American Gardeners Book Of Bulbs

There are bulbs for every gardener. A few kinds respond only to the persuasions of those whose thumbs are so green that they can almost cause a table leg to sprout roots, but many more will flourish for the veriest beginner, provided just a little care is taken in selecting and planting them.

So whether you belong to that small group of skilled horticulturists who can discuss learnedly the ways and needs of Nomocharis and rare Fritillaria (or to that even smaller group who can grow them), whether you are an absolute beginner who can’t recognize a crocus from a snowdrop; or, which is much more likely, if you belong to that great middle-of-the-horticultural-road group that has done a little gardening, and gets fun out of growing things and satisfaction from having attractive, colorful gardens and lots of flowers for cutting bulbs are for you.

Undoubtedly the ease with which most bulbs can be grown appeals. That is one reason why millions of tulips, narcissuses, hyacinths, crocuses, snowdrops, squills, grape-hyacinths, etc., are planted each fall, why gladiolus, dahlias, cannas, tuberous begonias, gloxinias, and other summer-bloomers are popular for spring planting.

Give these favorites but half a chance, and they will reward you handsomely and unfailingly.

Bulb Suitable for Beginners

So begin bulb growing by planting generous quantities of commonly available, which are listed in most Seals men’s catalogs, and types suitable for beginners.

You can scarcely fail if you pay attention to their few simple needs. A modest monetary investment will provide amazing dividends in beauty and pleasure.

There you have one of the secrets of the popularity of bulbs. They give so much for so little distances, are stored in stock bins of bulb merchants, and are displayed at retail outlets for extended periods before they are delivered to the customer.

After delivery, further delay may be before the bulbs can be set in the garden. Some bulbs—like narcissus and tulips—withstand this treatment amazingly well. They are often dug in July and are not put back in the ground until late November or December.

It is agreed, however, that most bulbs should not be out of the ground longer than necessary. New bulbs should be procured from retailers as soon as they are available and, except in very few cases, be planted as soon as is practicable.

When Purchasing Bulbs

Avoid “cheapjack” offers of extraordinary “bargains when purchasing bulbs.” Deal with suppliers of known integrity, place your order as early as possible and expect to pay fair prices. Good bulbs should be heavy for their size, firm of flesh, and plump.

They should be free of bruises and scars, and their coats should be intact (except that tulips sometimes tend to lose their skins, which does not harm, provided the flesh beneath is not damaged).

Bulb sizes often puzzle the amateur. They are expressed differently for different kinds, and, unfortunately, dealers are not always consistent in their applications.

“Top size,” “jumbo size,” “exhibition size,” “extra size,” “number one size,” and similar terms are freely used—and sometimes misused.

No matter how fine the bulbs you purchase are, they will deteriorate if you mistreat them afterward.

Open the packages immediately upon arrival. Examine the bulbs carefully for defects and, if you find any, request a replacement at once.

If planting has to be delayed, store the bulbs in the bags they come in with their tops opened in a cool, well-ventilated place where mice, squirrels, and other rodents cannot get at them, or spread them out in flats or shallow trays and store them under the same conditions.

Keep them away from furnaces and other sources of dry heat. Too high temperatures and excessive dryness will cause shriveling and may cause other serious harm.

The best temperature for storing is between 60° and 65° degrees Fahrenheit, and this should be maintained as closely as possible.

Spring Bulbs for Beds and Borders

Spring-flowering bulbs are used in two principal ways in beds and borders.

They have massed alone or in combination with other spring-blooming plants in “bedding arrangements,” they are planted in groups with perennials and perhaps biennials and annuals in informal mixed borders.

Bedding arrangements are distinctly formal and are temporary. They are disassembled after the spring blooming season, and the beds are then replanted with decorative summer bloomers.

Bulbs planted in mixed borders form part of more permanent plant collections, which are selected to provide long successions of bloom without the necessity for completely clearing and replanting the beds more often than once every few years.

Such plantings are much more informal than stylized bedding, and because of this, they often fit better into contemporary gardens.

Formal Bedding

Formal bedding can be used to find advantages in enclosed gardens laid out in geometric patterns and associated with architectural features.

It is suitable for bordering walks, setting against retaining walls, planting near formal pools, and installing inappropriately placed lawn beds, but it is out of place in free landscapes and naturalistic parts of the garden.

Important Bedding Bulbs

Hyacinths and tulips are the most important bedding bulbs. Planted in blocks of single colors or patterned designs in various hues, they are spectacular.

