4 
BARR’S GENERAL BULB CATALOGUE, Autumn, 1936. 
Naturalising Bulbs and Plants in Grass, Woodlands, etc. 
The naturalising of bulbs is a most fascinating and delightful form of gardening by which most 
charming effects may be produced. No sight is more delightful than the fresh brightness of spring flowers 
growing freely in grassland or lending colour to woodland walks, hedgerows, and ditches, here and there 
nestling at the foot of trees, or establishing themselves on sloping banks. 
For naturalising in grass, spring-flowering bulbs are especially suitable, as they bloom and are 
over before the grass grows tall enough to hide their beauty. All formality of arrangement should 
be avoided, the bulbs being scattered freely from the hand and planted where they fall. Large irregular 
breaks of one kind of bulb should be made in order to obtain the finest effect. In planting under trees 
select spots where the soil is deepest and where the drip is least. 
Those whose gardens are of limited size may make them very beautiful in spring, by utilising the 
fringes of their lawns and any grassy mounds or shady shrubbery walks for such spring favourites as 
Daffodils, Anemones, Scillas, Snowdrops, Crocuses, Chionodoxas, etc., reserving the borders for the 
choicer Daffodils, early and late Tulips, Lilies, etc., also summer and autumn flowering herbaceous plants. 
In large gardens and parks ample opportunities are afforded for naturalising spring-flowering bulbs, and 
very beautiful results may be attained in this way. 
CROCUSES NATURALISED IN GRASS IN A LONDON PARK. 
In planting bulbs in grass, Barr’s Bulb Planter (see page 83) will be found most useful. It cuts out a 
clean piece of turf, leaving a hole to receive the bulb, and on making the second cutting clears itself of 
the first piece of turf, which lies ready at hand for covering the bulb. This handy implement saves an 
immense amount of time, and does not, as with an ordinary dibber, leave a hard resting place for the 
bulb, while by its use the grass is not in the least disturbed. Planting should not take place while the 
ground is hard, but after the first autumn rains. If the ground is poor, a compost of fresh soil with 
the addition of Bone Meal (7 lbs. to a bushel) or Phytobroma (1 lb. to a bushel) should be made and a 
little of the compost dropped into each hole before placing in the bulb, a little more should be given as 
a covering, and then the sod of turf be replaced and pressed down. The bulbs will then be given a fair 
start in their new quarters. It is advisable to cut the grass as late in autumn as possible, so as to ensure 
it being short at the time the bulbs flower. 
Among the many gems which lend themselves to wild gardening and naturalising, we would specially 
mention the following:— Alliums, Anemones, Anthericums, Chionodoxas, Crocuses, Cyclamen, Daffodils, 
Dog’s Tooth Violets (Erythronium dens-canis), Fritillaries, Funkias, Helleborus, Hemerocallis, Irises 
(Tall and Dwarf Flag), Muscari, Ornithogalums, Scillas (early-flowering), Snowdrops (Galanthusi, May¬ 
flowering Cottage Tulips, Wood Hyacinths or Blue Bells (May-flowering Scillas) and Winter Aconites- 
