BULBS, CORMS, AND TUBERS

A TRUE bulb has a series of layers, or scales. An onion is a bulb, and so is a Hyacinth; so are Lilies, though of a different kind. A Crocus, a Gladiolus, and a bulbous Iris, are all corms. They are solid, and could not be pulled to pieces in scales. A tuber is a thick fleshy root that increases as the plant grows, and ripens when it has done growing. Dahlias and Begonias have roots of this kind; so have many Anemones and many wild flowers. Certain tubers are good to eat. You have one kind for dinner whenever you have Potatoes, and another kind when you have Jerusalem Artichokes.

Some people buy fresh bulbs every year, and pull up the old ones directly they have done flowering. We think that if you are a really-truly gardener, you will not wish to do this. You will want to see some of your bulbs come up year after year, with increasing strength and beauty; and you will want to take up others at the right time, divide them or store them, as the case may be, and replant. But if you do mean to grow your bulbs year after year and increase your own stock, you must remember that for many weeks after the flowering season you have masses of untidy-looking dying leaves. Therefore you must plant as artfully as you can in places where other things will be growing up close by and attracting attention. The leaves of bulbs must not be removed until they are quite dead and come away with a touch, and this does not happen until the summer sun has baked them for a long time. While they are green the bulb is getting strength from them. We shall only tell you about a few varieties that are inexpensive to buy and easy to grow. When you have learned to manage these successfully, you can try some of the many others you will find in catalogues and in gardening books. Our advice to you is to spend your money on one or two kinds every autumn, and not to buy a collection. This applies especially to children who have a corner of a London garden, because the collections always include some bulbs (such as Anemones or the Persian Ranunculus, for instance) that are not quite easy to grow, and would do nothing in the town border.

SNOWDROPS (GALANTHUS).

If you have any shrubs or trees in your garden, you can plant your Snowdrops near their roots; and if they like the soil and the situation, they will increase quickly. They are very fond of peat, but they will grow well in any healthy soil, and they may be left undisturbed year after year. There are many varieties. One of the largest is Galanthus Elwesi, but it wants a sheltered spot and a light soil. If you plant your Snowdrops in clumps near Crocuses and Winter Aconites, put at least fourteen or fifteen in a clump, and set them rather close together. The bulbs should not touch, but there should not be more than the breadth of your thumb-nail between each. Beginners nearly always set their bulbs too far apart, and then the clumps or rows look stinted.

CROCUSES.

Another mistake that even older people often make is to think about buying their bulbs about a month after they should have been in the ground. There is a ‘best time’ to plant and a time that will ‘do.’ The best time to plant spring flowering bulbs is the end of September. The difficulty is to find places for them then, when your border is still gay and crowded. But some of the summer flowers will be over, and can be thrown away, and others will be cut down later, and can have some bulbs tucked under the soil not far from their roots. Crocuses like to be planted about three inches deep, and they may be left undisturbed year after year. You could put clumps of them on your rockery or in front of your border, and plant Siberian Squills, winter Aconites, and Snowdrops near them. Then when April comes, you could sow Mignonette or Nasturtiums just behind the dying foliage, and in time the summer flowers would spread and fill up the bare places for you. There are seventy species of Crocus, and many bloom in autumn. Some of these are wild now in various parts of England, though they probably came long ago from the Pyrenees. You will find the spring-flowering ones most useful for your border; but though they are easy to grow, you have to watch for their two enemies—mice and sparrows. Mice eat the corms, and sparrows pull the flowers to pieces in order to get at the stamens, that affect them as a sedative. It is generally found that they do not attack the striped ones. If you are troubled by sparrows you must put little twigs near your crocuses and wind black cotton from one to the other. Crocuses seed themselves freely, and take from two to three years to flower. You can also lift them in June, and separate the young corms from the parent one; but you must not expect these very small corms to flower the following year.

SIBERIAN SQUILLS (SCILLA SIBERICA).

The flowers of this little bulb are a most vivid sapphire blue, and you should certainly have some either on your rockery or in front of your border. They like a sandy loam, so if you have a clay soil you should get some sand and plant your bulbs in it. Set them two inches below the surface any time from July to September. They will increase if left undisturbed, or you may lift the bulbs in June and carefully separate the little offsets.

NARCISSUS, OR DAFFODIL.

