Seasonal Border Chronicle #1
November, 2008
By Tovah Martin
Inside the Tapes
And that’s exactly what we were doing – we were tucking bulbs between perennials planted exactly as they would be spaced if bulbs weren’t part of the picture. Set 12-18 inches between centers, the perennials were in place but so were the colored tapes that jived with Jacqueline’s design. As a public garden, the NYBG needs the border in prime condition year around. So, blocks of narcissus and tulip bulbs were planted in circle-shaped and peanut-shaped areas to perform and then be replaced with summer-flowering lilies and crocosmia grown in pots poised to pick up the torch.
Meanwhile, a combination of mixed bulbs including Iris reticulata, Crocus chrysanthus, Anemone blanda, Chionodoxa forbesii, various muscari, several alliums and Scilla siberica ‘Alba’ were being tossed into sections between perennials that would be copasetic colorwise. Colchicums were going in simultaneously, running along the front edges of the borders.