Plant Talk

A Luxuriance of Bulbs

On March 23 you have a chance to hear a famous British writer talk about her most favorite flowers,  right here in Seattle. Come see Anna Pavord speak on the luxuriance of bulbs and support the Center for Urban Horticulture at the same time.

If Anna Pavord's name sounds familiar, it's because she writes for that beautiful British Broadcasting mag Gardens Illustrated and she wrote the best-selling book "The Tulip: The Story of a Flower That Has Made Men Mad."

“Of all the different plants in the world,” says Pavord, “bulbs intrigue me the most... Bulbs are not just a spring thing. In this talk I introduce some of my favourites and suggest how they might be used in a garden.”

Pavord lives and gardens in Dorset, England. At 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23 she'll be speaking at CUH, 3501 N.E. 41st Street. Admission is $15. You can pay at the door or register in advance to save your seat. To sign up or seek more information, contact Jean Robins at 206-685-8033 or jrobins@u.washington.edu.

        
 
 

Beyond Tulips

Not that there's anything wrong with tulips; I can't resist buying dozens of glossy, plum-colored 'Queen of the Night' and glowing orange 'Princess Irene' to fill pots and feed troughs.

But there are many more unusual choices to keep your garden blooming March through May; here are a few bulbs more unexpected than the usual tulips and daffs...

Photos courtesy of Brent and Becky's Bulbs, a quality source for spring and fall-blooming bulbs.

 

Camassia lilies bloom blue in May, on tall, skinny stalks with sword-shaped leaves. Their flowers are star-like with yellow centers, they tolerate heavy soils and bloom happily in sun or part shade.

Allium 'Globemaster' is one of the most dramatic of ornamental onions, and is great for crowded gardens because it takes up little horizontal space. It towers over the May garden; plant as many as you can afford for a celestial effect as the purple allium flower globes hover over your other plantings. Allium leaves appear first, then wither away as the flower stalks emerge. The flowers persist for months in the garden, drying to buff colored.

Fritillaria 'Aurora' (a.k.a. crown imperial) grows three feet tall with burn-orange bells topped with a frill of leaves worthy of a tropical parrot.  These sculptural beauties often bloom in April, in time to heat up the garden for Easter.

All these bulbs are easy to grow and truly perennial. Plant them this month or next in well-draining soil in a sunny location, and they'll multiply and bloom year after year.

Plotting the Resurrection

 
If it wasn't for the great satisfaction of tucking narcissus and allium bulbs into the soil, I'd probably turn my back on the dying garden and head indoors for the winter. But brown paper sacks filled with lumps of potential are lined up on my garage shelves, so there's nothing for it but to cut back the dahlia foliage and dying hosta leaves to find enough bare earth to plant springtime.  

Every year at this time I read E.B. White's introduction to his wife's book "Onward and Upward in the Garden", which contains one of the most poignant scenes in garden literature. White evokes all the absurd optimism inherent in planting bulbs as he describes his wife out in the garden as always, planting flowers she'll never see....

"As years went by and age overtook her, there was something comical yet touching in her bedraggled appearance on this awesome occasion - the small, hunched-over figure, her studied absorption in the implausible notion that there would be yet another spring, oblivious to the ending of her own days, which she knew perfectly well was near at hand, sitting there with her detailed chart under those dark skies in the dying October, calmly plotting the resurrection."

Spring at the Nurseries - Bulbs and Edibles

I've been longing so for spring, exacerbated by the freezing cold weather this week. And then I came across this quote:

"Every year, back comes Spring, with nasty little birds yapping their fool heads off and the ground all mucked up with plants." Count on Dorothy Parker to put rushing the season into some perspective.

Nevertheless, as soon as the sun came out yesterday afternoon, I headed for Wells-Medina Nursery (on my way to BAM to see the altered book show - which is both perplexing and stunning).

 I  was reminded that for all of us who didn't get around to planting all the bulbs we wanted to last fall, or worse, if squirrels and/or rabbits have decimated what we did plant, nurseries are now full of sprouted bulbs mature enough to survive critters and bloom soon. This selection of spring bulbs is so much wider than it was even a few years ago - Wells has dozens of different kinds of tulips and narcissus, plus sweet little Iris reticulata, delicate checkered fritillaria, fragrant hyacinths. And the good thing about planting in the spring rather than autumn is that the garden is so bare it's easier to figure out just where the bulbs should go. Just be sure to plant bulbs in drifts rather than rows, more rather than less, and close by walkways and outside of windows where you can best see and enjoy them.

Wells-Medina had racks of gorgeous hellebores, as you might expect. But I was surprised to see that the  whole center section was filled with a great variety of strawberries, raspberries, currants and gooseberries - a sign of the times-they-are-a-changing to pick up your gooseberries at Wells-Medina!

Good for Wells to be right on target with the edibles gardeners most want this spring...along with their usual diverse and sophisticated fare. And it isn't just Wells - last week I was impressed by all the lettuces, arugula, greens and herbs already started and ready to plant at Swanson's Nursery in Ballard - now if it'd just warm up enough so that we can get out there and start planting.....