If you buy bunches of these flowers you find that the man who sells them to you calls some Daffodils, some Narcissi some Polyanthus-Narcissi, and some Jonquils. But when you look at a gardening book or a bulb list, you will find them all under the head of Narcissi. There are hundreds of varieties, and some are difficult and delicate, while others increase quickly in good soil. We fear that the little London gardener will find that his Daffodils flower the first year, and never send anything up again except green leaves; but in the country the strong kinds, such as Emperor or Horsfieldi, have been known to increase twentyfold in two years.

The best time to plant these bulbs is in August or September, but when they are to replace summer-flowering plants they have to go in later. Any good garden soil will suit the Daffodil, but a stiffish loam is what it likes best. The bulbs should never come into direct contact with manure, but if your soil is very poor you could have some dug in nine to twelve inches deep. There is some diversity of opinion about the depth at which to plant, but we have good authority for saying that from two to five inches is enough. At St. Loy, the well-known Cornish flower-farm, the manager believes, after many careful experiments, that deep planting is a strain on the bulb, and weakens the growth. If you are afraid of hard and prolonged frost, it is better to give your Daffodils a winter blanket of manure, dead leaves, heather, furze, or ashes, whichever you can conveniently procure. This must be removed when the bulbs want to push through the ground. In June and July, Daffodils lose both roots and leaves, and may be taken up for division. The rule about division is quite simple. When you see a baby bulb wrapped up to the neck in the sheath of the parent bulb, you must not take it away, but plant them again together. It is only when the young bulb has its own sheath that you may detach it carefully at its basal root where it still touches the old one. When you want to separate bulbs, do not tear them asunder. Press them gently together, and if they are ripe for separation they will come apart easily.

When you have dug up those you want to divide, knock off as much soil as you can, and leave the bulbs to dry for a short time in the sun, or on a shelf in a shed or in a cool room. But it is advisable to plant the young bulbs directly they are detached from the old ones.

If possible, when you replant your bulbs, give them a fresh place—or, at any rate, fresh soil. When you cut your Daffodils, never cut many leaves from one plant, because the bulb receives nourishment through its leaves. The flowers may be gathered when in bud, and will come out well and increase in size in water. Many people always send Daffodils by post in bud, as they travel better, take less room, and last longer. Besides, a mixture of fully-open and half-open Daffodils is like spring itself, and gives you pleasure as they change and expand. But the growers tell us that the shops and markets will not buy them in this state, and insist on having the flowers in full bloom.

The Polyanthus-Narcissus has several flowers on one stalk, and it is very fragrant. There are several varieties, and in the South and West of England they are all hardy. In the sheltered parts of Cornwall and the Scilly Isles they come into flower before Christmas, and all through January you see fields of them opening their buds in the winter sun. If you live in a cold part of England, you must give them a sheltered corner and plenty of sand in the soil. Three good kinds are Soleil d’Or, a bright yellow; Grand Monarque, white and pale yellow; and Gloriosa, white and orange. The Polyanthus-Narcissus does better than other kinds in a stiff soil, and it likes a little manure.

The variety of Daffodils in a bulb list is bewildering, but you must learn enough about the leading kinds to choose, for instance, whether you want a huge yellow trumpet, a hoop petticoat, a star, a double, or one of those enchanting tiny ones that would get lost in a mixed border, and must be given a choice corner in your rockery. In this chapter we will give you the names of a few well-known and inexpensive kinds that are effective in a mixed border. When you plant them in this way amongst other flowers, you can put six in a clump, three inches apart and three to five inches deep. They should be placed eighteen inches from the path, well behind your Snowdrops, Crocuses, and dwarf Alpines. You may like to choose those that flower late, and put them near pale blue Hyacinths or deep orange Tulips. In that case, buy Emperor, Empress, or Bicolor. The earliest trumpet Daffodil is Sir Henry Irving; Golden Spur comes a little later. Bicolor Grandis is what the catalogues call ‘the best all-round Daffodil’; Sir Watkin is ‘a giant of noble appearance’; and Horsfieldi is pure white and yellow, the finest of the early Bicolors. All these are single Daffodils.

The Poet’s Narcissus, or the Pheasant-eyed Narcissus, blooms later than the Daffodils. These are what the flower-shops give you when you ask for the single Narcissus, and they have strongly scented, pure white petals, with a short yellow cup that is edged with red. If they like your soil they will increase at a great rate, and if they don’t they will flower the first year, but never again. We have known them spread like a weed in a Yorkshire garden in a good rich loam, and we have seen them doing well in pure sand. At Les Avants, in Switzerland, there are vast fields of them, and when they are in flower the scent is overpowering. They should be gathered just as the buds break, because the sun soon bleaches the lovely orange and yellow of the ‘pheasant eye.’

HYACINTHS.

