All About Miniature Plants and Gardens Indoors and Out, by Bernice Brilmayer

Ring-around-a-rosying at the foot of a gray birch, twenty dazzling-white spring snowflakes nodding at the turn of a path, a company of bright-eyed kaufmanniana tulips; perching lightly in a rocky crevice, a flock of tiny canary daffodils that seem ready to wing away.... There’s something about the miniature bulbs that’s more fauna than flora, more fairy tale than real. Each one has its own elfin character and a happy-go-lucky way of stamping your garden “personally yours.”

In the rock garden, at the edge of a border, with evergreen ground covers, clustered wherever there’s a stone or stump to back them up, used by the hundreds as drifts in the lawn, miniature bulbs more than anything else give you that spring feeling. Potted and forced into flower indoors, they’re winsome window-garden items, delicate decorations for coffee table or what-not, delightful dish-garden inhabitants. They’re indispensable for sink gardens, precious in the small greenhouse.

Perhaps part of their charm lies in their unfamiliarity. So few are well known and widely grown. So many more are easy to find, easy to grow, and especially easy to pay for. And they’re such beguiling plants, I don’t see how any garden could be without them, miniature or not.

All of the bulbs included here hold their flowers no more than six inches high. They’re not small versions of better-known, larger plants, but mostly completely different, with their own individual characteristics—and with bulbs, foliage, and flowers in miniature proportions. The word bulb is used in its generalized sense, and includes true bulbs, corms, and tubers. To be botanically accurate, a few plants such as tuberous-rooted dahlias, rhizomatous iris, and bulbous erythroniums should also be included; but to be consistent in such matters as culture and decorative use, they’re grouped with plants that grow similarly, in the chapters on annuals, perennials, and wild flowers.

Some of these miniature bulbs are available from nurseries and other local suppliers. But the majority, and particularly the most unusual, are offered by mail by bulb importers and specialist growers. Reading some of the catalogues is like taking a quick trip to exotic parts of the world. And for me, ordering no more than I can find time to plant and care for is a severe exercise in self-restraint. There are always a few more that would look well in some special spot, others that are intriguing simply because I’ve never grown or seen them.

Most bulb catalogues give specific cultural recommendations that are helpful in selecting varieties that will adapt to your climate, and to the sun, soil, and moisture in the spot where you want to plant them. In general, bulbs are either hardy or not; they will survive a deep winter freeze, or they must be lifted and stored before the ground freezes at all. There are some natural borderline exceptions, like many fascinating varieties native to the West that are not so touchy about cold as they are about other climatic and cultural conditions.

GROWING MINIATURE BULBS OUTDOORS

Tender, summer-flowering bulbs are planted in late spring, when soil is warm and danger of severe frost has passed. Hardy bulbs are usually planted in late summer and early fall, when foilage has ripened and died back and the plants are in deepest dormancy. This includes fall-flowering types like the colchicums. The earlier bulbs can be planted, the stronger the root systems they can develop before winter, and the stronger their flowering during the first season.

Make sure the selected site has perfect drainage. Bulbs rot quickly when water stands around their roots. Dig generously, to about eight inches deep; enrich the soil with organic matter such as leaf mold or compost; increase aeration and drainage in sticky, clay-like soils with sharp sand; add a light sprinkling of bone meal or superphosphate, if fertility is low. Since few bulbs like very acid soil, lime is a “must” except where the soil tests so extremely alkaline that the addition of organic matter does not make it acid.

An average measure for depth of planting is twice the diameter of the bulb in cooler climates, an inch or so deeper in areas like southern Virginia to provide protection against summer heat. For quick effect, plant about a dozen bulbs in a group; six bulbs more widely spaced will usually increase and give the same effect in several years.

Most bulbs need moisture before, during, and after flowering, when foliage is green and growing or ripening. They’re better off on the dry side during dormancy. This is a perfect setup for most hardy types, because they need the least watering in summer, when droughts are most common. But it does increase the urgency for perfect drainage for some of the Western species that can’t bear moisture in winter.

Except for an early-spring top-dressing of leaf-mold compost, we seldom feed our little bulbs. Occasionally, some healthy specimens may get a puny, undernourished look that calls for sprinkling bone meal or superphosphate over the soil and scratching it in. Or we may water with manure “tea” during or after flowering time.

