Tulips and Daffodills and Crocus - Oh My!

Keukenhof Gardens, Holland

Need some inspiration? This photo is from Holland, in the Netherlands, where they've made Spring bulb design an art and a very profitable business. It's much like the annual New York Fashion Week when design houses parade their newest and most exciting creations. The bulbs in the Keukenhof Park are planted each Fall to showcase the work of the Dutch growers. Almost 80 acres are planted with 8 MILLION bulbs! Imagine a photo of what the annual Fall planting must be like!

 Has the photo inspired - or intimidated you? They make my wallet hurt - I once tried to count just the blue Muscari in the first picture and stopped when my estimate went over 1,000 bulbs. That was a design dream that quickly turned into an economical nightmare.

But the amazing number of bulbs they manage to plant every year heartens me - surely I can get a few dozen in the ground this fall without too many complaints. Right?

"White Lion" Double Daffodil

"Faith" Daffodil

In the past few years, I've planted hundreds of daffodils.  After the initial fascination with the big trumpeted  old-fashioned King Alfred, I bought  some gorgeous double daffodils, some multi-flower, and some split-cup narcissus. The originality of some breeders stops me in my tracks - just look at those pink trumpets!

But every Fall when the bulb catalogs arrive, I fall in love with the newest varieties (oh you fickle woman!) and carefully choose a few dozen new ones. Last year it was "Spring Beauty" Scilla which popped up between the ornamental grasses in early Spring this year - the brightness of the little blue flower was startling to see. 

"Spring Beauty" Scilla siberica

Sweet Woodruff (photo by Heather Birkett, Wash.)

Anemone Blanda

            A month later, the Anemone Blanda I had naturalized in the side garden bloomed just weeks before the Sweet Woodruff flowered.  I had seen the effect of the anemone coming up through the green leaves of the woodruff in a fellow Master Gardener's yard (thanks, Bev) and the effect was so charming, I've been gradually adding the anemone to the bed. It's early yet so I don't have a good photo of the bed but if you apply a little imagination with these two photos, you might see what I'm working toward.

 Once the design is planned and the purchases are made, the work begins.  Next time I'll explain how the magic happens and any tricks we can use to make it a little easier. Meanwhile, one last Keukenhof:

And a couple of good websites for design ideas: http://extension.illinois.edu/bulbs/landscaping.cfm
http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/scene74a6.html