A casual observer standing in a somewhat shady garden in summer, with trees and excellent shrub plantings, sees only the surface of things – the coolness and the green.
But to the gardener, the place is alive under his feet, with gay bulbs which have flung up their blue, pink, or yellow flowers to make a brilliant splash of color here and there in the spring or early summer. Those bulbs were in a natural setting in the shade of the garden.
Now their season is past, and they are simply beating time, waiting for their turn again. The gardener has rewarded them with a good meal after flowering and has patiently allowed their foliage to ripen. They are in good health.
Studying The Plantings
The shady areas of a garden must be studied for all its plantings. It is as suitable in winter, when the trees are bare, to select areas for new bulb plantings as it is to plan the enrichment of old plantings while they are actually in bloom.
New possibilities may be suggested. Some trees with heavy leaf growth in mid-summer may be slow in making their shade in spring and can be under-planted with early spring bulbs.
Afterward, when in full leaf, they may furnish enough shade for later bulbs which will be most happy when planted at their outer edge.
Generally, places are close to the house itself, by the porch or under an overhanging roof, which is too shaded to grow flowering material in summer.
Yet these same spots are ideal for those extra-early bulbs that are a joy in the late winter landscape as one looks out from the windows.
Most of these are small, both in size and flower head, but they have a definite landscape value when planted in generous groups.
They will be a constant source of flowers for those small bouquets, proving that another spring is coming.
A flash of golden February crocus or yellow winter aconite in a brown pottery bowl can almost wipe that objectionable month of February from the calendar!
Blooming Date Records
Over the years, the writer has kept a record of blooming dates.
While it is difficult to believe, my record for last winter, which was mild in February, shows that species of crocuses were in bloom in the protection of the house, facing south, as early as the fifth and eleventh of February, according to the variety.
Winter Aconite
Winter aconite bloomed on the sixth day, which usually blooms the third week in February. All were planted in positions that, by summer, are too shady to grow any flowers.
The winter aconite is especially happy in such a location since it must have shade in Summer. Placed as it is on the edge of an enormous beech tree but facing the sun, it is making a gratifying increase. Its spread of bright yellow, sometimes half hidden by snow, is a cheerful sight to gaze upon.
I never find the new aconite plants at any distance from the mother colony; they are unlike the baby scillas that appear everywhere, in odd corners.
Perhaps this is because the aconite matures its seeds before the birds are active. Sometimes its stems are rigid with the cold, yet they will thaw out and bloom.
Early Crocuses
The very early crocuses, and the various species, are smaller and more tapering in shape than the well-known Dutch hybrids and have a greater delicacy of coloring.
Often they are flushed or veined with another color, and the stamens are conspicuously bright.
For an effective display, they are best planted in groups of the same color. Crocus chrysanthus variety E. A. Bowles is a rich yellow, and C. susianus, referred to as cloth-of-gold, is another yellow kind with a bronzy flush.
Blues and lilacs are found in Crocus sieberi and the C. tomasinianus forms. The winter aconite is listed as eranthis. Its deep-yellow flowers suggest buttercups set in a stiff, green frill of foliage. Eranthis hyemalis is the most common one.
Flowers in February
That old favorite — the snowdrop or Galanthus — starts to bloom even before they are bright. February bloomers. Its flowering also can be hurried or retarded, according to the warmth of the exposure.
As snowdrops thrive naturally, they are convenient plantings for truly shady positions and can always be considered for those spots which are often worthless for anything else.
If not allowed to be choked out by ground covers, and if their foliage is not too closely picked, they will live on and on. Their cycle is finished before any tree is in leaf.
A pleasing effect in the landscape is achieved when planted in clusters not too far apart or in a huge spread under the tracery of bare tree branches.
If the gardener does not stress lawn neatness too much, the early-flowering bulbs, like scillas and chionodoxas, can be planted in the grass under the sweep of overhanging trees that are not yet in leaf.
They make a beautiful garden picture without infringing on a position that may be especially needed for a more exacting subject. Both bulbs bloom closely together and simultaneously as the forsythia and spiked hazel.
Their blue coloring makes a startling contrast when planted in a mass near these yellow-blooming shrubs.
If planted on the lawn, the effect will be untidy while their foliage matures since the grass cannot be clipped until then.
Both Scilla bifolia and S. siberica are worth planting. They will also thrive in positions that later on become densely shaded.
A handsome sight, anticipated yearly in our town, is a solid carpet of blue scillas under a huge beech tree.
Starting from a few bulbs years ago, this colony has spread by seeds. No ground covers are allowed to interfere with the bulbs’ growth.
However, I have found that scillas are sturdy enough to increase by seed even on the edges of a heavy pachysandra planting.
Grape Hyacinths in April
As April takes its turn, it becomes more difficult to find semi-shady positions where bulbs will thrive and ripen.
The muscari, or grape hyacinths, are among the most tolerant of shade and will stand even neglected in some woodsy tangle.
In buying new stock of these, it is wise to investigate other forms, not as well known as Heavenly Blue.
Muscari armeniacum, Hyacinthus ciliatus, and M. azureum are rather handsome, and the white variety has a slender kind of beauty that is truly distinctive.
Spring Starflower
Another bulb that takes to shade as the season advances into mid-April is brodiaea or the Spring starflower, either in porcelain blue or white.
Their clear-cut, star-shaped flowers, with delicately contrasted veinings, make them interesting subjects for under-planting in almost any place.
Star of Bethlehem
Another unusual early bulb, and one which can tolerate only light shade, is related to the Star of Bethlehem. This is Ornithogalum nutans, a choice species, about 18 inches tall, with long, narrow leaves.
Its sturdy stem, crowded with large, cream-colored flowers, backed with frosty green, gaily nods and bends.
Scillas
In early May, both the tall Scilla campanula, sometimes called Spanish squills, and Scilla nutans, or wood hyacinths, come into flowering. These enjoy the shade which is now cast by trees in leaf and will increase there.
They are happy and look well also in a natural wood planting, and they are of many colors—blue, rose, and white.
44659 by Marian C. Walker