Frosting on the Cake

Day 248
The Daily DuBrule

I just helped my crew lay out hundreds of bulbs in a landscape that we have been working on for many months. This was the last thing we had to do in order to wrap this garden up for the winter. I had done a bulb plan, in the form of a velum overlay, showing how the bulbs would blend with the plants and embellish the color in the spring. Not everyone we work for is around when the bulbs go in. This particular client not only watched us lay out the bulbs, he also expressed his excitement over the process. 

Bulbs are an act of faith. In large bulb planting projects like this one, the client gets the bill and sees...NOTHING. Nothing is visibly changed in the landscape, it looks exactly the same as it did the week before. It's only when you watch the bulbs going in (or you plant them yourself) that you catch a bit of the anticipation of delight that "bulbing" offers. (Yes, I made up the word bulbing, which is a verb. It just works for us...)

As I was explaining how the bulb plan and layout worked, I said "bulbs are the frosting on the cake of the landscape". It just came out of my mouth. Afterwards I kept saying it over and over. Nothing could be more true. Just when you think you are done, when you have prepared, dug, designed, planted, mulched, and watered and are satisfied with your efforts, there is ONE MORE THING you can do to take a garden over the top. That is to plant bulbs, which will double the color come spring.