If soil is properly prepared at planting time, supplemental feeding should not be necessary for most types for several years. By that time some bulbs have multiplied so enthusiastically they should be lifted, separated, and reset in freshly mixed soil.

If you plant bulbs where they don’t stand in soggy mud or water, you’ll have little loss from rot. But if you’re in a suburban or rural area inhabited by cute chipmunks, squirrels, or mice, you won’t want to plant juicy morsels such as tulips, crocus, and eranthis just to feed the animals. I’ve never had the time or patience to plant bulbs in wire cages. Poison baits can be dangerous when you have children or pets. An effective safety measure is to put the bait inside a clean milk bottle and cover it with a heap of straw or leaves, with evergreen branches to hold the heap in place.

Because the root systems may not be completely matured, newly planted bulbs should be mulched with a light, airy covering of something like salt hay during their first winter. After that, the necessity for protection varies with hardiness and with climate. Sometimes these mulches hold in more moisture than is good for bulbs. If alternate freezing and thawing should heave the shallow roots up through cracks in the soil, press them back gently but firmly and cover with soil again.

PROPAGATING MINIATURE BULBS INDOORS

Whether they’re to be exhibited in competition at a flower show, or displayed for close-up enjoyment in the living room, uniform perfection is the objective. First, then, buy the finest-quality bulbs available—the most plump, firm, healthy bulbs you can find. If the catalogue listing includes “recommended for forcing” or “specially treated for forcing,” so much the better.

Time for potting, and length of time required for rooting, vary with the varieties. We’re usually potting up bulbs for forcing through most of October, occasionally into the first week of November. Our favorites are potted at two-week intervals, so we’ll have a continuous show of flowers in winter and early spring.

We prefer clay pots because of their porosity, and shallow pots because most miniature bulbs are shallow-rooted. A generous layer of pebbles or broken crocks goes in the bottom of every pot. The potting soil is a house-plant mixture with a teaspoon of lime mixed in for a six-inch bulb pot. Bulbs are set so their tips are barely covered with soil; then pots are set in water up to the rims to make sure both soil and pots are thoroughly moist.

Before they can be forced into flower, bulbs need time to grow sound root systems. They need to be stored cool, and in the dark so that premature top growth won’t be encouraged.

Our potted bulbs are pre-rooted in the cold frame, the pots sunk in the soil, each pot covered by another pot turned upside down over it. Soil is added to cover the top pots; and after severe weather sets in, we top with at least six inches of salt hay.

In lieu of a cold frame, a fairly deep trench, with a layer of pebbles or sand for drainage, can be used in the same way, with twice as much salt hay on top or even more. Some growers set the pots on shelves in cool, dark corners of the basement, but our cellars have always been much too warm. Soil should be kept moist, but not wet, during the rooting period.

When the pot is completely filled with roots, and a few stick out the drainage hole in the bottom, the potted bulbs are moved to a cool, shady spot in the house or greenhouse for just a few days. Then they are brought into the sun for growth and flowering. For the best and most lasting flowers, try to provide temperatures between 55 and 60 degrees by day, five degrees or more cooler by night.

The window of an unheated bedroom or attic, or an enclosed porch, may be the only place where temperatures are low enough for healthiest growth. These are good places to grow the plants until they open their flowers, then they can be brought into warmer quarters for a flowering display.

If you are trying to force bulbs into flower at some specific time, and if the buds aren’t swelling as fast as they should, warmer temperatures and a booster feeding of liquid manure should speed up the process. Cooler temperatures will help retard flowering.

Keep the soil always moist before, during, and after flowering. When the leaves begin to yellow, gradually hold back on watering and keep it barely moist until time to set the bulbs out in the garden. Forcing bulbs two years in succession is not usually successful.

MINIATURE BULB PLANTS

Early April flowers that disregard unfavorable weather. Leaves are narrow and grassy and disappear after the flowering period. Flowers are open-faced with short tubes.

gigantea—Largest flowers, pastel lavender-blue. Strong stems that don’t fall over in bad weather.

luciliae—Five or more flowers per five-inch stem, bright sky-blue with white centers. The variety alba is white; rosea, pink.

sardensis—Like luciliae, but deeper blue without the white eye.

CARE. Gritty soil. Moisture. Mulch with manure in the fall. Light and sun. Hardy and easy to grow. Makes a ground carpet.

