TTD ET ~ 1168 Robson ESOS ROTTEN SEIT LIFESTYLES | HOW MANY Vancowverites does it take to plant a daf- fodil? Usually 16: seven for the Royal Commission needed to select the site, five for the commission study- ing environmental impact, three members of a municipal design panel mandated to ensure a har- monfous street-scape, and one ‘Poor Old Soul’ to actually get it in the ground. All digs aside, now is the time to plan your spring flowering bulb display. Notice 1 said plan not plant, it is still a little early to plant most varieties, but more about that later. You should draw up a quick plan to organize your thoughts relative to what you are trying to achieve. Do you want beds of cut flowers, massed floral displays, or natural woodland settings? You should also take into ac- count flowering times. Do you wish to see all your color in one burst or would you like to see it spread out over the entire spring? And just which color scheme would you prefer? No matter how much you wish for a display of tulips in the deep shade under the cedar trees, it just won’t happen. So figure the bulbs light re- quirements into your calculations. over the garden gate Geoff Tobiasson Most prefer six hours or more of direct. sun: aconites, cyclamens, snowdrops, scilla, and grape hya- cinths are a few of the bulbs that tolerate some shade. This may sound complex, but it We’ve Been Framed... fi Choose from a large selection of discontinued lines and special buys q including AN INTRODUCTORY OFFER OF EUROPEAN tilGH GLOSS LACQUERS in : > ALL AT 50% OFF! @OUR ENTIRE RANGE OF QUALITY NIELSEN METAL FRAMES (the largest 6 a wide array of designer colours at the ‘Kegis Fall H selection in B.C.): ALL AT 20% OFF! s semenems K fasavnesmes 3 USE RSRTE RENESAS ROSEN 8 ELE EEO TESS West Vancouver 1432 Marine Drive 922-3513 North Vancouver 1425 Marine Drive 984-8469 All stores open 7 days a week — late opening Fridays Richmond 5311 No. 3 Road Downtown Kitsilano 2857 W. Broadway Sree 7 sypeseoaeee ION WEEP EET PEE 23f & Hye & Kerrisdale 37th & West Blvd. can be as simple as sketching out your flower beds and drawing a few circles. Make a note of the quantity, type, and variety of bulb for each circle. If you don’t know which type or variety yet, simply fill in the color, height and flowering time. You can then make a trip to the garden centre and make note as to which bulbs fit these requirements. If you need to buy new bulbs this year, don’t wait too long. The garden centres will begin selling out of varieties by the end of September. Once you have made your selections, you can store the bulbs in a cool dry environment until planting time. Most of the bulbs you pick up at this time of the year should be planted no sooner than the first week of October. You could wait an extra two weeks if the weather is really warm. The exceptions are bulbs that flower in the fall such as col- chicums, true autumn = crocus, cyclamens, etc. These should have been planted by early August to achieve the best results, but plan- ting now will ensure a good show next year. If you have years of experience with daffodils, tulips, crocuses, and Vak Se ha ated * Ole apgpies to frames only Glass & mats at our tegul low prices PEC ETA ES REV EN es TE BST Ns EE ER Lougheed 107-4501 North Rd. # hyacinths, add something different this year. Take a look at some of the more unusual botanical varieties. There are hundreds of bulbs with names like tulipa dasystemon ‘Tarda’ and eremurus bungei that could amaze you with their charac- ter and charm or their bold displays of color. Some of them may not last long in the garden, others will naturalize and multiply. Some may seem quite expensive, but most are exceptionally reason- able. I could fill the newspaper with lists of interesting varieties and the descriptions. But I don’t think | can get away with that so here are just a few to take a look at. Allium — members of the onion family, wide variety of heights and colors, good for late color in sunny dry gardens. Anemones -- plant them late {early November), soak overnight before planting, choose sunny, warm, Sheltered sites. Brodiaea — great for the sunny, well-urained rock gardens of West Vancouver. September 16, 1988 - North Shore News Chinodoxa — inexpensive, plant them in masses under spr- ing-flowering shrubs such as star magnolia or forsythia. Crocus — there is more to life than the standard selection of blue, yellow, white and striped, try some ‘Lady Killer’ or ‘Bowles Favorite’. Eremurus — not easy, expen- sive, but wow what a show, three to six foot spikes with thousands of tiny yellow, pink and white flowers, good for the warm, sun- ny, well-drained sites in West Van. These are but a few of the less commonly planted bulbs for spring color; there are many more. Make a visit to the local garden centre and try a few. If you find some- thing you like, you can get more next year. If you are interested in learning more about some of these ‘botanical’ bulbs, go to Van Dusen Gardens Monday, Sept. 19, at 8 p.m. Frans Roozen, Technical Director of the International Flowerbulb Centre in Holland, will be giving a lecture on this subject. LIFESTYLES ae