|
Trends
and Tidbits for Fall 2005
By Hilda M. Morrill
Photo
(c) Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center
 Last month my husband and I had the pleasure of spending some quality time with Sally Ferguson, the U.S. press resource for information and materials for the Dutch flower bulb industry, as well as many other horticultural organizations. We were lucky enough to sit next to the charming Ms. Ferguson during a bus tour,
which was part of the 2005 Annual Garden Writers Symposium, which took place in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Over the years Sally Ferguson has provided our Web site with much information – for which we, and our readers/visitors, are most grateful.
I was anxious to personally thank her for correcting me regarding a point I had made in a column last spring. For more years than I care to mention, I’ve been advising readers about how important it is to deadhead tulips and daffodils in the spring.
Sally e-mailed me to say that it's actually not necessary to deadhead daffodils! Tulips yes, but daffs no, she told me (unless you don't like the look of the dried blossoms). Daffodils do just fine. Everyone makes this mistake! And it's not really a mistake; it's just more attention than they truly need. The lesson: sometimes Nature gives us a break!
So I thanked Sally for saving me countless hours and I promised that I would spread the word.
Now, as we find ourselves bidding adieu to our summer gardens, we would like to share some “Trends and Tidbits for Fall 2005” from Sally Ferguson:
Fall is the time to plant spring-blooming bulbs such as tulips, daffodils,
muscari, crocus and hyacinths. It’s also an excellent season for planting perennials such as
hostas, bleeding hearts, daylilies, lady’s mantle, and coral bells. Such perennials make excellent “bulb buddies” in the garden, as their leaves complement spring floral displays while later masking the fading foliage of the bulb flowers after bloom.
For blooming pots of colorful bulbs to enjoy indoors next spring, now is also the time to plant, according to the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center, which offers the following tips:
Choose pots with drainage holes, fill with potting soil or sand (or both), and plant bulbs at the same depth as in the garden: two times the height of the bulb. Place bulbs very close together to achieve a “bouquet” effect when in bloom. Water well and place the pots in a cold protected area where temperatures range from 33° F to 50° F. Next spring enjoy a moveable feast of bright spring time flowers, indoors or out.
So, what’s new regarding some specific types of bulbs?
Once available primarily in brilliant cobalt blue, muscari now comes in a range of colors from pure white to pale blue, sapphire blue edged in white, reddish-violet, midnight blue, soft yellow and lavender, mahogany-purple, and, now, even golden yellow topped with purple! Some are also fragrant.
New Muscari macrocarpum ‘Golden Fragrance’ is said to have a soft perfume reminiscent of gardenias and bananas! With its tight tidy florets arrayed like little grapes on short sturdy stems reminiscent of hyacinths, it’s easy to see how muscari came by the nickname of grape hyacinth.
This colorful little work horse belongs in every spring garden for the role it plays as an underplanting to taller daffodils, tulips and other spring bulbs. Planted en masse they create a carpet of color, throwing up stem after stem to bloom for weeks on end.
The same muscari that comes into bloom with the mid-season daffodils can continue to bloom with the late season tulips.
America’s favorite tulip is ‘Angelique’, a fragrant blush pink tulip with multi-layered petals that looks more like a peony than a conventional chalice-shaped tulip. While the variety ‘Angelique’ itself is the result of Dutch hybridizing mastery, double tulips occur naturally when spontaneous mutation causes a flower’s anthers to develop as an additional layer of petals.
Since the early 1700s, Dutch tulip hybridizers have sought naturally occurring double tulips to create the exquisite fragrant Double Tulip hybrids we know today.
Incidentally, speaking of tulips, in 2006, art lovers will celebrate the 400th anniversary of Dutch painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn’s birth. Ms. Ferguson suggests that this fall, gardeners can commemorate the event by planting Rembrandt Tulips. These are the famous “flamed” or broken-color tulips that led to
Tulipmania, the colossal 1637 crash of Holland’s speculative tulip bulb market.
Paintings from the era – “The Golden Age of Dutch Master Painters” – featured these fabulous tulips in abundance. Curiously, tulips were not a motif in Rembrandt’s own work, which featured mostly portraits and allegorical scenes noted for their chiaroscuro, the dramatic use of light and dark.
Did you know that not all daffodils are yellow? Some are white. Surprisingly, others are red, pink, green, and soon, Dutch hybridizers say, there will be a lavender one as well! While all daffodils are narcissi, not all narcissi are daffodils. According to the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center in New York City, daffodils are the Large Cup Narcissi with elongated trumpets.
If squirrels dig up and eat the crocus bulbs you plant in fall, out-fox them with one that has proved to be unappealing – to squirrel taste buds, that is. Crocus
tommisinianus, called “Tommies” by many gardeners, are known for their delightful early spring blossoms in various shades of purple. Planted in gardens or right into the landscape, they will naturalize to bloom each spring for years on end. Deer don’t like them either!
To find out more information, be sure to visit www.bulb.com.
Enjoy!
|
