Naturalizing Bulbs

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Bulb plants, most often relegated to special beds or the landscape's outer fringes, gain heady license here to integrate the garden beneath small trees, around shrubs, amid perennials and annuals andperhaps most liberating and blithesomeinto the lawn. "Naturalizing" means situating bulbs with companion plants for "mutual benefit and beauty" where they'll require minimal care. Proctor (Country Flowers; The Outdoor Potted Bulb) first lays groundwork in the "Growing Concerns" of soil (the biggest determinant of bulb success), water ("more plants die from drowning than drought"), planting (spring can be better than autumn) and predatorsslugs in particular. In easy-reading prose (a collection of irises is compared to a rack of "colorful party dresses" whose "potential isn't realized until they are seen at the dance") enlivened by humor and piquant digressions, Proctor debunks the daunting myths that bulbs require frequent dividing, fertilizing, mulching or cultivating. Recommendations of seasonal species both common (big-cup daffodils, autumn crocus) and uncommon (hairy toad lily), are supplied with an intriguing geography of bulb heritage. Profiles of 400-plus bulbs, tubers, corms and rhizomes for nine areas of the U.S. are joined by 90 color photos, not seen by PW. (Aug.)

Library Journal

Gardeners looking for a source of information on selecting bulbs requiring little maintenance to create a natural look should check out this book. Proctor, a horticultural writer and teacher at Denver Botanic Gardens, tells how effectively to use a variety of bulbs with other ornamental plants in a garden. Illustrated with attractive color photos, his discussion includes how to choose bulbs that will work in an individual garden and how to make the best planting decisions when selecting bulbs. An appendix for each bulb species provides height, color, geographic region, bloom time, garden use, water, sunlight, soil requirements, and plant origin. For popular gardening collections.Dale Luchsinger, Milwaukee Area Technical Coll. Lib.