THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Saturday/Sunday, September 7 - 8, 2019 |D7
DESIGN & DECORATING
below will have your neighbors
scouring Home Depot in envy.
They likely won’t find these out-
liers there, however, a reason these
flowers are little known to lay gar-
deners. It’s easier for wholesalers to
handle well-known, high-volume
bulbs with a long shelf life. Many
retailers shun nonconformist bulbs
because inventory can dry out and
not bloom, said Michael Hagen, cu-
rator at the New York Botanical
Garden. So you must order them
online in fall (see list at right) and
quickly pop them in the soil. There
they’ll get the months of chilling
they need before they sprout in
spring. Follow instructions; some
require partial shade or full sun, or
a winter blanket of mulch—small ef-
fort for a distinctive display.High-Wattage Bulbs
Next spring, wow the neighborhood with splashy, atypical flowers
O
NE LOOKS LIKE a
headdress for a car-
toon king. Another
resembles violet fire-
works. They can be
bold or demure, tall or petite, but
none could be called ordinary.
Even their names don’t sound con-
ventionally pretty: trout lilies,
guinea-hen flowers and tumble-
weed onions, to name a few.
“When people think of spring
bulbs they think of tulips and nar-
cissus,” as daffodils are botanically
known, said Eric Hsu, plant infor-
mation coordinator at Chanticleer, a
public garden in Wayne, Pa. And
though those spring go-tos have re-
liable charm, the six eccentric bulbsBYBARTZIEGLERMARIANNE MAJERUS; ILLUSTRATIONS BY AGATA WIERZBICKA
HEADS ABOVE Not only are Fritillaria imperialis nongeneric, they are a statuesque presence.
Allium schubertii
The foot-wide globes of this
onion relative comprise up to
50 tiny rose-purple flowers of
varying length arranged like
an exploding star atop a 1- to
2-foot stem. “They’re very ar-
chitectural, very bold,” said Mr.
Hsu. The flowers even look
great dried, either in an ar-
rangement or left to blow off
the stem, giving rise to their
“tumbleweed onion” nickname.Fritillaria meleagris
Commonly called the guinea-
hen flower for its burgundy-
and-white-patterned petals,
this Fritillaria’s dainty, check-
erboard blooms descend from
15-inch stems that grow out
of grasslike leaves. “They
look like lanterns, like stained
glass,” said Chanticleer’s Mr.
Hsu. The bulbs prefer moist
soil and sun-dappled shade,
such as at woodland edges.Erythronium
The trout lily sports delicate
blooms in primrose yellow, vi-
olet-pink or off white. The
flowers hang from foot-high,
cane-like stems above its
namesake mottled green-and-
garnet foliage, which stands
out even after the flowers are
spent. Erythronium—whose
classic lily shape is more con-
ventional than its leaf color—
looks best en masse.Fritillaria imperialis
Resembling royal headgear—
its common name is crown
imperial—this lily-family mem-
ber seems to have escaped
the tropics. Blooms in red,
yellow or orange droop from
3- to 4-foot stems, while the
flowers are capped by foliage
that looks like pineapple tops.
Mr. Hagen said they are best
arranged in clusters of five or
so as “a nice accent piece.”Brodiaea Rudy
This West Coast native, known
as the cluster lily, produces its
flowers amid very slender, 14-
to 18-inch foliage, the petals a
delicate pale-blue earmarked
with indigo stripes. “The flow-
ers are airy and lacy,” said Mr.
Hsu. Paired with orange milk-
weed at Chanticleer, he said,
“it’s quite a contrast.” They’re
happiest in areas with moist
springs and dusty summers.Camassia
Two- to 3-foot spikes stand like
sentries in the garden, each
carrying dozens of upturned,
star-shaped blooms in violet-
blue or white. This native
American is a stunner in
swaths, and if it likes its loca-
tion—preferring slightly damp
soil—a small clump will expand
year to year. Mr. Hagen said ca-
massia looks sharp mingled
with late-blooming daffodils.TAKE YOUR PICK /SIX SPRING BULBS THAT WILL ADD ANOMALOUS CHARACTER TO THE GARDEN OR A VASE
WHERE TO BUY
RARE SPECIES1. johnscheepers.com
2. whiteflower-
farm.com/specialty-
flower-bulbs
3. brentandbeckys-
bulbs.com/fall-
planted
4. oldhousegar-
dens.com/display/cat/
diversefall
5. dutchbulbs.com