A question we are asked many times is "What is involved in your fall planting?" Well, virtually every annual border in The Gardens gets changed at least twice a year. During October and early November these borders are changed into a combination of biennials and bulbs for our winter/spring display.

If you happen to be in the gardens at this time of the year you will be fascinated to see the gardeners working at break neck speed to install the new display. All of the annual plants are taken away to be composted and the remaining soil gets amended (if necessary), dug and rototilled, raked, fertilized (typically with a 6-8-6 organic fertilizer) and prepared for planting. In itself this process can be a little daunting, but when you need to plant tens of thousands of plants and an even greater number of bulbs it is a challenge not to become overwhelmed.

To keep this all organized, each bed has a designated number and plants and bulbs are allocated as determined from the planning process from the previous spring. Over 150 varieties of Tulips, 65 plus varieties of Narcissus and 16 varieties of Hyacinths are planted in combination with a wide variety of primarily Myosotis (forget-me-nots), English Daisies, Wallflowers and Pansies to give us a stunning display in the spring. To further enhance the spring display, thousands of specialty bulbs such as Muscari, Iris, Chionodoxa and Scilla are also added to the garden each year as permanent plantings throughout our perennial borders and to naturalize some of our shrub borders.                    

It is an amazing process to observe at this time of the year and the results are even more amazing if you are fortunate enough to be able to visit the Gardens during our Spring Colour Spectacular.

Rick Los
Director of Horticulture