PROPAGATION. Seeds (seeds itself except for some varieties which increase below ground), offshoots.

autumnale—Crocus-like flowers four inches across from September to frost. Leaves two inches wide in spring. Usually has purple flowers. There are several varieties: album, white; roseum, pink and often double; ‘The Giant,’ large, late, lilac and white (best-known variety).

bornmuelleri—Generally considered the finest species with five-inch-wide flowers, rosy-lilac turning to purple and the tube white.

luteum—Rare spring-flowering species, flowers yellow and smaller, leaves slim and less conspicuous.

speciosum—Large leaves, and flowers with pink or white throats. The white variety album is also large and is often considered the most beautiful of hardy bulbous plants.

CARE. Soil loamy, slightly acid. Sun or partial shade. Plant in colonies in August, two to three inches deep. Let leaves mature.

There are three general kinds of these grassy-leaved plants with flaring flowers of several colors. The large flowering “Dutch” hybrids flower in the spring; the usual spring-flowering varieties come earlier and last longer; other species flower in the fall.

biflorous—Spring. Bright-purple flowers with darker stripes, yellowish throat.

medius—Fall. Bright-orchid flowers with very pale throat.

sativus—Fall. Pastel-lilac flowers accented with scarlet stamens.

seiberi—Spring. Yellow-throated lavender flowers.

speciosus—Fall. Light blue with fiery orange stigmas.

tomasinianus—Spring. Palest pinkish-blue.

versicolor—Spring. Lilac with purple streaks, or, in the variety picturatus, white with purple feathering.

zonatus—Fall. Rosy lavender with orange inside.

CARE. Soil, sandy and drained. Not much fertilizer. Full sun. Hardy, but winter mulch is often helpful. Divide seldom and replant at once. Be on alert for rodents.

These are the country cousins of the florist’s cyclamen but smaller in size. Their substantial, heart-shaped leaves are often beautifully marked in marbled patterns and are in a circle near the ground. Generally they are evergreen through the winter but drop before the flowers appear. Each blossom hangs from its own stem with turned-back tubes. Some varieties blossom in summer and fall, some (indoors or in suitable climates) flower In winter or very early spring. A number of varieties are available.

atkinsi—Crimson flowers in January, foliage marbled. The variety album has white flowers; roseum is pink.

cilicicum—Purple-throated pale-pink flowers on five-inch stems (in September), small marbled leaves.

coum—Blooms in February and March; choice of red, white, or pink. Dark-green foliage.

europaeum—Fragrant red flowers in late summer. Leaves marbled.

libanoticum—Large flowers with dainty pink blending into white, in early spring. Foliage marbled.

neapolitanum—Exquisite silver-zoned leaves follow the rosy-pink flowers that push their buds through the soil in September. The variety album is white.

repandum—Red-purple flowers with wide-flaring petals, in April.

CARE. Humusy soil, with drainage. Must never dry out, but roots must never stand in water. Humidity in greenhouse. Outdoors, shade. Small amount of lime. Once established, small amounts of rotted manure.

PROPAGATION. Seeds, and division (plant with top of tuber at surface; may be dormant first year after planting).

Often during a mild January or February this little flower blooms with its butter-yellow cup on a stem only four inches above the ground. The finely-cut leaves form a collar below the blooms.

‘Cuinia’—Slightly later and faintly fragrant.

hyemalis—Long-stemmed ferny leaves with clear yellow flowers. The variety cilicica has deeper-colored flowers and brownish leaves.

‘Tubergeni’—A hybrid with larger golden flowers.

An early-flowering plant that often has blooms sticking up through March snow. The narrow leaves form a base for six-inch stems with fragrant white bell-shaped flowers.

Several varieties are available: flore-pleno, double; maximus, larger and less frail-looking flowers; viride-apice, white petals tipped with green.

CARE. Soil heavy, moist, and cool. Considerable shade, but only opens fully in the sun. Top-dress with manure in the fall. Hardy.

PROPAGATION. In fall plant bulbs three to four inches deep, near deciduous trees or shrubs. Most effective in groups. Spreads by self-seeding.