Good effects may also be had with narcissuses, Spanish and Dutch irises, and, in mild climates, with ranunculuses and poppy anemones.

When bulbs alone are planted in a formal bed, they may be of one variety: a solid bed of hyacinth “Queen of the Pinks” or tulip “City of Haarlem.”

Two or more varieties of the same kind in contrasting or harmonizing colors may be used together; for example, the violet-flowered tulip “The Bishop” could be planted with the soft yellow tulip “Niphetos” or deep-pink, blue, and white hyacinths might be used in a lively mixture or a more formal design.

Lastly, more than one bulb may be used in a single bed, for example, when Spanish bluebells are used as they can be so charmingly with May-flowering tulips. As the mixtures become more complex, careful thought and the exercise of good taste become more important.

Combination of Plants

But bulbs in formal beds need not be used alone. Lovely spring effects may be had by employing them in combination with such plants as:

English daisies
Pansies
Violas
Arabises
Aubrietas
Alyssum saxatile (both the golden-yellow and the lemon-flowered kinds)
Blue Phlox canadensis
Forget-me-nots
Polyanthus primroses
Wallflowers

These non-bulbous plants, set out as ground covers beneath hyacinths, narcissuses, and tulips, can be extremely effective.

Hyacinths growing among pansies of contrasting or harmonizing hues are pleasing, and they can also be associated very effectively with English daisies.

Deep pink hyacinths with pink daisies beneath are lovely. Pink daisies are also beautiful with pale blue hyacinths, but not more so than white ones with rich purple hyacinths.

Narcissuses, a little less suitable than tulips and hyacinths for formal beds, need carefully chosen companion plants to be seen at their best; polyanthus primroses and pansies are appropriate.

A very cheerful result is secured by planting mixed tulips among various spring-blooming carpeting plants to form a real medley of bloom.

Such a very mixed planting should occupy a fairly large bed; one or two varieties are better in small areas.

It is also possible to achieve a very satisfactory result by using a single groundcover – arabises, pansies, or violas, for example—and to interplant it with hyacinths, tulips, Spanish bluebells, and

Spanish irises to ensure a succession of bulbs blooming over a long period with the same underplanting constant for all.

This, again, is most appropriate for sizable beds; many different kinds of plants in a tiny bed rarely look well.

Mass Planting

When making mass plantings, thoroughly prepare the ground to a depth of at least a foot, preferably eighteen inches.

Fork quantities of rich organic matter – compost, leaf mold, humus, peat moss, or old, well-rotted manure—into the undersoil.

If you use manure, ensure it is far enough below the bulbs to be out of contact with them. Enrich the upper earth by mixing with it organic matter (but not manure) as well as bone meal and complete fertilizer.

Two Ways of Planting

You may plant in one of two ways.

One method is to excavate the entire bed to the depth at which the bulbs are to be set, prepare the undersoil, level it, tread it moderately firmly, set the bulbs evenly and at appropriate distances apart, and cover to grade with enriched topsoil.

The other method is simply to plant each bulb with a trowel in soil that has been well prepared without excavating.

In either case, when planting is completed, make the soil moderately firm by treading it (when it is fairly dry, not when it is wet enough to stick to your shoes) and rake the surface level.

At the end of their flowering season, bulbs in formal beds are usually replaced with temporary plants that provide a long summer bloom season.

Lantanas, heliotropes, fuchsias, dwarf dahlias, petunias, verbenas, and marigolds are popular for this purpose. Before these summer flowers are planted, the bulbs are ordinarily lifted and stored.

Storing Bulbs

Before the bulbs are stored, they must be completely ripened. Their foliage and stems must have died naturally.

If this stage has not been reached when it is time to set the summer plants, carefully dig the bulbs with a spading fork—taking care to preserve both tops and roots (leaving as much soil attached as possible)—and plant them close together in shallow trenches with their stems and leaves above ground. Select an out-of-the-way spot in light shade for this purpose.

They keep them watered and leave them until the tops are entirely brown and withered. Once ripening is complete, clean the soil, old roots, broken skin, and other debris from the bulbs and dust them with sulfur.

Place them in a cool, dry, shaded place, either suspending them in well-ventilated paper bags or old nylon stockings or spreading them in shallow layers on wire mesh. Let them remain there until fall planting time.

These old bulbs, whether left in the ground or stored through the summer, will not bloom as evenly as new ones.

Their flowers will vary in size and length of the stem. In formal beds, it is better to use new bulbs each year. Bulbs previously used may be planted with good effect in less formal areas and the cutting garden.

