BULBS BY NUMBER

A guide to grouping, arranging and spacing bulbs for a natural effect

- JENNY ROSE CAREY

Editor's note: This past summer I had the opportunity to preview Jenny Rose Carey's The Essential Guide to Bulbs, which reaches bookstores in October. The book provides thoughtful and thorough advice on using both hardy and tender bulbs. The first half includes a background on bulb botany and their history in gardens, plus profiles of fall- and spring-planted types, complete with planting tips, design ideas and recommended species and cultivars. The second half of the book dives deeper into design and maintenance. I was especially taken with Carey's strategy for arranging bulbs in a naturalistic garden, which we've excerpted with permission here. Perhaps it will inspire your fall bulb planting, too.-Meghan Shinn

Creating a natural-looking appearance to a bulb planting is a difficult process, because we gardeners are prone to planting in straight lines, with even spacing between plants.

The old way of randomly arranging bulbs was to throw the bulbs backward over your shoulder and plant them where they landed. To me, this does not produce the effect that I want.

Instead, I like to think of the bulb grouping as being akin to arranging a solar system, with planets, satellites and moons. Each celestial type has a different-sized bulb grouping and is spaced apart from each other in orbits. The resulting bulb display is like a starry night, where the flowers have a relationship to each other that looks loose but thoughtful.

In mixed flower beds, the spacings will vary, depending on the size of the bulbs and the look that you want.

FAR-OUT DESIGN