In a small woodland garden only the miniature gladiolus is suitable; they are little fellows two and a half inches in height or less. A number of these small ones are available. Named varieties are:

‘Glee,’ ‘Gnome,’ ‘Impresario,’ ‘Little Egypt,’ ‘Little Fawn,’ ‘Little Red Star,’ ‘Little Spice,’ ‘Periwinkle,’ ‘Pinkie Dots,’ ‘Pint Size,’ ‘Whirlybird,’ ‘Red Button,’ ‘Red Dot,’ ‘Red Tweedle,’ ‘Tom Thumb,’ ‘Wee Red.’ As a point of information, the term “small” applies to plants from two and a half to three and a half inches high.

CARE. Good garden soil. If manure is to be used, it should be applied the year previous and worked into the soil; it should not come into contact with the corms. Drainage. Sun.

The large formal hyacinths of the regular garden have a number of relatives that are small, delicate, and graceful, including two midget species:

amethystinus—Early-flowering Spanish species with typically flat leaves and nodding blue bell flowers on spikes seldom over five inches. There is also a white variety, albus.

ciliatus (azureus)—Slightly smaller with stiff three-inch spikes, blue-green leaves often hairy on the edges, and blue flowers. The variety albus is white.

The long leaves are about a half-inch wide and in a basal circle from which the stems stretch up to hold nodding bell flowers marked on the edge with bright-green dots.

aestivum—summer snowflake—Flowers in May. About nine inches tall, it may be a little large for really small gardens.

vernum—spring snowflake—One fragrant bell flower to each six-inch stem, in April.

PROPAGATION. Detach bulblets after leaves wither. Self-seeds. Increases rather fast. Plant bulblets three to four inches deep.

These slim-leaved plants come in a wide variety with a selection of flowering times from early March through May and have clusters of flowers that look bright and grape-like or soft and plumy.

armeniacum—Violet-blue flowers on six-inch stems. The variety cantab blooms in mid-spring, clear blue and sweet-scented. ‘Early Giant’ is larger and earlier. True blue.

botryoides album—Heavenly white and fragrant. The most compact and suitable for smaller gardens, or forcing.

comosum monstrosum (plumosum)—feather or tassel hyacinth—Lavender feather dusters in late May.

moschatum flavum—Out-of-the-ordinary purple flowers turning to yellowish in March and April. One of the smaller species.

pacemosum—Fragrant, deep-blue flowers on eight-inch stems.

parodoxum—Flowers of blue so dark they’re nearly black.

tubergianum—A newly introduced species, with the top flowers turning lighter, and the lower ones darker. (Mid-April.)

It is very unlikely that the average gardener realizes how many varieties in the narcissus world are under six inches in height at maturity. One catalogue lists over two hundred names of little varieties for little gardens. Obviously, only a few can be mentioned here.

bulbocodium—hoop-skirt daffodil—The “trumpet” is drawn in a bit at the mouth, making it more like a balloon than a trumpet. Six smallish petals twist and turn shyly behind. All varieties are under six inches tall. Among the smallest are three-inch, scented, white-flowering monophyllus (for forcing only); obesus, with a fat yellow trumpet; tunifolium, smaller, brighter, and later than the species; and scented vulgaris nivalis, the smallest of all at two to three inches and very early. The variety conspicuus is the easiest to grow and about four inches tall.

cyclamineus—The nodding trumpets are long and slim, the petals fold straight back around the stem, giving a feeling of motion. The species is all yellow and about four inches high. Among the smallest hybrids are ‘Milky-White,’ ‘Yindee,’ ‘Minicycla,’ deep yellow ‘Jetage,’ and ‘Flute.’

jonquilla—Like the familiar jonquils, these are usually scented and have small, flattish cups with a neat ruff of flat petals around the neck. The variety atlanticus is pure white and four inches high; the variety juncifolius is three inches high and has several scented yellow flowers per stem. ‘Peachblossom’ is similar and one inch taller.

tazetta—Similar to jonquils, but the cups are even smaller and flatter. They are mostly early flowering and have several blooms to a stem. The species is twelve inches tall, but the variety lacticolor (canaliculatas) is only four inches, with yellow cup and white petals that flare back. ‘Halenzy’ combines pale yellow and white. ‘Shrew’ is the tiniest.

triandrus—angel’s tears—Several drooping flowers per stem, the center cup-shaped, the petals turned back and twisted rather like a tiny fuchsia flower. Among the varieties, albus is all white, and three to four inches high; concolor is all gold; ‘Frosty Morn’ is white; ‘Poppet’ has yellow petals and a white cap.

trumpet—Miniature replicas of the familiar larger types, the flaring trumpet standing out from a collar of six petals. In some types the petals are flat, in others wavy or twisted. Among these, asturiensis (minimus) is the smallest of all daffodils; minar (nanus) is slightly larger, two to three inches tall; ‘Wee Bee’ is lemon yellow and five inches tall. ‘Little Beauty’ has two shades of yellow; ‘Sneezy’ is all yellow, and four inches high.

