CHAPTER XXXVI 

 BULBS 



THIS is a type of planting which can provide as many interesting 

 flower effects as any annual, perennial, or shrub planting. It is the 

 type of planting that provides flowers at a period of the year from late 

 March until the latter part of May, when the garden and lawn are 

 otherwise bare of flowers. The information concerning this group of 

 plantings covering the possible types to be used, the effects to be ob- 

 tained, and the care of the mature plants, has not been so freely dis- 

 tributed to the owners of our homes as it should have been. After the 

 monotonous, uninteresting landscape presented by the lawn and garden 

 areas in the vicinity of residences during the long winter months, these 

 touches of flower effects are of double value as an introduction to the 

 possibilities of the flowering shrubs and garden plants. So important 

 is this subject that an entire chapter of this book, Chapter VI, has 

 been devoted to the culture of bulbs. 



It is the general impression that "bulbs are bulbs" for practically 

 one use. It is not realized that such a wide variation exists in the 

 purposes for which bulbs may be used and in the different types of 

 bulbs which are used. 



As a matter of fact, with the proper planting of bulbs, a continuous 

 succession of flowers can be obtained during a normal season from 

 the middle part of March, beginning with the crocuses and the early 

 narcissi, extending through the early part of May, with the early tulips 

 and the late narcissi, and ending with the Darwin tulips during the 

 last part of May to be immediately followed by such garden flowers 

 as the early iris, the columbine, the alyssum, and the lilac. 



There are bulbs which are logically adapted to refined lawn and 

 garden areas, bulbs which are adapted for naturalizing in woodlands 

 and wild gardens, interesting combinations of bulbs, and types of bulbs 

 valuable for forcing during the late winter months. The life of the 

 average bulb under normal conditions is approximately three years 

 after which time the bulbs must be replaced with new material; the 



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