Favorite Yellow Flowered Bulbs--TOW

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net
Wed, 21 Jan 2004 13:22:45 PST
I would like to add to Mark's observation about regional preferences for
yellow flowers.  

My impression is that most gardeners here on the east coast welcome yellow
during the cold months. During the summer it's a different story.  

Nor is it just a question of the time of year: the latitude has something
to do with it. For as long as American gardeners have been visiting British
gardens, they have noticed that the light is different. It seems a
ridiculous thing to say: it's the same sun, isn't it? But it's true.
Washington is at about the same latitude as Athens or Lisbon; London is
well north of here. That apparently makes a huge difference in the quality
of the light during much of the day.

Americans are often very favorably impressed when they see "gold gardens"
in England. When they return home and plant the same plants in their own
garden to  get the same effect, the results are often ghastly. Instead of
the warm glow they saw in England, they see a sickly looking plant that
seems to be virus infected or made of ugly plastic. Blame the light! 

Jim McKenney
jimmckenney@starpower.net
Montgomery County, Maryland, zone 7, just north of Washington, D.C.



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