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Natural Landscapes with Bulbs
Tips for Naturalized Bulb Plantings
Mimicking woodland gardens with naturalized bulbs—random plantings of ground-hardy bulbs that increase naturally—is a good match for many home landscapes.
Consider adding seasonal bright colors with bulbs in your yard. Choose an option that matches your taste and garden site.
Good candidates include creating a grove of deciduous birch, aspen, or poplar with naturalized bulbs in groups and alone, or seeding bulbs beneath a turfgrass or natural grass border as a spring surprise.
Options for Bulbs
Spring-blooming bulbs in dappled-shade locations create a wonderland bright, cheerful color punctuated by the grays and browns of tree trunks still awaiting the sprout of leaves.
Plan species that bloom early [see: Bulbs and Seasons of Bloom]. Their colorful display appears before the last snows melt. Here are some suggestions: plant crocus, glory-of-the-snow, snowdrops, and snowflakes, plus early-blooming Iris reticulata to cast winter’s pall behind you.
Another choice is massed color with bulbs. Think in large numbers as you plan a naturalized setting.
For even a small bed with massed color, you’ll need at least 48 English bluebells, 75 or more daffodils, more than 36 crocus, and at least 30 dwarf iris. Create bright, dense plantings and continuous fields of color with other bulbs by using similar quantities.
Accents With Bulbs
For accents and smaller spots in your yard, plan irregular-shaped groups of smaller bulbs with the occasional tall one.
Make a big patch of ground-hugging white and purple crocus or mascara at the base of a large landscape tree, punctuated with two or three clumps of tall yellow narcissus.
All these species flower at the same time, so the contrast comes through different heights and coordinating, contrasting, or hue-on-hew variation. Repeat several similar groups within the landscape for the best effect.
Take advantage of existing landscape plantings as you plan to include naturalized bulbs. If there are shady fringes, let drifts of bulbs extend into the margins. Increase the spacing and blend the border to make the display appear larger than its size.
Summer-Blooming Bulbs
For summer bulb plantings, choose species that flower before or after perennial plants, shrubs, and trees in the garden.
Flowering cherry, evergreen pear, and azalea, for example, finish their bloom just as Spanish bluebell, lily, and reticulated iris begin their month-long displays.
Dahlia, foxtail lily, lily-of-the-Nile, and pennants are among the garden’s tallest bulbs; plan locations for them where they provide a glorious focal point for passersby.
Use shade and sunlight to your advantage when planning for bulb landscapes. Note how patches of sunlight migrate across your yard’s flower beds and borders as the day progresses. Use these “spotlights” to emphasize groupings within the planting.
Plant bright colors in full sunlight, where pale-colored bulbs would fade away. Save muted pastels and whites for deep shade, where they will fairly glow.
A Gallery of Natural Bulb Landscapes
This gallery of images reveals how careful planning allows naturalized bulbs of several species in different garden locations, to provide striking displays throughout most of the year, from spring to late autumn.
From Planning to Planting
Full information on techniques for planting bulbs are found in that section [see: Planting Flowers]. Here, you’ll find additional tips to help your design concept be a success.
Bulbs seem made for planting into well-defined beds and borders. These landscape features are separate from most structural elements of your home, and distinct from surrounding plantings. It’s best to plant summer and autumn bulbs after the spring bulbs you planted in autumn or early spring have faded
The result is two or more seasonal displays of color in the same spot.
At its most basic, naturalizing means planting bulbs informally.
Some throw golf balls or other markers over their shoulders with their eyes closed to randomly broadcast bulbs in patterns that mimic nature.
The alternative way to naturalize bulbs in a bed or border requires time spent marking the soil with the patterns you choose for your bulbs.
Either approach produces reliable, beautiful results. If you choose to mark a layout, it’s best to use string, hose, or rope to diagram your pattern. These temporary markers are easy to rearrange and shift until you have created the ideal pattern you’re seeking.
Also give some thought to your palette of bulb species.
Naturalize bulbs that are hardy in your climate. Matching species to your region’s climate avoids having to lift and store scores of hard-to-find bulbs hiding in your landscape. It’s a good idea to choose bunching bulbs—bluebells, grape hyacinth, and snowflake, for instance.
Many beautiful cultivars lose vigor in a season or two and require replanting; match them with crocus, narcissus, and species tulips that are hardy in your zone [see: Plant Hardiness and Climate].
Also match your naturalized bulbs with site conditions needed for them to thrive. Shelter drought-loving summer bulbs beneath overhangs and deciduous trees in areas prone to summer rain. Consider quick-draining slopes and hills as locations, especially those with open exposures and facing the sun.
If you live in a cold-winter climate, naturalize early-blooming spring bulbs in your lawn. By the time the snow is gone and the grass requires mowing, glory-of-the-snow, snowdrop, and squill will be finishing their bloom.