i Blomsterløg til LAR-projekter BY CARIEN VAN BOXTEL, DESIGNER AT JUB Carien van Boxtel Garden and landscape designer Carien van Boxtel is the permanent designer and planting expert for JUB Holland. Together with JUB, Carien is working on various bulb projects with naturalising bulbs. Amongst others for the Dutch town Breda, where she has designed “Royal ribbons of bulbs in Royal colours” that ‘wrap up’ the entire town centre. Together with the residents, a number of special naturalising mixtures have been planted in the beautiful village of Kamerik in the centre of Holland. In the Dutch archeology museum Archeon, Carien and JUB are working together with a planting scheme using only historic bulbs. WHAT IS A RAIN GARDEN? In its simplest form, a rain garden is a shallow depression, with absorbent, yet free draining soil and planted with vegetation that can withstand occasional temporary flooding. Rain gardens are simple interventions designed to receive rainwater which has come from a downpipe or a large domestic paved area. The rainwater enters the soil and drains away into the ground or is taken up by the plants. They help our gardens to deal more effectively with heavy rain, but they also filter and clean run-off. Rain gardens are designed to slow surface water run-off and improve water quality. However, it is a garden feature and should work for you in terms of the overall design of your property. Like any garden, there is range of possible planting styles: your rain garden might have ornamental, low maintenance ground cover, designed to provide a habitat for wildlife or grasses in combination with stones or gravel. When choosing plants you may want to consider height, colour and flowering period. Taller plants tend to be situated at the centre of the garden and shorter ones around the edges, so that all can be seen and so that deeper-rooted plants can benefit from the deeper soil in the middle of the bed. By grouping plants of various size and texture you will be able to create an interesting looking garden even when few flowers are in bloom. If you wish to create habitat for wildlife, plant native bulbs or plants that are known to attract insects like bees and butterflies and other wildlife 22
Leucojum aestivum Gravetye Giant SUITABLE PLANTS Plants that are suitable for a rain garden are not always bog plants, but must be resistant to dynamic or changing situations: often dry and sometimes (very) wet. Lawns are not suitable for rain gardens: lawn grasses cannot cope with a lack of oxygen. A perennial vegetation, whether or not combined with trees, is ideal. A limited range of flower bulbs is also very suitable for rain gardens. Bulbs tolerate drought during their rest period and a number of varieties can be used very well in wet to damp locations. In all cases, the drainage must be optimal. A reasonable amount of food is also a condition. For optimal naturalising, the mowing management will have to be adjusted to the time it takes for the foliage to die so that the bulb can store food again for the next growing season. Fritillaria meleagris SUITABLE BULBS FOR RAIN GARDENS ARE: Camassia cusickii (photo 1) Camassia leichtlinii ‘ Caerulea’ Camassia quamash Nectaroscordum siculum (photo 2) Leucojum aestivum ‘Gravetye Giant’ Fritillaria meleagris Narcissus jonquilla hybrids Galanthus nivalis Muscari azureum (photo 3) Muscari botryoides 1 2 3 23