‘Scarlet Gem’—Bright fiery scarlet.
‘White Gem’—Pearl-like white.
Sorry I can’t offer more varieties, but all growers seem to be devoted to growing giants in the zinnia class. I happen to love the little ones, those cute pompons that look so charming in the buttonhole of a man’s jacket.
CHAPTER 17
MINIATURE GARDEN BULBS
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.