Types of Flower Bulbs

Types of Flower Bulbs
YOLANDA VANVEEN: Hi, this is Yolanda Vanveen on behalf of Expert Village. Today, we're going to talk about the different types of flower bulbs that you can purchase and how to pick out good ones from bad ones and just how to understand what to do with them. First, I want to talk about the different types of bulbs. These are all considered true bulbs. They are true bulbs because everything that they need is within a bulb. All of the energy for next year is within it and they look like a Hershey's Kiss candy, so whenever I see bulb that kinda sits up and looks like a candy or a pyramid or has an up and down or even a Tulip bulb looks exactly like what I would think of a true bulb. And even Lily bulbs are considered a true bulb and it's very interesting that garlic is in the Lily family, so even in our kitchen, we eat bulbs every day. Next, I want to talk about corms. Now, corms usually are a little bit--they look drier to me. They're still Hershey's-Kiss-shaped but they always look like they have some paper on them and they're a little bit harder. They're usually a hard bulb, whereas the other true bulbs are a little softer generally. And these are very, very hard. These are Crocosmia or Orange--Carmine Brilliant actually, Montbretia they're called too. And then Crocus are an easy corm plant to recognize, they're just a little bit just like our Hershey's Kiss candy but they really are hard and perfect circle plant. This one already has a little bit of a start so it looks like a great bulb. So, Crocosmia are corms, whereas Calla Lilies are actually considered tubers and then this is a Scilla peruviana which is a true bulb as well as the other ones. And then we get into all the different types of roots. And rhizomes and roots, sometimes they call them either way. This is Canna Lily, these are Peony roots, these are Astilbe roots and then of course we have the Agapanthus which is just a root as well. So, all of these plants are considered bulbs because they go dormant for a part of the year but they're like totally different from one another. So, even different types of grasses can go dormant and other types of Lilies can go dormant, whereas in other areas they won't go dormant and then they're not considered a bulb. Next, we're going to talk about exactly what a true bulb is.