94 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



October, 1913 



resenting the petals of the flower, of one or 

 more other colors. Perhaps you would like 

 to work out a design representing a beauti- 

 ful rug. In many ways you may put the 

 tulips together so that there will be added 

 to their bright colors the beauty of design 

 and order. To work out various patterns 

 that may be made with your tulips becomes 

 very fascinating, and it is restful to the 

 mind, for it occupies without taxing. In 

 arranging pattern beds it is necessary to 

 consider the height and time of blooming 

 of the different tulips used, if the design is 

 worked out perfectly. For such arrange- 

 ment the early tulips are much better suited 

 than the May flowering ones. 



After the planting comes the covering of 

 the tulip beds. The shade trees along the 

 city streets drop their leaves about the 

 time for the covering of the tulips, and so 

 I have used leaves for this purpose. A 

 covering three or four inches thick is quite 

 sufficient. But leaves will blow about 

 unless held in position. Wire netting, 

 spread over the leaves, keeps them securely 

 in place and is tidy in appearance. The 

 wire netting is held in place by wooden pegs 

 or iron spikes. But this leaf covering must 

 be removed in the spring as soon as the 

 tulip spikes begin to appear above the 

 ground, else it may force them to bend 

 and twist. 



In the growing of tulips there is great 

 satisfaction in that it is not necessary to 

 fight insects. So far as my experience of 

 twenty years goes, there is no bug for 

 the tulip. It gets ahead of the weeds 

 also, so rapid is it in its growth and de- 

 velopment. 



As the blooming season closes, there 

 comes a most critical time in the growth 

 of the bulbs. Upon the treatment your 

 tulip bed receives then, will depend largely 

 the strength and quality of the bulbs the 

 following season. The ripening of the seed 

 in the seed pod at the top of the stalk 

 exhausts the bulb in the ground. Break 

 off the seed pod of every tulip as the petals 

 fall. The strength and vitality are then 

 retained and stored in the bulb. If you 



Late snows do not injure the tulip spike which 

 pierce through in spring 



The above bed as it looked on May 19th T. Gesner- 

 iana, var. spatulata at back. La Merveille in front 



wish to keep your tulip bulbs, year after 

 year, without deterioration, this practice 

 of breaking off the seed pods must be at- 

 tended to most scrupulously. Also if you 

 cut the flowers, be careful to cut as few 

 of the leaves as possible, for they are the 

 laboratories in which is prepared the food 

 for the bulbs. Bulbs cannot be deprived 

 long of their food supply and thrive. 



The seed pods being removed, you may 

 then watch the ripening of the bulbs. At 

 this stage you are likely to become im- 

 patient, nevertheless wait until the tulip 

 leaves turn yellow and partially dry up be- 

 fore you disturb the bulbs. This, I think, 

 is much better than to dig them up while 



they are still green, and to bury them 

 temporarily in the garden. At last the 

 bulbs are taken up, each kind being kept 

 by itself. This is the harvest time for the 

 tulip lover who treats his bulb aright. 

 His is the joy of the husbandman who 

 sees his possessions increasing. The small 

 bulbs, treated as the larger bulbs are 

 treated, will grow and become large bulbs 

 in a year or two. Working in this way, 

 you may increase your stock of bulbs, 

 and hence the size and number of your 

 beds. 



As the bulbs are taken from the earth 

 with the stems attached to them, they are 

 spread out loosely in some dry, shady 

 place. If at this stage a bulb becomes soft 

 and shrivels, it is because it was removed 

 from the ground too soon. Though it will 

 become hard again on drying, it will be 

 smaller and wanting in vitality. Let this 

 experience teach you the proper course 

 of procedure for the next year. Also, now 

 and then, you may find a bulb which is 

 moldy and soft, and from which layers 

 break easily, leaving moist, slimy surfaces. 

 Such are diseased. Remove and destroy 

 them, lest the disease be communicated to 

 others. 



When the bulbs are thoroughly dried so 

 that they easily separate from each other 

 and from the root clump, put them in 

 open receptacles, like small peach baskets 

 lined with paper, not more than two deep, 

 the large and small in separate baskets, 

 with the variety and number of bulbs 

 marked on each basket. The bulbs are 

 then put away in a dry place for the sum- 

 mer. The upper part of the house is 

 generally better than the cellar, for there 

 may be moisture enough in the latter to 

 cause them to mold. Also they must not 

 be left where the hot sun will strike them, 

 even during a part of the day. Under its 

 action they will become soft and lifeless. 

 The tulip bulbs will then be ready for plant- 

 ing in October. Knowing the number of 

 each variety, you may at your leisure plan 

 the arrangement of them in your beds for 

 the next season. 



Darwin's tulips bloom with the lilacs 



Leaves as a mulch do not cause rot 



