Commercial properties can significantly benefit from a splash of color in the springtime, and that’s precisely what naturalizing bulbs can offer. Plant bulbs in this specific way in your outdoor space, and the plants will often return every year.
At Earth Development, our local landscaping experts provide businesses across the Midwest with landscape bed maintenance, helping keep flower beds and lawns looking great all year round. In this piece, we’ll share some of our knowledge about naturalizing bulbs and why we think they’re a great option for commercial properties.
What Does Naturalizing Bulbs Mean?
Next, let’s take a look at the definition of naturalizing bulbs. This is a process of planting bulbs in an informal way. This way, it mimics how plants occur naturally. Rather than having strict rows of flowers in particular shapes on your property, naturalizing bulbs makes it look like the flowers on your property occurred naturally.
Some plants are better for this than others, with daffodils being a common plant used to create this bright, natural effect. Choosing plants that spread easily and multiply means that you’ll have flowers every year and won’t need to plant more before the next spring.
So, that’s what naturalizing bulbs means, now let’s look at some of the other benefits of planting flowers like this.
Benefits of Naturalizing Bulbs for Commercial Real Estate
Landscaping on commercial properties is something no business should overlook. Maintaining a healthy lawn, adding color to your property, and even utilizing hardscaping helps you put your best foot forward, creates a better working environment for your employees, and signals to potential customers that you care about your brand.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at some of the top benefits of creating a natural look on your property by naturalizing bulbs.
Breaks Up Your Space
First off, the color from naturalizing bulbs helps break up the space on your property. Between loading bays and parking lots, it’s easy for industrial and commercial buildings to look a little…gray.
The colors from these plants help break up your space and make things feel less monotonous.
Covers Ugly Areas
So many commercial properties are designed to be functional, meaning not every part of your workspace is going to look so fantastic. Naturalizing bulbs makes things look and feel more natural, and in the spring and summer, you get a nice pop of color as well.
By making it look as though flowers are growing randomly throughout your space, you can cover up some of those ugly areas and make things brighter for your clients, customers, and employees to look at.
Positive Environment for Workers
One of the most important parts of industrial and commercial landscaping is considering the environment that your workers experience every day. Whether you’re looking to create a usable outdoor space for employees relaxing on their lunch break, or you want to make entrances more vibrant and attractive, naturalizing bulbs help create a space where employees feel more at ease.
How to Naturalize
The key to creating a naturalized bulbs effect is not to overthink where you are planting each bulb. We recommend purchasing several hundred bulbs – though the exact number you choose depends on the size of your property and the size of the area where you intend to plant the bulbs.
The best way to plant a bulb is to start by digging a hole around 8 inches deep for a large bulb, and around 5 inches deep for a smaller bulb, before covering it with dirt.
Plant the bulbs in a random, scattered pattern across your property and wait until the next flowering cycle for them to emerge.
If you are planting on a lawn, don’t mow the lawn until the flowers' leaves have completely died at the end of their cycle. However, if you’re planting in flower beds then you won’t need to worry about that.
Which Naturalizer Should I Choose?
We’ve already mentioned daffodils as one of the best naturalizers, not just because they’re easy to grow but also because they’re bright and affordable. If yellow’s not your thing, we have some other great options for you to consider as well.
Here are some of the best naturalizers to choose from:
Allium Flavum
Allium flowers are so good at naturalizing…that they might even be too good. If you have lots of space and you’re looking for the flower to very quickly and easily spread, this is an excellent option for you. They smell amazing, too.
Allium flavum thrives in cool weather, hot weather, and can even survive dry summers.
Chionodoxa
Chionodoxa comes in plenty of different pastel colors, from baby pink and baby blue to cream. That means this option is good for creating brightness on your property. They can also grow up to 1 foot tall, and can withstand the winter very well.
Galanthus
Also known as “snowdrops,” Galanthus is a fragrant flower that blooms in the spring and attracts plenty of pollinators.
Expect the flowers to grow up to 5 inches in height, and withstand the winter well.
Tulips
Tulips are another great alternative, but they’re not the easiest to grow. In fact, these flowers can take up to seven years to bloom from seeds.
A good way to incorporate tulips onto your property is to plant other bulbs and seeds at the same time, meaning that over the years the visuals will change and when the tulips finally arrive it will be a nice surprise for everybody.
How Long Will It Take?
In most cases, you’ll only need to wait for one flowering cycle to see results. Plant your bulbs before the spring, and by the time spring comes, the flowers should be appearing and blooming for the summer.
However, bulb planting season depends on the kind of bulb you’re planting. Daffodils are hardy and reliable, while tulips can take years to appear.
If you’re looking for something long-term, try planting multiple varieties of bulb that includes short-term and long-term bloomers.
Earth Development Makes Naturalizing Bulbs A Breeze
Need help getting your industrial or commercial landscaping right? Earth Development’s team of landscaping experts across the Midwest can help your business create an attractive and enticing outdoor space through the use of naturalized bulbs.
With decades of experience and a passion for helping local businesses, we’re confident we can deliver convenient, affordable, and quality landscaping services for industrial and commercial property owners across many industries.
For a free quote and consultation, call the team today on (920) 406-7501.