Hyacinths should be planted nine inches deep and six inches apart. Five or six bulbs of the same colour make a pretty clump, and they should be from twelve to eighteen inches from the edge. You may leave them undisturbed year after year, and in good soil they will increase and flower. If you wish to take them up, you must wait till the leaves are dead, and then dry the bulbs carefully in the sun before you store them in sand till the autumn. The offsets, if cultivated in light, rich soil, will flower in three years; but Hyacinths raised in Holland are stronger than any you are likely to raise yourself. Until you are an experienced gardener, we advise you to leave your clumps undisturbed as long as they flower, and to buy new bulbs when you find that your old ones seem exhausted.

GRAPE HYACINTH (MUSCARI).

These are charming little blue or white flowers, growing about six inches high, and flowering in April. They are hardy and easy to grow, but you must be sure to put a good many in a group, so as to get the best effect with them. Plant them two inches deep and about two inches apart. The bulbs are easily increased by lifting them every two or three years when the leaves are dead, and removing the offsets. They like any soil except a very damp one, and they look well in front of your border or in your rockery, near some of the miniature Daffodils.

TULIPS.

Tulips are easily grown in any good garden soil. Where the land is stiff and not well worked they die out. The proper time to plant is from October till the middle of November, and, if possible, you should give your Tulips shelter from wind, as their heavy heads, brittle stems, and broad leaves are easily damaged. They should be planted three inches deep. The ordinary garden Tulips may be roughly divided into two kinds—early and late flowering—and of these there are many varieties. The well-known scarlet and yellow Duc van Thol and all its family are early, and will flower in April. The late ones flower in May and June, and come from Tulipa Gesneriana. There are so many kinds and colours in Tulips that we will not give you names, but leave you to choose your own from any good catalogue. Perhaps you would like to try some of the Parrot Tulips, which have large flowers, most curiously coloured and flaked. Tulips, unlike most bulbs, may be lifted directly their leaves turn yellow, dried in the sun, and stored in a dry, airy place, where mice and rats cannot reach them. Most kinds are increased by offsets. You can, if you choose, leave your Tulips in the ground two or three years, but after that it is well to take them up and divide them. If you do not, the bulbs get crowded, and do not flower well.

EARLY AND LATE FLOWERING GLADIOLI.

There are two kinds of Gladioli that we think you can grow in your garden. One is the well-known Scarlet Brenchleyensis, that flowers in autumn, and the other is an early-flowering dwarf variety called Nanus.

The early-flowering ones are white, pink, salmon, and crimson, and in good garden soil they increase freely. They should be planted in November, and you must remember that they will need protection from frost during their first winter. Except in very hard weather, the established bulbs need no covering. They like a light loamy soil and a sunny situation. When you have chosen a place for them, set the bulbs, three inches deep and seven inches apart, in clumps of about twelve, and have ready some dead leaves and ashes to keep each clump warm. These dwarf varieties may be left undisturbed two or three years, but as they increase quickly they will not flower well longer than that unless you take them up, when the foliage is dead, and divide them. The well-known white one, The Bride, belongs to this section.

The finest autumn-flowering variety is the splendid scarlet one—Brenchleyensis. It is taller than the summer kinds, and should be placed about the centre of your border. Each stem should be carefully tied to a stick when it is about to flower, or a high wind may snap it in two. This Gladiolus should be planted in the spring, about four inches deep and twelve inches apart. When the leaves have died away in the autumn, the bulbs should be lifted, dried, and stored in sand for the winter. In the South and West of England the bulbs are often left in the ground, but even there they should be protected the first winter. Every two years they should be lifted and divided.

MONTBRETIAS.

A beautiful little South African flower, like a small Gladiolus. If you live in a mild climate it will increase like a weed, and your trouble will be to keep it down. In a heavy soil or where there is much frost you must give protection. But the chief thing to remember about Montbretias is that they will not flower unless the clumps are frequently divided in autumn. Some growers recommend that it should be done every year.

IRISES.

The Spanish and English Irises want conditions that not everyone can give them. They like shelter without shade, drought in autumn and winter, moisture in spring, sun in summer, and a light, friable soil. If you have a light soil and a south wall, you should certainly put some of these beautiful flowers in, and do not meddle with the bulbs as long as the plants are doing well. Plant at least three inches deep and five inches apart.

WINTER ACONITE (ERANTHIS HYEMALIS).

The Winter Aconite is welcome because it comes so early in the spring, and even pushes up its bright yellow flowers, surrounded by a whorl or ruffle of glossy leaves, through the snow. It will grow in almost any garden soil, and is a good plant to put under shrubs or amongst ferns, as it does not mind shade. It can be increased by dividing the tubers in September; but if your Aconites do well, you can leave them year after year and let them manage themselves.