CARE. Average soil (acid or alkaline), not too heavy, not too light. Drainage. Fertilize little and use only bone meal. Mulch with stone chips to prevent flowers being spattered with mud during rain.

PROPAGATION. Bulbs. Plant in August if possible. Plant in groups because of small size. Allow space for increase. Plant smallest bulbs one and a half inches deep; large bulbs, the depth of bulb itself. Don’t disturb unless crowded.

Bulbous or tuberous shamrock-leaved perennials with five-petaled, buttercup-shaped flowers that close in the dark, most of them much hardier than realized and all suitable for indoor or greenhouse planting.

adenophylla—Blue-green leaflets, clusters of pink flowers with deeper pink veins (May and June). Three inches tall. Hardy.

enneaphylla—Tuberous-rooted perennial with gray-green leaves and large white-purple veined flowers; two inches. Spring bloomer.

lasiandra—More fragile species, bulbous with tight clusters of deep-rose flowers. Dig and store in fall, or provide protection. Sun.

rubra (crassipes)—Not bulbous but with thickened roots. Pink flowers in clusters above the leaves.

variabilis rubra—Dense mats of fresh green leaves under deep-pink flowers, some two inches across. Hardy as rubra.

Popularly called a daffodil and compared to a crocus, but these small amaryllids beat both of those plants for durability and distinction. They have up-facing butter-yellow flowers like squat, flaring, two-inch vases. They bloom in mid-September with the flowers lasting some weeks. The narrow leathery leaves often last through the winter but die back by spring. Fragrant.

These are typical tulips with flowers that are up-facing bells or saucers, but are varied in shape, colors, and markings of the petals. They keep tightly closed after dark and on dark days but open wide in the sun. The foliage may be wide or grassy, clean green or mottled. Included here are only the smallest available species.

batalini—Twisted, narrow leaves and soft creamy-yellow flowers (in April).

biflora—Only two or three slim, tapered leaves around a four-inch flower stem bearing from one to three long, striped buds which open to flat, white, star-shaped flowers with golden centers. Often blooms in March. Variety turkestanica has wider leaves and up to ten flowers per stem.

dasystemon (tarda)—Polished blue-green leaves fan out flat under three-inch stems with bouquets (three to five) of yellow-centered white flowers. Some have pointed petals striped lengthwise with green on the outside. (Mid-April.)

eichleri—Typically broad leaves, stems six to eight inches, fiery-red flowers with gold and blue-black centers and gold stripes outside.

kaufmanniana—water-lily tulip—The leaves are very broad, short, and sharply pointed; the stems are sturdy and five inches long. The flowers are very large, creamy yellow marked with carmine (in April). There are many named varieties with flowers in shades and combinations of gold, scarlet, cream, and even salmon pink.

kolpakowskiana—Long, blue-green leaves waved on the edges, yellow flowers blotched with brick red on the outside (in April).

linifolia—Narrow, wavy leaves and six-inch stems topped with satiny scarlet flowers, marked with blue-black at the heart (in April).

patens (persica)—Slim, arching leaves, stems with one to three flowers, yellow, darker outside, fragrant (in May).

puchella—Early, even before the daffodils. Slim leaves. Flowers an odd shade of lavender and tinged red. Slightly larger.

stellata chrysantha (originally considered a species, chrysantha)—Curved-down blue-green leaves, six-inch stems; cherry-flushed yellow flowers opening to flat stars (in April).

CHAPTER 17 MINIATURE GARDEN BULBS

GROWING MINIATURE BULBS OUTDOORS

PROPAGATING MINIATURE BULBS INDOORS

MINIATURE BULB PLANTS

CHAPTER 17
MINIATURE GARDEN BULBS