As a transplanted Virginian in New England, I’ve come to accept that March seldom offers much respite from winter. When crocus and early daffodils are showing their sunny faces in my native state, my Amherst garden is likely to be under a blanket of snow and ice.
But no matter what weather March brings us here in Massachusetts, we can enjoy a taste of spring at the spectacular annual bulb shows at Smith College’s Lyman Conservatory and Mount Holyoke College’s Botanic Garden.
Work on the bulb shows began last October, when students at both colleges potted bulbs and put them into cold storage. Ordinarily blooming at different times throughout the spring, the bulbs must be coaxed into blooming simultaneously. Starting in January, the bulbs were moved into the greenhouses and with careful timing and temperature control they are all blooming in time for the spring events.
“Spring Pools” is the theme of Mount Holyoke’s bulb show this year. Hundreds of spring-blossoming bulbs and plants will be displayed in the Botanic Garden’s Talcott Greenhouse, a charming building that dates from the 1890s. The plants will be grouped around three shallow pools placed along the axis of the Show House, with groupings of flowers around each. The central pool has a woodland ambience, while the other two are garden-themed.
Visitors will enjoy fragrant favorites such as hyacinths, freesias and narcissus as well as tulips, anemones, crocus, scilla, muscari and more. Pansies, cineraria, primroses and other spring flowers complement the bulbs. In addition, plants from the permanent collection, including rosemary, pelargonium and salvia, play “supporting roles” to the starring bulbs, says Tom Clark, Director of the Botanic Garden.
The show runs from Saturday through March 19, 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily. It is free and open to the public. Groups are welcome, with advance notice. The show is wheelchair accessible.
For more information, call the Botanic Garden at 538-2216 or visit their website www.mtholyoke.edu/botanic.
“Fields of Flowers,” is the theme of this year’s bulb show at Smith. It was inspired by Irish artist Mima Nixon’s watercolors that illustrated the book Dutch Bulbs and Gardens, published in 1909. Conservatory Manager Rob Nicholson has combined reproductions of the artist’s work with bulbs grown from the very fields she painted a century ago.
The Smith bulb show will open with a lecture by Joan Edwards in the Campus Center Carroll Room Friday at 7:30 p.m. Her topic is Botanical Explosions: The Evolutionary Impact of UltraFast Plants. The lecture will explore these ultra-fast actions through high-speed video, which slows down the movements and defines the biomechanics of the motion.
Following Edwards’ lecture there will be a reception at the Lyman Plant House.
The Smith bulb show runs from Saturday through March 19, and is open to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, the show is open until 8 p.m. The suggested donation is $5. Groups of 10 or more must schedule in advance. The Botanic Garden is wheelchair accessible.
The weekend following the Smith bulb show, Friends of the Botanic Garden and the public are invited to purchase many of the hardy bulbs from the show. Inexpensively priced, these crocus, daffodil, hyacinth, narcissus and tulip bulbs, as well as some other plants, can later be planted outdoors or displayed indoors in pots.
For more information, contact the Botanic Garden of Smith College at 585-2740 or visit the web site at www.smith.edu/garden.
Have you ever wondered why a plant that has received accolades from the gardening community just does not seem to work for you? Join author, gardener and plant expert David Culp as he shares his advice on selecting perennials for northeastern gardens Saturday from 10 a.m. till noon. The cost is $25 for members; $30 for nonmembers.
For more information and to register, go to berkshirebotanical.org.
Hadley Garden Center, Route 9 in Hadley, will hold a free bonsai clinic Saturday at 1 p.m.
Doug Taylor, past president of the Pioneer Valley Bonsai Society, will give a power-point presentation of bonsai basics as well as the history of the centuries-old Japanese tradition..
Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston will host the 188th annual Camellia Show on Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.. The show, presented by the Massachusetts Camellia Society, will feature more than 150 cut blooms and camellia trees. The show is free with admission. For more information, go to towerhillbg.org.
Mickey Rathbun can be reached at foxglover8@gmail.com.