ALSTRŒMERIAS.

These are beautiful orange-coloured Peruvian Lilies, and if you have a light, well-drained soil you will find them easy to grow. If your soil is heavy you must dig in leaf-mould, sand, and well-rotted cow-manure. A warm, sheltered, sunny position suits them best. While growing and blooming they should be watered sometimes, or the plants get too dry. As they go out of flower you should remove the seed-heads, as when they all set they exhaust the plant; but do not cut the stems or leaves, because they are wanted to strengthen the tubers for the following year. Their stems are so strong that they do not require stakes. They should be planted from six to nine inches deep and twelve inches apart, and once established, they should never be disturbed. When the young shoots of the Alstrœmeria appear in spring, slugs must be kept away.

BEGONIAS.

Begonias used to be little grown in the outdoor garden, but of late years you see them everywhere. We advise you to buy the inexpensive unnamed tubers in April from any good nurseryman. When your Begonias arrive you will find that they look rather like flattened, badly-grown potatoes, and if you see no little pink shoots on them, you must put them in a shallow box of sand or sandy soil or cocoanut-fibre, and set the box on a dry light shelf till growth begins. If you can put your box in a cool greenhouse, so much the better. The soil must be kept just moist, but not wet, and the tubers must not be put out till the spring frosts are over. In cold climates this will not be till the end of May. When the time comes, choose positions in front of your border, and as far as possible sheltered from high winds, which would play havoc with their succulent stalks and broad, fleshy leaves. The soil should be well dug, and if it is heavy you must add sand, and, when you can get it, leaf-mould. Take up your tubers very carefully with a trowel, so as not to injure their fine fibrous roots, and plant them, with the pink shoots upwards, about four inches below the surface. Then you must watch your Begonias carefully, and when they appear above ground protect them from slugs by putting a circle of soot round each plant. You will find Begonias useful as successors to the spring bulbs that are over, and can be taken up for division or thrown away. In the autumn they must come out of the ground before the frosts, and if the leaves and stalks are not quite dead, cut them off with a sharp knife; never pull at them, or you may injure the tuber. Some growers keep their tubers exposed in a light, airy greenhouse until the stalks and stems are so shrivelled that they will drop off with a touch. As long as they are not shrivelled, they constitute a danger to the tuber during its time of rest. Begonias must be stored in sand or cocoanut-fibre in shallow boxes, and kept in a frost-free place through the winter. They can be grown from seed or from cuttings under glass, but we think both operations are a little beyond the juvenile gardener.

DAHLIAS.

It is difficult to find room for Dahlias in a very small garden, but even one will give you a great deal of pleasure if you manage it well, as the flowers go on for a long time, and are most useful for cutting. Whether you have one or more, you must remember that the Cactus Dahlias grow from four to six feet high, and that each plant makes a big bush. The pretty little Pom-poms are rather shorter, and can be placed in front of their big brothers. We advise you to grow these kinds, and not what are called show varieties, which are stiff and, we think, ugly. Dahlias are greedy feeders, and wherever you mean to plant one you should get someone to dig in manure eighteen inches down. About the end of April or early in May, according to the season and your climate, you put out your Dahlias. If they are spring-rooted cuttings in a pot, all you have to do at first is to take them out of the pot, plant them, and look out for slugs. They will devour every one if they can. If you are given a tuberous root, you must put it five or six inches deep in the ground. It is of no use to grow Dahlias unless you can stake and tie them properly, as they become very heavy, and are ruined by a high wind if unsupported. Stout, square green stakes are made on purpose for Dahlias, and if you are far away from a town where they are to be had, you must get someone to cut and point you natural ones equally strong. For Cactus Dahlias they should be five or six feet long, and for Pom-poms four feet; and at least one foot of this length must be driven firmly into the ground. Do not tie with raffia, but with stout cord or coir, as nothing else is strong enough. When the frosts come you can take up your Dahlias and store them in a dry cellar; but unless you have a gardener to help you, we do not think you could strike cuttings from them in heat, in spring. You will find in autumn that the little plant you put out of a pot in May has made a big tuber, with a number of fingers. These should be left as they are till spring comes again, and then they may be carefully separated with a sharp knife and put as they are into the ground. Each piece will make a fresh plant. In sheltered parts of Devonshire and Cornwall, Dahlias, after being cut down, are often given a little covering of straw and manure and left in the ground.