Informal Borders

Most frequently in today’s gardens, spring-flowering bulbs are used informally with perennials, biennials, annuals, and summer- and fall-blooming bulbs.

This makes possible a spring-to-fall succession of flowers in one border, completely replanted every four or five years with minor replanting in intermediate years.

Selecting Bulbs For Mixed Border Groupings

When selecting bulbs for grouping in mixed borders, remember that the number needed for each patch may be relatively small if their flowers are of good size—a great deal larger if the flowers are small—that the larger the border, the bigger the groups should be.

In borders of modest size, narcissuses and tulips are most impressive when planted fifteen to thirty together, small subjects such as glory-of-the-snows and crocuses in lots of fifty or more.

Easy-to-grow bulbs of various flowering heights are readily available, so kinds may be chosen for the front of the border and all points to the very back.

Bulbs should never be “stuck” in without particular thought just because there happened to be vacant spaces on the border.

The groups should have irregular, pleasingly curved outlines rather than be square, circular, or elliptical. The bulbs should be spaced at approximately even distances within the groups but not in straight rows, and the groups should be spaced at irregular intervals.

Spring bulbs in formal beds are usually lifted after flowering. Still, in mixed borders, it is practicable to leave them in the ground year after year – lifting them only when they become so crowded that division is necessary or when the entire border is being remade.

Some specialists recommend taking tulips up each year even when they are part of a mixed planting—to store them until it is time for fall planting, but this is unnecessary.

Segratating Bulbs in the Border

If the bulbs are to be lifted, they may be segregated in the border by planting them in easily made baskets of half-inch wire mesh which facilitates lifting and offers protection against rodents. Many bulbs break ground surprisingly early.

Even in New York City, February, and sometimes late January, finds us poking around the garden looking for the firstcomers.

There is excitement in finding firm bundles of bulb leaves pushing through brown earth before winter has finally departed, for we know that in a month or less, we shall have colorful winter aconites, snowdrops, grape-hyacinths, glory-of-the-snows, scillas, and crocuses.

Snowdrops and some of the crocus species, notably Crocus Korolkowii, are among the first to pop, and how grateful we are for those first blooms!

April comes, and soon, the trees are misty green with tiny foliage. Early shrubs burst into flower even before they leaf.

A few colorful taller perennials, such as yellow doronicums and Virginia bluebells, are of special value as companions for early bulbs.

Keep Record of Flowering Dates

Now is the time to start keeping records of flowering dates, plants that combine well, and other pertinent data that will help you plan a better border and perhaps other gardens.

Continue this practice throughout the year. Wherever you live, you will find tables of flowering dates invaluable — and making such lists can be cloned in anticipation of having a garden even before actual garden work is started.

Planning combinations of plants is one of the most enjoyable pleasures of gardening and is without backaches!

It is of special importance in arranging mixed borders, for to do it well, you must be acquainted with the flowering sequence of the plants you wish to use.

The first perennial flowers other than bulbs to appear are those of low-growing plants chosen as groundcovers with bulbs. These include arabises, aubrietas, moss pinks, and evergreen candytuft.

Although more conspicuously in bloom a month later, these can be depended on to provide welcome foliage and some flower color to accompany such early flowers as the brilliant Fosteriana tulip “Red Emperor ” and the single and double early tulips.

These first tulips have great value for early color, and even though their sterns are so short that underplanting is not requisite, low perennials planted to cover the ground do help to prevent their flowers from being splashed with mud in spring showers and also make effective edgings.

Drifts of perennials that hug the earth closely add interest and richness to the fronts of mixed borders when associated with early tulips, narcissuses, hyacinths, scillas, grape-hyacinths, snowdrops, crocuses, Iris reticulata, and other spring bulbs.

Early Tulip Varieties For Foreground of Borders

The most intense colors often prove irresistible when choosing varieties of early tulips to use in the foreground of borders. After the dullness of winter, we hunger for a crescendo of brightness—so why not satisfy that hunger?

To prevent too-vibrant associations of very strong colors such as bright red and vivid yellow, use patches of white flowers or masses of green foliage as separators.

Brilliant colors used in the studied sequence and perhaps repeated along the border can be exciting.

On the other hand, soft pastels, which blend with the delicate colors of opening leaves and with early shrub flowers such as those of pale yellow Carnelian dogwood, lavender-pink Daphne Mezereum, blush Viburnum Carlesii, and creamy white Japanese andromeda can be charming.

