Several hundred bulbs were both sold and planted at Center Park.
Planting in the middle of the lawn may seem strange, but the damage to the grass is minimal and the colorful effects in March and April can be stunning. These low growing Daffodils, Species tulip, Squill, Crocus, Chionodoxa, and Puschkinia will please both the pollinators and park visitors. We bought all our bulbs from the Van Engelen wholesale division of John Scheepers www.johnscheepers.com. They explain the concept of the Stinze-Style lawn of some historic 19th-century Dutch homes. We are just borrowing the concept!
Brown lunch bags of 12 bulbs each were sold to help defray the cost of the bulbs, make it easy for participants to duplicate the bulb planting at their own homes, and to lessen the number of bulbs needing planting during our event.
We used multiple bulb planting
techniques and strategies:
- Compost was added to planting holes if the soil seemed to need a boost.
- Sometimes individual holes were dug.
- Sometimes clumps of soil removed in a swath then replaced.
- Sometimes a shovel just created a valley for one or more bulbs to be stuffed into the bottom divot.
All bulbs were watered generously, but we also made sure they were not planted in a spring soggy area.
In this region the most reliable bulbs are Narcissus aka Daffodils as all parts are toxic to animals and they know it.
Many thanks to all the community participants (Esther, Emily, Marta, Mike, Beth and lady in a black jacket) and Master Gardener participants (Meredith, Alison x 2, Diana, Leslie Sara and Kate) and to our sponsor the Carlisle Cultural Council.
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