A Bulb Planting Project at the Farm
In early October, we shot a television segment with Sally Ferguson, the director of the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center. The title of the segment was “Sweeps of Blue,” an introduction to pest resistant blue flowering bulbs - rodents don't like them and neither do deer. I have a particular fondness for blue flowers because they strike me as being evocative of a peaceful calm. I also love great sweeps of color in the landscape and I thought of the perfect place for a color palette of blue. About six years ago, I planted twelve beautiful linden trees as a long allee. Over the years, the trees have grown quite nicely, but nothing of great interest was ever planted beneath them. Since autumn is bulb planting season, and a fabulous new garden could bloom in the spring, I asked Andrea Mason, the garden expert at TV, to do some research. Andrea found a great source in the Netherlands and two experts to come and help with the design.
One day recently, the bulbs arrived – all 116,000 of them, a mix of nine different kinds of blue flowers. We decided to shoot a television segment, as well as a story for the magazine. Shoot day arrived last week and I welcomed Jacqueline van der Kloet, an internationally renowned landscape and garden designer and Frans Roozen, technical director of the International Flower Bulb Center in the Netherlands. Jacqueline explained that these particular bulbs were chosen for their balance of color. Planning a garden is like being a painter and you want the results to be painterly. Blooming time was also a major factor because this new garden will bloom in succession from late winter until the beginning of May! All of those bulbs are now in the ground and we await a paradise of blue, a true spectacle arriving in the spring. I can hardly wait!
A LIST OF WHAT WAS PLANTED
20,000 Crocus tommasinianus ‘Whitewell Purple’
12,000 Chionodoxa forbesii
10,000 Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Blue Giant’
16,000 Scilla siberica
12,000 Muscari azureum
12,000 M. botrvoides ‘Superstar’
12,000 M. ‘Valerie Finnis’
12,000 M. latifolium
10,000 Hyacinthoides hispanica ‘Excelsior’
TOTAL 116,000
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- It was a beautiful morning at the farm – clear and not too cold – a perfect bulb planting day!
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- The sunrise was lovely.
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- It cast a warm glow upon the bare treetops.
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- This is the allee of linden, now without leaves. Beneath the trees is where the bulbs are to be planted.
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- Meanwhile, Frédéric Lagrange and his crew set up their equipment for the magazine story, while Gary Nardilla and his crew prepare for the TV aspect of the shoot.
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- Some very basic gardening tools and some very sophisticated photography equipment
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- Jacqueline and Frans begin emptying the net bags that the bulbs were packed in.
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- This one bin contains 1,500 silla Siberica – an excellent bulb for naturalizing because it multiplies well year after year. The plants bear tiny, nodding, blue, star-like flowers.
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- These bulbs are Chionodoxa forbessii – also called Glory-of-the-Snow because this early bloomer pokes its little bright blue six-petalled flowers right out of the snow.
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- Muscari Valerie Finnis is a grape hyacinth that is extremely pale lavender blue and has tightly formed ‘grapes’ and a fragrance reminiscent of grapes.
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- These bulbs are hyacinthoides Excelsior – also called Spanish Bluebell – These lovely bell-shaped flowers are a rich, deep blue.
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- This bin contains 5,000 crocus etruscus Zwanenburg. These pale lilac-blue flowers appear in mid-February.
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- These wrinkly bulbs are anemone Blanda Blue Shades – Grecian windflowers – These small, daisy-like flowers bloom in early spring.
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- The bins actually contain nine different types of bulbs.
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- Frédéric checks the scene from up high.
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- Andrea Mason, our TV gardening expert inspecting all the garden paraphernalia
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- These super-soft kneeling pads are great in the garden to protect your knees and keep them clean.
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- Here I am with Jacqueline van der Kloet and Frans Roozen, discussing the plans for this ‘little’ project.
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- Curious Francesca always wants to be involved with projects at the farm.
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- Frans explains why bulbs, such as these, are planted in the autumn.
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- A bulb is full of starch, which turns to sugar in the winter, nourishing the flower within and giving it energy to pop out in the spring.
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- My hair stylist for the shoot – Luda Zhuran, my wardrobe stylist – Annie Fisher, and my makeup artist – Daisy Schwartzberg
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- Jacqueline begins mixing the nine different bulbs together in a wheelbarrow.
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- She adds similar amounts of each variety.
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- Load one!
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- Then, all nine varieties are gently mixed together.
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- To position the bulbs for planting, Jacqueline tosses handfuls onto the garden, where they land in a natural and random fashion.
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- You simply plant them where they land.
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- Frans’s technique for planting these bulbs is to dig a hole two-times the bulb’s height, or about 5-inches for small bulbs, like these.
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- Lots and lots of digging – Fortunately, the soil beneath the linden trees is soft and rich with compost, making digging quite easy.
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- More tossing
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- Frédéric shooting away
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- Frédéric shooting from down low while Frans tosses more bulbs
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- It’s simply an astounding number of bulbs and I can hardly wait until spring!
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- Frans was wearing his traditional Dutch wooden shoes.
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- Well, that was fun! But there are still a few more bulbs to be planted.
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- And, fortunately, a very happy and willing and strong grounds crew to take over!
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