Hyacinths

Hyacinths can be used in the border very much in the same manner as early tulips. They are stiffer and more formal in appearance and ordinarily should not be employed as freely as tulips.

They offer tones of blue and purple not provided by tulips but a delightful selection of pinks, reds, lavenders, soft yellows, and whites. Their stalwart spikes add interest and a variety of flower forms.

Narcissuses

Narcissuses are more permanent in borders than hyacinths and tulips. Under favorable conditions, they persist and increase. Because of this, they should be placed where they need not be disturbed.

Narcissuses vary greatly in the form and size of flowers and in their flowering times. They do not possess the wide color range of tulips and hyacinths.

Yellows and whites predominate, with orange and subdued pinks offering occasional variation.

Despite their limited range of color, the diversity of hues displayed within this range by the hundreds of available varieties is amazing—and what an astounding number of combinations there are!

Their flower forms include those with large trumpets (the true daffodils) and those with trumpets so shallow that they suggest nothing so much as crinkled caps of pop bottles.

The flowers are borne one to a stem or in clusters. Some are double, and some have fragrance as an added attraction.

Narcissuses are valuable not alone for their flowers but also for their clean, luxuriant foliage. This becomes a problem, however, for after the flowers have faded, the foliage continues to grow and then needs a long ripening before it can be safely cut away.

For this reason, place your narcissuses where perennial plants will somewhat hide their leaves during late May and June.

Catalogs usually group tulip varieties to indicate their flowering periods, but they do not often do this with narcissuses.

There is no more satisfactory way of selecting narcissuses (and other spring-flowering bulbs, too, for that matter) than to visit gardens where they are grown—those of friends and acquaintances—and public gardens that accommodate collections.

Here you will find practical help and the opportunity to note varieties best suited for your garden and combinations with a particular appeal. Do not fail to take sufficient time out to visit other gardens.

Bulbs for Summer Bedding

The easiest summer-bedding bulbs to grow over most of North America are cannas, dahlias, and elephant ears.

Begonias and fancy-leaved caladiums are somewhat more exacting but are highly satisfactory where conditions suit them.

Because cannas in brilliant yellows and fiery reds so often have been used inappropriately in public plantings—frequently arranged in concentric circles with edgings of scarlet salvia – prejudice has resulted that causes them to be regarded with disfavor by many home gardeners.

As a result, they are not grown as frequently as their fine qualities deserve. Yet by using modern varieties, bold foliage, and gorgeous in bloom, beds can be created that rival in magnificence anything offered, and, with imagination and good taste, these can be used in just the proper places to produce stunning results.

The modern gardener also has available cannas in more subtle colors that may be used more freely.

Of these, the ones named for familiar operas —”La Boheme,” “Mmc. Butterfly,” “Rigoletto,” and so on—are especially pleasing.

The elephants-ear is even bolder in foliage than the canna, correctly known botanically as Colocasia antiquorum but often cataloged as Caladium esculentum. This noble aroid is grown for its magnificent leaves; its flowers are of no garden significance.

The leaves have blades that measure three feet or longer and two-thirds as wide and are held aloft on stalks 6′ to 8′ feet high. Elephant ears, rich green and tropical looking, are especially attractive for planting by the waterside.

Dahlias

Dahlias suitable for bedding are mostly of the mignon and dwarf types, which grow to a height of about 18″ inches and include the well-known “Coltness” and “Unwin” hybrids.

Although these dahlias have tuberous roots like the taller ones and can be stored the same way over the winter, they are usually discarded after flowering, and new plants are raised each year from seeds sown indoors in February.

However, there is no reason why tubers of particular favorites from among a bed of seedlings should not be saved and propagated by division or cuttings.

Tuberous Begonias

Choices of all summer-bedding bulbs are tuberous begonias but, alas, these are at their best only where nights are moderately cool—a restricting requirement throughout much of the United States and Canada.

The cool, damp climate that favors many places on the Pacific Coast is superb for tuberous begonias, and flowers of magnificent size and quality are common there.

Although decidedly tricky in the vicinity of New York City, there are places not far away, such as the Massachusetts Berkshires—where they can be grown luxuriantly, and places nearer where they can be grown very creditably.

In the hot, dry plains and prairie states where cannas and elephant ears thrive so well, tuberous begonias are almost impossible.

Fancy-leaved caladiums are admirable for summer beds in sheltered locations. They revel in high temperatures and do well in full sun or partial shade, provided the air is not too dry.

Soil Mixture For Bedding

Beds for summer bulbs should be spayed and enriched with compost, leaf mold, or humus; a bone meal mixed in at a quarter to half a pound to a square yard helps too. Wait until the weather is warm and settled before planting.

