Garden bulbs for the home and garden

They Play an Important Part in Beautifying Gardens Throughout the Greater Part of the Year

Most surely throughout the year no flowers are more welcome than those of the bulbs (see Bulb) which herald the spring and continue in a glorious pageant of color until the first of the summer blooms commence to unfold. And the fact that they are among the easiest of plants to grow successfully in all types of soils, thriving equally well in town and country gardens, is another guarantee of their lasting and increasing popularity. Indeed, it is difficult to plant too many of them even in the smallest garden, but, like all other ornamental plants, they do repay any special attention we may give them, especially in the initial soil preparation.

In the garden, as distinct from their use for home and greenhouse decoration, in their different types the spring bulbs can be used in a variety of ways with delightful effect. Some, like Crocuses, Daffodils, and Snowdrops, are loveliest when planted in grass or open woodland where they may remain undisturbed for many years; in contrast with which, the Tulips and Hyacinths make a magnificent show when planted en masse in formal bedding schemes. Many of the smaller bulb flowers—Chionodoxa, Muscari, Scilla, Crocus and Narcissus species, and the smaller bulbous Irises—are ideal subjects for the rockery and often seed themselves about freely, while all are suitable for the mixed flower borders where the foreground is of dwarf carpeting plants among which the smaller bulbs can be left undisturbed and when they die down will leave no unsightly gaps.

Daffodils and other Narcissi. One advantage of Daffodils and other Narcissi is that their colors harmonize well with all other flowers of their season,