Landscaping with Bulbs--TOW
Arnold Trachtenberg (Mon, 06 Oct 2003 19:43:09 PDT)

I did something similar to Jim. I planted 2500 narcissus in small
groups in ivy that surrounds some large beech trees. The chore was to
get the bulbs through the ivy roots and then through the roots of the
trees. I was a great amount of work, three to four arduous hours each
weekend for five to six week. I planted three varieties ( Pueblo, Feb.
Gold and Thalia) that span the entire spring and the colors seem to
change from yellow to yellow and white and to all white. Each year the
display gets better and the foliage has a chance to ripen prior to the
trees leafing out.

When I started I soon realized that I needed a system to make sure the
bulbs were being equally distributed in the planting area. I created a
series of grids 8 feet by 8 feet and knew I had to plant at least 250
to 300 bulbs in each grid. This worked out very well. I randomly
placed two hundred of each variety in a large bucket and reached in and
planted as I went. I used a bulb auger attached to a power drill to
dig the hole and dropped in three to four bulbs.

Arnold
New Jersey