|
BULB, a magical book
Bulb by Anna Pavord (Mitchell Beasley, 2009) is a magical book. It’ll take you out of the doldrums of rainy spring and cause you to dream, plan and search for the incredible plants within. Exquisite photographs vividly display their wild nature, colors, scent, shapes and power.
Growing bulbs successfully seems simple after Pavord dissects the bulb world and lays it neatly on the table with mouth-watering images to boot.
“Of all types of plants, bulbs intrigue me the most. I like the way they shoot into flower, do their thing, and then thoughtfully put themselves away again. I positively relish the fact that so often I forget I have planted them. Then, at the appropriate season, there they are, not the slightest bit put out that I have not been worrying about them or making them special snacks.” (excerpt from Bulb)
The book opens with what bulbs are, their history, native ranges, habitats and how they traveled. Dull, you might think but, instead, riveting! Especially with Pavord’s fun “iron fist in a velvet glove” writing. It gives a glimpse into their lives and what they need to survive in the gardens of those who covet them.
Did you know that the first great wave of bulbs arrived in Constantinople in the mid-1400-1500s from Asia via the Silk Road?
Imagine…merchants with sumptuous silks and flamboyant flowering bulbs: fritillaries, lilies, tulips, hyacinths, iris, anemones… They brought the impossible: Fritillaria persica, which grew in scrub at 8,000 feet in Turkey and Israel; Crown Imperial from 2,300-7,225 feet in Kashmir and bell-like fritillaries from limestone pastures and sub-alpine meadows from all over the Middle East.
Our native Jack-in-the-Pulpit led the second great wave, arriving in Europe in 1664, followed by erythronium in 1665 and trillium in 1673. This exodus was composed of New World woodland species. Then in the early 1700s, flamboyant South African species like gladiolus that grew in meadows and on damp cliffs, Amaryllis belladonna, the only true amaryllis, and the Calla and Gloriosa Lily found their way to Europe. Bulbs, neatly wrapped in their own packages, were easy to transport.
In chapters by genus, invaluable information per species or variety include origin and habitat, history, season, hardiness, exemplary companions and personal experience. Other chapters describe how to grow bulbs indoors and out and indexes of bulbs by bloom time...
Did you know that Ornithogalum umbellatum (Star-of-Bethlehem) opens every day at 11am and closes at 3? (That plant lit the way on this writer’s road to nature and horticulture. At 6, 7, or 8, I played in wooded lots and picked wads of Star-of-Bethlehem and sold them door-to-door a nickel a fistful.)
I look at all the bulbs I would plant if I lived in Zone 7: creamy Crinum x powelei, ginger-like orange/maroon Cautleya spicata, 6 to 13-foot tall Cardiocrinum giganteum that grows at 5,250-11,000 feet in the Himalayas (plant it with rhododendrons/magnolias), lemon buttercream Arum creticum, snaky Arisaema griffithii, Amaryllis belladonna, Dierma pendulum with long, arching sprays of pink bells, and delicate blue Notholirion bulbuliferum bells with dangling curly blue pistils, and Chilean blue crocus....
But I live in Zone 5. I can grow 3 ¼-inch Cyclamen purpurascens, allium and fritaillaria to my heart’s content, flaming swords of Gladiolus cardinalis from South Africa, plus G. murielae with my Rosa glauca.
Let's try starry Ipheon 'Alberto Castillo', dainty leucojum with petals like petticoats and lilies galore: the purest L. candidum, intoxicating ‘Casa Blanca', L. henryii (an orange speckled devil with bumps on its petals that grows wild on 3,000-foot limestone cliffs in China), L. regale from rock crevices and mountainsides in southwest China, and L. martagon from Western Siberian alpine meadows. It resembles floating white birds with golden feet. But most of all L. speciosum var. album from Japan, decorated, rough-textured, frilly, fancy with arching recurved petals and out-there stamens.
Pavord on accidentally slicing into fall planted lilies in spring: “The guilt is terrible, even worse than the wasted opportunity of sticking your nose into the oriental white trumpet of ‘Casa Blanca’ and swaying drunkenly on the smell.”
Indoors, Zone 5ers can grow Amazon Lily Eucharis amazonica indoors (many years ago I grew it in office buildings) and the sexy red Aztec Lily, Sprekelia formosissima.
Do yourself a favor: buy this book now. Compare the information with your own property and bulb success and make a list for next year. With this new understanding of what bulbs really do, where they come from and how they behave, your garden, too, can become magical. Bulb is amazingly practical, plus it is gorgeous. Add this book to your gardening library. It's worth every cent.
Tips on Growing Bulbs
- Consider the bulb's natural habitat. This is what they want.
- Inspect your property's micro-climates. Each one is different. "Bulbs are even more sensitive to it."
- Choose your bulbs with the conditions of your property and their site requirements in mind. (lawns, under trees and shrubs, against walls, gravel areas and dry gardens, pots, rain gardens) Did you know that Lilium candidum, Madonna Lily, from the Caucusus loves to bake on alkaline rocky slopes up to 2,000 feet? Be sure to give it a real hot spot in your garden.
- Size matters. The best flowers come from the biggest bulbs, except for hyacinths (get hyacinths under 7 inches).
- Know how to acquire bulbs. Some like to be shipped moist, some dormant, others "in the green."
- Buy bulbs from a reliable company.
....................
More goodies
Print this story:
Printer-friendly page
published April 04, 2011
|
Click Here for Site Map | Privacy Policy | Web site developed by SHiNYMACHiNE web development