Make sure that the plants are hardened off by having been kept outdoors in their pots for about a week before the planting date, and soak them thoroughly with water a few hours before they are set out.

Take care to break their root balls. Plant so that the tops of the balls are covered with half an inch of soil. Pack the soil firmly around the roots and soak it with a fine spray as soon as planting is completed.

Because formal beds are normally expected to bloom over as long a period as possible, it is usual to start summer bulbs to be used indoors early. This means sizable plants in four- or five-inch pots are available during the setting-out time.

Cannas, elephant ears, caladiums, and begonias can be grown from bulbs planted directly outdoors, but this is rarely done for bedding because too long a period must then elapse before they come into bloom.

Hardy Bulbs for Summer Borders

In perennial and mixed borders, the flush of early bulbs that concludes with tulips and Dutch and Spanish irises is followed by a brief period when few bulbs flower.

During this lull, the parade of alliums (flowering onions) that began at tulip time continues. In early June, astonishing Allium albopilosum opens its myriads of silvery lilac, star-shaped flowers.

There are numerous other alliums, but make selections with care because a few, such as A. cyaneum, are too frail for general border planting, and many others, although vigorous enough, are in other ways unsuitable, a common fault being the undistinguished purplish flowers that characterize so many of the clan.

After bleeding hearts, columbines, and bearded irises have faded, richly colored peonies, tall spires of delphiniums, day-lilies, and early phloxes make a conspicuous showing in the perennial border.

At this time, bulbs come again into a promise, for it is in this elegant company that the first true lilies debut. Surely lilies are among the most handsome of all plants grown from bulbs.

Species and varieties may be selected to flower one after another from June through July, August, and September. Not all are easy to grow in all localities, and some test the gardener’s skill anywhere.

Choose Easy to Grow Kinds

For border planting, it is wise to restrict one’s choice to kinds that grow without undue difficulty, and these are likely to be found among the ones mentioned here. A special word of warning must be sounded.

Do try to secure disease-free bulbs because lilies are subject to several serious bulb-borne diseases, and infected stock will not only be unsatisfactory but will serve to infect any healthy lilies you may have in your garden.

Lilies

The candlestick lily (Lilium dauricum) is one of the first lilies to bloom and is one of the easiest to grow.

It attains a height of 2′ feet, and its upturned flowers, which in their typical form are bright orange-red spotted with purplish black, make bold splashes of color in the June border.

Lilium dauricum comes in several color variations. Lilium hollandicum, a name that covers a hybrid swarm rather than a natural species, is often sold as L. umbellatum, although this name rightly belongs to a Western American species.

The hollandicum lilies range from one and a half to two feet tall, are available in many fine color varieties ranging from deep crimson to apricot and yellow, and bloom in June.

At about the same time, a related hybrid lily, Lilium macula-turn (elegans), opens in upright goblets for their fill of sunshine. The many varieties of this lily run through about the same color range as those of L. hollandicum.

Beyond all doubt, the Madonna lily (L. candidum) is outstanding among earlier blooming kinds. It is a magnificent addition to any border.

It shows a fine advantage when it is among peonies, near climbing roses, or when grouped to provide that popular combination—Madonna lilies and delphiniums.

Madonna lilies may be set well back in the border. Sturdy stems lift their fragrant white horizontal trumpets to an impressive 3′ or 4′ feet height.

Success with this lily depends upon planting it shallowly and early (in late summer). Its leaves are evergreen and remain in evidence all winter.

Scarcely later than the Madonna is the regal lily (L. regale). This is one of the best-loved and easiest to grow of all lilies. Its funnel-shaped, fragrant flowers, mostly white, are washed with rose-purple on their outsides and are light yellow deep in their throats.

Combined with stately foxgloves or planted near deep purple buddleias or Clematis Jackmanii, it forms a picture not likely to be forgotten soon. With the cool dark hues of early monkshoods, the leopard or panther lily (L. pardalinum) offers sparkling contrast.

As many as thirty flowers grace each stem. They have recurved petals and, in their typical form, are bright orange spotted with reddish brown for about half their length, but many variations occur. All are lovely.

About the time that such summer shrubs as vitex and caryopteris begin to flower, L. tigrinum, the tiger lily, comes into bloom with red-orange flowers thickly spotted with black, its petals stiffly recurved.

In late July and in August Lilium Henryi also displays its pendant flowers, five to twenty on each 5- to 8-foot stern.

