Stinze

My mother has been planting, dividing and spreading spring bulbs on this mountain for the last thirty years. It earned her the blog name Bulbarella. We do not have anything resembling a proper lawn in our forest setting, but her obsession can be and is applied to actual lawns with the same results. It goes by the Dutch name Stinze.

You may have seen lawn areas where things like crocus, snowdrops, grape hyacinth or other small blooming plants have naturalized and put on a pretty impressive display. You can do this intentionally. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a derelict back yard with thousands of crocus in full bloom.

The smaller bulbs work best for mowed areas or actual lawns. In our forest setting daffodils can be used. Ten thousand daffodils and counting.

At the 2017 Philadelphia Flower Show, the landscape designer Carrie Preston showcased the Dutch practice of flowering lawns.

Stinze is a thing.

In our woodland setting everything is allowed to die back naturally and anything left standing is cut down over the winter before the Stinze begins again in the early spring. Doing this in a more proper lawn does mean no herbicides can be used and the first mowing has to wait until June. Nothing wrong with that as far as I am concerned.

Bulbarella Stinze, now she has a last name.

So it begins each spring. Her handiwork has spread even further than it seems.