An English Bulb Meadow
Diana Chapman (Fri, 07 Aug 2015 06:46:39 PDT)

I think there are two different approaches to planting bulbs in turf.
If you call it a lawn, the expectation is that it will look neat and
trimmed and set off the rest of the garden, the plantings of flower
borders or shrubs and trees, and the rough appearance while the bulb
foliage dies back can be annoying, especially since most lawn plantings
are of one species with nothing to follow on. If you approach it
differently, as John Davies has, and plant an area with bulbs that will
flower for several months in succession, and the planting is the main
event in your garden, then surely waiting a month or two to mow it isn't
a problem. My pastures are mown once a year in summer to refresh them,
control weeds and stimulate new growth. I don't think they look bad
before they are mown, they look like a meadow with waving grasses.

I think John Davies' garden is truly inspirational. I have a very large
garden, and I intend keeping the area near the house as trimmed lawn,
but I also have an outer garden that was created from a pasture and I
have never done anything to improve the grass area which is composed
mostly of coarse weeds and grasses, so I am inspired to plant at least
some of it with bulbs and see how it goes. I have gophers, and also the
property floods in winter, so it will be an experiment to see what can
survive these conditions. Right now my outer garden looks very bad,
bare patches, thistle, dandelions, etc. I don't water it and don't
intend to, it is too large.

Diana
Telos Rare Bulbs