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Hardy Bulbs: One of the most popular ways of growing bulbs—snowdrops, daffodils and crocuses, in particular—is to naturalize them in drifts so they spread at will. This is usually done in grass, but those bulbs preferring shady woodland conditions can be naturalized in soil under trees and shrubs. It is also possible to establish bulbs beneath a planting of ground cover like scrambling ivies.
Remember that the leaves must die naturally in order for the corms to store enough food for the next year's flowering.
Crocus asturicus bears violet-purple flowers about 4 inches long in mid-October. The stamens are orange. 12-inch leaves appear during and following blooming. Louise Beebe Wilder, writing in Hardy Bulbs, calls this the Spanish crocus and reports that in its native mountains, it's called Espanto Pastores, or "Terror of Shepherds' since it appears just after the autumn rains and presages the coming of winter. It is hardy from Zone 6 south.
This year in our garden we had a display of spring bulbs began on April 8 and lasted until the second week of June.
Later in the season came the charming English iris, Japanese iris, the many flowering onions (seven different species), a host of lilies and daylilies, gladiolus of all colors, and for one year at least, the charming I hardy cyclamen. And in pots gathered on the terrace and out around! the sundial, the awesome devil's tongue, wand flowers from Africa,] calla lilies, and a magnificent, white lily-of-the-Nile.
Finally there are late-blooming lilies, autumn crocus (see page] 42), and for Christmas, Amaryllis and all the wonderful forced bulbs j of winter. |
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