Painting with spring flowers - Brief Article

Sunset, Nov, 1996 by Lauren Bonar Swezey

Fill a border with a multicolored blend of tulips, nemesias, violas, and Iceland poppies

A riot of color fills the flower border in Charles and Jackie Davis's Piedmont, California, garden from the first of February to mid-April. The hot color medley of yellow, orange, and red shown at left is a "very cheerful, gaudy palette," says landscape designer Bob Clark of Oakland, California. The border was planted last fall and photographed in spring.

Violas in dark and soft yellow and mixed nemesias carpet the ground, with Iceland poppies and five kinds of tulips popping up through them. The flower colors play off one another, unifying the planting. Yellow violas and nemesias complement yellow 'Big Smile' and 'Olympic Flame' tulips, red nemesias echo the red in 'Kingsblood' tulips, and orange nemesias reflect the color of the orange Iceland poppies.

Each season, a different color palette changes the mood of this flower bed. Clark develops his planting schemes so there's a blend of colors at every level - from plants as low as 4 inches to ones as tall as 30 inches. Taller tulips are planted at the back of the border, while shorter tulips bloom in front. To prolong the season, he also includes tulip varieties that bloom at different times.

When a border packs in as much color as this one, the background should be kept simple. "Always have a foliage foil [such as green] for the color, so things don't look disorganized," Clark says.

Before planting, prepare the bed by tilling compost or another organic amendment into the soil. In mild-winter areas of Arizona and Texas, prechill tulip bulbs in the refrigerator; plant annuals first, then interplant tulips among them. In cold-winter areas, plant tulip bulbs in fall, but wait until spring to interplant seedlings of Iceland poppy and nemesia.