Bulbs for Garden Habitats

Where most bulbs books repeat the seasonal approach to bulb gardening by bloom time, assuming the usual fall ritual of mass planting bulbs by the bushel, this book advocates more careful study of natural habitats and cultural needs before planting. All gardeners have experienced the frustration of having a bulb flower in the first year after planting, but poorly or never again thereafter. Judy Glattstein shows how a more naturalistic style of planting can pay greater dividends over time from healthy and thriving populations of bulbs. She uses a broad definition of bulbs, including a wide diversity of bulbs, corms, and tubers. By grouping them together with other plants that excel in similar conditions, she shows how all styles of gardens can prove more durable and require less maintenance in the long term. Perhaps most importantly, she emphasizes that choices based on climate and local ecology will yield a garden that truly "belongs" where it has been sited. Following her extensive research and travel throughout North America to visit hundreds of gardens, Glattstein offers detailed, regionally appropriate suggestions for gardeners everywhere.