Bulbs are for everyone who grows plants or who arranges flowers. They’re for beginners who’ll give them a minimum of know-how and care and for experts who take great boundless patience and skill.
There’s no end to their usefulness as garden plants and no limit to their value as flowers for the home.
In early springtime, when our yearning for flowers is most vital, the bulbous plants are at the peak of their glory.
But the earliest among them are in bloom long before winter is past, and the latest continue well into fall. They include every rainbow color and range in size from a couple of incites to nearly a dozen feet.
Whatever type of garden you have or are planning, you’ll find countless suggestions for using bulbs. Then, you’ll see what delightful effects you’ll get next spring from the bulbs you plant this fall.
Tulip Bulbs For Color
For brilliance of color and general adaptability, the tulips are in a class by themselves. Planted solidly in beds for mass effect or clumps for color accent, they literally “make” any garden during May.
Plant at least a dozen bulbs to obtain the full-color value of tulips in clumps. If the bulbs are to be left in the ground permanently, set them 8″ inches or more profound, and if you want the bulbs to last, don’t over fertilize!
Joyful Daffodils
Daffodils always have been and probably always will be the most cheerful of the early spring flowers. They’re less “formal” than tulips, a little more “sprightly” perhaps, anti, of course, earlier flowering – being at their peak in most areas during the middle or latter part of April.
They’re ideal for naturalistic plantings and have countless uses. Too, in the informal or conventional garden.
Another good thing about daffs is their ease of culture and staying power. The sturdiest of them need almost no care and will outlive their planter by decades!
The picture at the upper right shows the beautiful effect of daffs used in a naturalistic setting at the base of a birch tree. This is Daisy Schaeffer, a dependable, attractive large-cup (incomparable) variety with pure white perianth and light yellow cup.
From the picture at the lower left, you’ll get some idea of how you can secure distinctiveness in your garden by using some of the less standard bulbs.
These beautiful flowers are of one of the hybrid forms of the waterlily tulip, Tulipa kaufmanniana – a recently introduced variety called Gaiety.
As you will notice, their effectiveness here depends mainly upon their being planted in good numbers and not too far apart. The kaufmannianas are April flowering, being among the earliest of the tulips.
Bulbous Flowers
For arrangements, the bulbous flowers – common and uncommon – offer all sorts of possibilities. And you’ll notice, too, that a cheerful, happy mood is characteristic of almost all arrangements in which bulbous flowers predominate.
In the arrangement shown at the lower right, Mrs. Everett Noren of Laurelton, N. Y., combined yellow daffodils, orange and yellow tulips, due hyacinths, and forsythia in a wicker basket with skillful simplicity.
The arrangement was one of the prize-winning entries in the Federated Garden Clubs of New York State section of the 1950 International Flower Show in New York. But, for all its artistry, it’s an arrangement that could easily be made from your spring flowers.
As for their cultural requirements, most bulbs are relaxed, and their needs can be supplied in almost any garden.
They want well-drained, moderately fertile, medium-textured soil—adding a little sand and peat moss if your soil is clay-like and heavy or some well-rotted manure, compost, or other material rich in humus in case it’s excessively sandy.
They also need plenty of light, so give them a place In the sun or light, partial shade.
44659 by Theodore A. Weston