Sideways

[LouisFerdinand]

Cousin James mentioned that he had learned that when it came to planting bulbs, if the person could not tell the bottom from the front, then plant the bulb sideways.
Have you heard of this?

 

[marlingardener]

I've never heard of that, but then I've never seen a bulb that you couldn't tell up from down! Timi the cat "helped" me plant garlic and I'm sure some of the bulbs, after being batted around by kitty paws, were sideways. They all grew, so the odds are good that a sideways bulb would eventually find its own position.

 

[LouisFerdinand]

What happens to Spring bulbs planted upside down?

 

[Marck]

Most bulbs and corms will have an obvious basal plate from which roots will emerge. Of course this should be planted facing down.

The direction of some tubers can be more difficult to determine, especially those of Anemone (Anemone coronaria and Anemonoides blanda). However the planting orientation is usually not too important, as gravity and hormones will still send stems upwards and roots downward, regardless of initial position.