbs.
I planted them pretty close, about 4 inches or so, and tried to be random. I'm not sure I quite got the random thing down.

2b. Optional - Add rock phosphate.
It's good for bulbs because it's low in nitrogen. I don't understand these requirements but I did read them, and moreover I believed them. Unfortunately I forgot to put a little in with each bulb so I just sprinkled some on after. I'm not sure how much, I just boldly sprinkled where nobody has ever sprinkled before.

3. Roll out chicken wire to cover the same area and cut to fit.
I forget now where I read that it's a good idea to cover the planting area with one-inch mesh chicken wire, but it makes sense: keeps things from scrabbling the bulbs out from the top, and the mesh is wide enough they can grow up through it.

4. Crimp the two halves together, and staple.

Doesn't it look good enough to eat?

5. Add a bit more soil and mulch and you're done! With nothing to show for it!

BTW Cutting gopher or chicken wire is not an easy task. It has always been something I dreaded actually because it hurts my delicate little hands. Well - the little part is true. Tools are generally made for large hands, and especially with wire cutting devices this is an issue.

But I have found a tool that not only cuts the wire efficiently - it doesn't cause pain !

It's a Midwest Upright Snip (I'm sure other fine brands are available). And even though I still have to use two hands, I don't need a third or fourth hand to hold the chicken or gopher wire in place while I cut, because the handles stick up, out of the way of the wire. I'm in heaven!

Now, look who was watching me while I worked - I don't know what kind of spider it is - a crab spider? a jumping spider? It was about three-quarters of an inch in size including legs, more or less. This page has a lot of good spider photos for visual ID, but I didn't quite see this guy. If anyone knows, can you please leave a comment?