The flowers are light orange with darker spots and are distinguished by a green stripe that runs the length of each petal. In the sun, their color fades; it is better to plant this fine lily where it gets a little shade.

Because of its unfailing dependability and prolific increase in almost any soil, it is not one to be omitted.

Even later, when September anemones are in flower, L. formosanum blooms, each stems carrying a few very large trumpet-shaped flowers of great beauty. It is white inside and colored with purple on the outside; the petal tips are recurved.

At this time, when most of the border perennials have finished blooming, and early chrysanthemums and asters are beginning to show color, bold masses of the Formosan lily are especially desirable.

There are many other lilies, including numerous new hybrids and selected forms of the kinds listed above.

The “Mid-Century” hybrids between L. umbellatum and L. tigrinum (which bloom in June and July) and the “Aurelian” hybrids of L. Henryi (which flower in July and August) are outstanding examples of fine new lilies.

Check catalogs of bulb dealers for others and be bold in trying those that have originated from parents that are dependable in the garden.

Tender Bulbs for Summer Borders

Tender bulbs that in most parts of the country must be stored indoors over winter can be used to great advantage to add brightness and interest to mixed borders in summer and fall.

Gladiolus

Gladioluses planted in groups of from six to a dozen or more assure gay through comparatively short seasons of color. By choosing appropriate varieties and planting dates, flowers may be had at any desired period from early July until frost.

Use glads to give a lift to the border at times when there are not too many other flowers in evidence. Just when that will depend, of course, on the particular selection of plants you grow.

Just remember that glad varieties differ in the lengths of time they need from planting to bloom; the earliest varieties flower in fifty-five to sixty days, and others take as long as ninety days. Dealers’ catalogs indicate the approximate number of days from planting to bloom.

Montbretias

Montbretias, which is the most popular name for a group of fine South African bulbs that the botanist now includes with Crocosmia, are close relatives of gladiolus and may be used similarly.

Their color range is more restricted, being confined to warm tones of yellow, apricot, copper, and rich orange-red, and they are more airy and graceful.

Because of this, they should be planted in groups of at least twelve to twenty-five, with the bulbs set more closely than those of gladiolus. From Philadelphia south, Montbretias are generally winter-hardy.

Tigridias

Tigridias, or Mexican shell flowers, are at least as hardy as montbretia. If you have a sunny border and your soil is on the sandy side.

Plant them in small groups right near its front and enjoy vivid accents of exotic color in high summer.

Modern Dahlias

Modern dahlias afford a wealth of varieties suitable for border work. Ordinarily, the huge-flowered exhibition types that the connoisseur of these handsome plants so often favors are least suitable for associating with other hardy flowers, but among less gross dahlias are many that may play not inconsequential parts in the summer border.

Select varieties from among the singles, collarettes, pompons, decoratives, and other types that will not look foreign among other plants.

The taller varieties are effective when planted in threes or pairs or even singly well back in the border.

Naturalizing Bulbs

Naturalizing plants simply means establishing them in places where they do not grow natively and with such success that they will maintain themselves in competition with local vegetation. It does not refer to the arrangement of the plants.

Thus daffodils planted in straight rows in a grassy orchard and fending for themselves are just as truly naturalized as if they were growing in a similar location in casual drifts and groups and giving the impression that they were native to the site.

However, because naturalized plants are commonly arranged informally, the word “naturalize” has come to imply informal arrangement generally in its garden usage. Most naturalized plantings are also naturalistic plantings.

They Require Minimum Care

They are not weeded in the ordinary sense of the word. However, some effort may be needed to curb extremely vigorous and invasive species to prevent them from overpowering their more stay-at-home neighbors.

Nor do many other garden routines, such as staking and cultivating, receive much attention. The philosophy behind this type of gardening is the assumption that vigorous plants happily located can successfully fight most of their battles, and, within limits, this is borne out in practice.

The limits are established by the kinds of plants that can be so grown. These vary from location to location.

Naturalized bulbs are usually set out in a naturalistic fashion. They are disposed of in the landscape to appear as if they had arisen from chance-sown seeds and natural offsets.

To heighten this effect, selecting types that will not be too obviously foreign in the landscape and that are not too highly developed horticulturally is normal.

It is usual to prefer single flowers to double ones for naturalistic plantings, but this is not an inviolable rule.

When bulbs are naturalized in small quantities, it is almost always wise to closely relate them to an important shrub, tree, or rock evergreen. The two or three dozen narcissuses that are so delightful beneath a birch would be.

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