Keeping up with the garden

Gardeners must always be prepared to look to the future. Planting bulbs is one of the brightest ways to achieve this. Much to the horror of those master bulb growers the Dutch, bulb sales in North America have stagnated over the past few years. North America accounts for 30 per cent of world flower bulb demand so clearly a boost was needed. And a boost there will be – $5.7 million in marketing support spread over the next three years. You will likely see it under the tagline “Bulbs. Dig, drop, done.” In all fairness, that is pretty well it. Other than discouraging squirrels from what they fondly believe is an instant cafeteria . . . This leads gardeners to indulge in coprolalia, or tendency to swear, even perhaps trichotillomania, tearing of the hair.