Sustainable Gardening Blog

Today’s Washington Post touts "Bulbs the Way Nature Intended - Not Standing Like Soldiers, but Dancing in Drifts."  I’m not sure if I’ve ever planted in drifts myself but since they’re a form of massing and they create impact, I’m for ‘em.

Renowned landscape designers from Holland apparently recommend using bulb mixtures, like this gorgeous combo of Muscari armeniacum and daffodils, and in a similar ratio of at least twice as many of the smaller bulbs. More examples: 46 crocus, 32 grape hyacinth and 8 large hyacinth; or scilla mixed 2-to-1 with the small tulip Lilac Wonder.  And they suggest the design technique of tossing the mixes and planting them roughly where they fall or in a similar natural-looking configuration.

And I know my gardening Yahoo group members will be all abuzz about the next bulb planting pointer. You know how we’re always being told to plant bulbs pointy end up and roots down?  Well, no less an expert than the technical director for the Dutch bulb industry’s display garden says not to worry, that the only bulb that really needs such careful placement is the hyacinth.  With any other bulbs, planting them askew can result in slight variations in bloom time, but in a naturalistic drifts that’s not a problem.  I’ll give it a try, but I’m thinking maybe it’s just easier to have a "no worries" attitude when you live someplace like Holland.  You know, a liberal welfare democracy where pot is legal.

My history of designing with tulips has been pretty rocky, with as many failures as successes.  This streamside scene from 2004 looks nice with pink lily-type tulips actually blooming at the same time as the multiple-blooming variety ‘Georgette.’  Unfortunately, the Georgettes then morphed into a gaudy orange-and-yellow striped look that clashed big-time with the pink.  So even the successes are pretty fleeting.

What I do in this border is to show off a new combination of tulips every year, which I then pluck from the ground as soon as they finish blooming.  Wasteful, you say?  Maybe, but A, the foliage is too ugly for such a prominent place;  and B, they don’t return reliably the next year, which makes it impossible to create a new design in that area. So this border gets a new crop every year, which I sometimes then move to a less conspicuous place where they can mix and match and run riot for all I care.  Cost-wise, the 30 to 50 tulips can be had for $20-40, which ain’t bad for a gorgeous show that lasts for weeks.

This year I used a group of 4 tulips that I thought all bloomed together and three of them actually did - two multi-flowering types and a single late - but the Darwin ‘Pink Impression’ had already faded. The overall effect - viewed by the 700 people touring through my garden the first weekend of May - was pretty awful.  Too damn busy.

Now, because I learn from all my gardening mistakes - I wish - I’ve pared the design down even farther and next spring it’s going to look PERFECT.  I chose three types of single lates, timed to bloom after the daffodils are gone: the purple ‘Cum Laude,’  pink ‘Esther,’ and, not shown here, a pale yellow ‘Francoise.’  Boy, next spring is going to be fabulous.