Bulb labyrinth planting in Conn.
An old friend, Lisa Krall, a soil scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service sent me this picture and the report below last week:
Labyrinth planting in Connecticut
We have a partnership here in Connecticut called the Ecological Landscaping Network (ELN) and one project is coordinating practices where homeowners can come see them at the Tolland County Agriculture Center
Demonstrations there include rain gardens, butterfly gardens, pond buffers, drought-tolerant plantings, native plants, grass fertilizer demo. Still in the plans are a green roof, native wildlife buffer, porous pavement, etc.
The Labyrinth is in an area that was removed from overflow parking to create a gathering space between 4 maples that were planted a few years ago. We wanted it in a fairly visible space so it would get used by staff and visitors.
We picked a very early daffodil (Narcissus ‘Rijnveld’s Early Sensation’) because we’ll only be able to hold the mowing crews back for so long :-). We also tucked a muscari in each hole.
The soil is a nice outwash with a loamy cap, but a bit compacted. We got the bulbs courtesy of the Eastern CT RC&D, who gave us the generous donation. Helping with the planting were folks from the North Central CT Soil and Water Conservation Service, UCONN Cooperative Extension and Master Gardeners, and Natural Resources Conservation Service.
We planted about 800 daffodils in about 2.5 hours. We dug individual holes with a combination of bulb planters, augers, shovels, trowels. And, we are all sore today!
The design was used with permission from the Labyrinth Company here in CT and the owner came and helped lay it out with spray paint for us. It’s a 5 circuit design, about 30 feet in diameter I think.
I’ve enjoyed lurking on your blog.
Submitted on: November 9, 2008
By: Craig Cramer
Topics: Activities |