Hi Kathleen - I read you post with interest because I have also been experimenting with naturalistic bulb plantings for my California-native Calochorti and Brodiaea. While an arid look generally works for beds in Southern California, it is still nice to have something going on in the "off season". Like you, I have tried lots of approaches and have generally found that the denser the cover the worse the problem with inverts. The most successful approach so far, and the one I'm going to expand upon in this coming season's experiment, combines rocks and sculptural objects (i.e., junk) plus a smattering of short, summer-dry native bunch grasses (Aristida purpurea being the easiest) and annual windflowers with spindly growth habits (esp. Linanthus, which are also nice because they bloom after the bulbs are finished). I have had my most satisfactory results when the bunches are not allowed to get too big, both because they create a lot of root competition and because they give cover for snails and grasshoppers. The bulbs often grow up through grasses in the wild anyway and their presentation when in bloom is actually nicer when there are grasses mixed in with them. So I think the trick will be to avoid too much grass density. This year I lost all of my C. obispoensis buds to grasshoppers thanks to my allowing a (very nice looking) Mimulus to encroach into its bed. I was looking forward to seeing those blooms ... lesson learned. Chris Elwell PS: I plan to set some of those dry grasses on fire this fall to see if fire treatment encourages a larger bloom. Does anyone know whether inducing a bloom with fire treatment one year makes bulbs more likely to take a rest the following year? > On May 20, 2015, at 7:05 PM, Kathleen Sayce <ksayce@willapabay.org> wrote: > > I’ve followed Ian Young’s bulb log for years, and have tried to devise a mix of ground covering plants to coexist with bulbs several times, based on his enthusiastic experiments in his own garden. > > What I have found is that any of several plants (Oxalis spp., Galium odoratum, Dicentra formosa, et cetera) are perfectly happy to cover the ground, but then slugs, snails and other plant eating invertebrates follow. These ground covering plants also do nothing to deter ivy, blackberry, spruce, or elderberry seedlings, let alone slow down muscular spreaders like creeping buttercup, or sheep sorrel. > > Just today I rescued four Lilium columbianum bulbs from a mat of Oxalis (which has lovely white flowers and nice green foliage) and quack grass, which had sneaked in under the Oxalis cover. Formerly there were 15 bulbs in this area, and some might still return next year. Or not. > > Admittedly, my garden, and the coastal Pacific Northwest in general, is over endowed with non-native slugs and snails. > > My question to the general readership is this: Has anyone succeeded in North America with layers of green mixed plantings in which bulbs can thrive? Or does this provide too much cover for potential green pests and herbivorous invertebrates? > > Kathleen > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/