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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1913 



A grouping of Golden Jonquils in the garden border 



Planting the Bulb Garden 



By Norman H. Loring 

 Photographs by Nathan R. Graves 



ULBS are one of the most neglected of the 

 garden's opportunities. Not because they 

 are not appreciated, for their appeal is quite 

 universal, but because their culture requires 

 forethought — careful planting, and some 

 work, many months before there will be -any- 

 thing to show for it except the gardener's joy in anticipa- 

 tion — and that, by the way, is no inconsiderable reward. 

 The knowledge that you now have your dozens or hundreds, 

 as the case may be, of the most beautiful Spring flowers 

 tucked safely away in the soil, snugly protected and await- 

 ing only the first warm days to brighten and gladden your 

 home world is in itself a very good Winter's dividend on 

 your small investment of cash and time. 



The cheerful, daring little Snow Drops and Squills, wel- 

 come harbingers of the return of the season of life ; the smil- 

 ing Crocuses turning their many colored cups upward to 

 drink the first drafts of the year's golden sunshine : Daffodils 

 "that come before the swallows dare and take the winds of 

 March with beauty"; Golden Jonquils and heavy-scented 

 Hyacinths — all these, if you would see them at all next 

 Spring, will require your attention this Fall; and if you 

 would see them as they should be seen, so planned as to have 

 them massed, or bedded, or scattered about so that they 

 fit harmoniously into the general scheme of the place, and 

 yet each bulb tells, they will require your careful considera- 

 tion now. The earlier you can get in your bulb order the 

 better, but before you order, your bulb planting should be 

 carefully thought out and planned, to insure best results. 



When buying bulbs, not only order as early as you pos- 

 sibly can, but get the^ best bulbs you can find, if possible 

 selecting them perso- ully ; although it is much better to order 

 by mail from some ! itge house which imports its own bulbs 

 directly than to trust to the questionable products of some 

 hardware store or small seed-store in a small city or town. 

 The bulbs should be solid, firm and plump, and as even in 

 size as possible; the "best" does not mean necessarily either 

 the high-priced new sorts, nor the largest, the "mammoth" or 

 "gigantic" sized bulbs, but it does mean 'the best grade re- 

 gardless of price, and standard named sorts rather than mix- 

 tures. In fact, the latter will even more frequently give satis- 

 factory results. In making the first planting of bulbs that 

 are to remain in the ground from year to year, it is a good 

 plan to use some of the smaller size along with the first 

 sized ones, as these will then be in their prime when the 

 others have passed and before the new offsets formed have 

 become fully developed. 



In speaking in the ordinary, perhaps narrow, s.^nse of 

 the word, most bulbs cannot be used to best ad\ age 

 in garden planting, although they are still largely utilized 

 for this purpose. Happily that abominable atrocity of mak- 

 ing a gaping wound upon a beautiful and smooth law .by 

 inflicting upon it a crescent or star or circle or some o\. 

 even more incongruous geometrical design, composec 

 alternate streaks and spots of red and blue and pink 

 cinths or Tulips, is growing rapidly out of practice; 

 the whole place should be your garden; an integral compo- 

 sition, and in such a fixed picture all of the bulbs may be 



