Naturalizing Spring Blooms
Here at my farm, the garden beds are changing every single day - more and more flowers are bursting with color and energy.
Many spring-blooming bulbs are characterized as "good for naturalizing," meaning they will self-seed, multiply, and come up year after year, spreading informally throughout the landscape. Among them - daffodils, croci, Galanthus, Puschkinia, Eranthis, Chionodoxa, Ornithogalum, and others. These naturalizing flowers require minimal care, attract pollinators, and enhance the overall ecosystem. I plant thousands of naturalizing bulbs every autumn and what comes up every spring is breathtaking.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Every spring, we all brim with excitement when the first flowers pop up through the ground. Croci is always one of the first.
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- But it’s even more exciting to see how they have multiplied and naturalized. These crocuses spread more and more every year in a back field of my farm.
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- These dark purple croci are near my Basket House beneath a grove of bald cypress trees. Everyone notices them in bloom.
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- They also spread informally over time – all by themselves.
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- The white croci in the tree pits of my allée of pin oaks have been growing and naturalizing here for more than 12 years.
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- These flowers are among the earliest of bloomers with their creamy white petals and bright orange stamens.
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- One of the first blooming groups of crocus is outside my gym building. And every spring it looks bigger and bigger. Naturalizing is a long-term plan, though some plants will spread faster than others.
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- Dwarf irises naturalize. They form clumps as they thrive and multiply. Irises spread through underground rhizomatous stems, filling the garden with color.
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- And among the most popular naturalizers are the daffodils. We’re still a few weeks from seeing my entire border in bloom, but here are some that are already up. Daffodils thrive in naturalized landscapes. And they spread without any maintenance.
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- My long daffodil border is broken up into various groupings – different varieties, different shapes and sizes, and different blooming times.
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- There are up to 40-species of daffodils, and more than 27-thousand registered daffodil hybrids.
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- The foliage of more daffodils is growing fast – it won’t be long before these are also in bloom.
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- Puschkinia is a genus of three known species of bulbous perennials in the family Asparagaceae. It is native to the Caucasus and the Middle East.
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- Puschkinia grows so beautifully in clumps and multiplies consistently every year – I have several areas filled with these delicate small flowers.
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- I have clumps of Puschkinia now planted outside my stable underneath my crabapple trees.
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- Eranthis, or winter aconite, is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae – the Buttercup family.
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- While some flowers naturalize in clumps, these spread. Winter aconite produces cheerful yellow flowers that appear in late winter or earliest spring.
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- And Chionodoxa, commonly known as the Glory of the Snow, grows and multiplies in clusters.
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- Blue and white are the most common, but bulbs also come in shades of pink and white.
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- This is pink Chionodoxa.
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- And here is Chionodoxo growing under a bald cypress tree along the carriage road to my home. Naturalizing specific bulbs creates a natural, informal, and beautiful landscape. I hope this inspires you to plant some bulbs that are “good for naturalizing” – you’ll be glad you did.
Martha Pins
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