California Bulbs in an Eastern Garden— By Flora Marble 



Pennsyl- 



STAR AND GLOBE TULIPS, AS WELL AS THE CALIFORNIA ADDERS' TONGUES ESTABLISHED IN THE EAST- 

 WHY EARLY WINTER PLANfTING IS THE KEYNOTE OF SUCCESSFUL CULTIVATION OF THESE GEMS 



IT IS commonly believed that the beauti- 

 ful bulbous plants of California cannot 

 be enjoyed in the gardens of the East — that 

 they will not survive the winter. I have 

 ample proof that this is not entirely correct 

 and that man}' of these bulbs are hardy, 

 provided the ground is given sufficient mulch 

 to prevent alternate thawing and freezing. 

 They will not succeed, however, in a locality 

 where this cannot be done. The secret of 

 their cultivation lies in not planting them too 

 early — about the first of November is soon 

 enough — because they are so ready to start 

 into growth that a very little warmth and 

 moisture suffice. They must not be per- 

 mitted to grow until the spring. 



I planted a few California bulbs during 

 the fall of 1905 to determine whether or no 

 they would thrive in the mountains of Penn- 

 sylvania and am well pleased with the results. 

 The winter was an open one, with alternate 

 thawing and freezing that was very hard on 

 plants of all kinds in the garden. The spring 

 was late and dry; on the 21st of May there 

 was a hard frost with the thermometer 

 registering 27 , the new growths on trees 

 and shrubs being frozen so that the leaves 

 were dropped. The narcissus blossoms 



turned black and all the buds were blighted. 

 The California flowers stood the cold better 

 than any of our native plants, though the 

 freezing may account for the number of 

 solitary flowers that appeared on the stalks 

 when several were looked for. The bulbs 

 planted were adder's tongue, star and globe 

 tulips, the camass, and that gem of our 

 Eastern lilies, the California leopard lily. 



To provide for a succession of bloom in 

 the beds after the season of the bulbs, there 

 are clumps of false dragon's head (Physo- 

 stegia Virginiana), a perennial that does 

 not start early enough in the spring to inter- 

 fere with the blooming of the adders' tongues. 

 In May, seeds of sweet alyssum and migno- 

 nette were planted between the adders' 

 tongues. Nasturtiums grew behind them. In 

 late summer, the bed was a bank of white and 

 green; under this growth, the bulbs made 

 ready for another spring. 



The Californians have many adders' 

 tongues to replace the common one that 

 abounds in the East, and which, with its 

 yellow flowers and mottled leaves in April, is 

 known to everybody. The Western kinds 

 are far more beautiful, having several flowers 

 to the stalk and they are more showy, too. 



The false dragon's head and sweet alyssum, flowering after the California bulbs, are excellent for succession 



64 



One is light yellow; another is lavender. 

 These two Californians {Erythronium citri- 

 num and Hendersonii) were planted in my 

 Pennsylvania garden about the middle of 

 November in a mixture of rich loam and 

 sand, in a bed, in a protected, well-drained 

 corner of the garden. The bulbs were set 

 eight inches deep with sand packed about 

 them to prevent rotting and attacks of worms, 

 and mulched with a thin layer of leaves. 



In spite of the backward season, Erythro- 

 nium citrinum was blooming freely by April 

 25th. The blossoms were over two inches 

 across and cream-colored with bright yellow 

 centres. Sometimes four or five were clustered 

 on a branching stem, but more often a stalk 

 bore only a single blossom. The leaves 

 were beautifully mottled, broad and wavy. 



The second week in May Erythronium 

 Hendersonii began to bloom. It has heavily 

 mottled leaves. The flower is clear, light 

 lavender with deep purple in the throat and 

 a faint touch of yellow where the purple 

 comes out on the rolling petals. Some 

 plants bore several flowers on the branching 

 stem, but mostly solitary. They are said 

 to carry as many as twelve on a stalk in their 

 native climate. In spite of the very unfavor- 

 able weather, I felt that the California adder's 

 tongue would succeed here, so the bulbs 

 were left permanently in the bed to take 

 care of themselves. 



The native adder's tongue (Erythronium 

 Americanum), growing nearby, began to 

 bloom a few days earlier. This never bears 

 more than one flower on a stalk, and the 

 blossom is more drooping and compact; the 

 leaves also are more slender and straighter, 

 though they are as beautifully marked as 

 those of the California kinds. 



The pretty star tulips and globe tulips 

 (species of Calochortus), having respectively 

 upright and drooping flowers, are desirable 

 additions to our gardens because they come 

 into flower after the season of the true tulips, 

 and so extend the period of bulb flowers. 



I planted three species of Calochortus at 

 the same time as the adders' tongues. As 

 their special requirement is a soil having 

 perfect drainage, with some humus in it, and 

 a shady situation, a special preparation of 

 the bed was undertaken. The bulbs were 

 planted eight inches deep and about the same 

 distance apart. Two of them were star 

 tulips, with upright flowers, and I have to 

 record that Bentham's (C. Benthami) did 

 not prove a desirable plant. It grew only 

 about five inches high and the dainty flowers 

 were about an inch across, and bright yellow, 

 lined with silky hairs, but they looked 

 uncomfortable, as if protesting that the 

 climate was not to their liking. The flowers 

 appeared early in June and were gone by 

 the last week of the month. Far more satis- 

 factory was Maw's star tulip (Calochortus 

 Maweanus, var. major) which was decidedly 

 at home in my garden, where its lovely 



