Inspiration in Bloom

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“Have you seen Karen Collins’ tulips?”

The question, part of an overheard snippet of conversation between two friends who live in Glendale, was posed with an undertone of awe on a lovely spring day.

Not even slightly embarrassed to be eavesdropping, I immediately jumped into the exchange. Garden writers are always on the trail of spectacular floral displays. In addition, I felt certain the Karen Collins of legendary tulips had to be the same Karen Collins I knew through her volunteer work at the Missouri Botanical Garden and as a gardening expert employed at Kirkwood’s Sugar Creek Gardens.

My friends passed along the exact location of this spring flower show, and minutes later I was in the car to see it for myself. There was no need for a street address; Karen Collins’ tulips, on display amidst equally stunning daffodils, flowering trees and birdhouses, shone from two blocks away.

The beauty that surrounds her brick Cape Cod residence each spring is the only reward Karen needs for the hours spent for the past 15 falls planting a total of over 10,000 bulbs. She relishes the delight of her neighbors and those who seek out her garden as their own particular spring tonic. “I had a man stop and tell me that my house is not on his regular route to work, but he always goes out of his way to drive by my yard in the spring,” Karen recalls.

Karen has been gardening at her Glendale home for more than 28 years and has gradually transformed a yard that contained “only one great big yew” into a showplace. She credits her mother for her fascination with bulbs. “They were always my mother’s favorites, but she didn’t plant them to the extent that I’ve done; I’ve gone overboard,” Karen says with a laugh, estimating that she plants between 700 and 800 bulbs every fall.

She credits an unknown gardener in Webster Groves with her penchant for birdhouses. “I saw all these birdhouses in a garden in Webster, and I drove my husband (the late Tom Collins) over to see them,” she recalls. “I said, ‘I have to do that.’ They add so much to a garden.”

There’s also a story about the gnomes peeking out from various locations in Karen’s garden. “When we were first married, we lived on Couch Avenue in Kirkwood,” Karen recounts. “The lady who lived across the street, Celeste Holmes, was an avid gardener. She was a wonderful Southern lady who always wore earrings, beautiful hats and makeup when she gardened. She willed her garden gnomes to me. My favorite is the one reading the book.”

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What Goes Into Creating the Karen Collins Look?
• Karen selects bulbs with a variety of bloom times to ensure a floral display that begins in early April and continues into May. 

• While daffodils will naturalize and return year after year, tulips need to be replanted each year to ensure a dramatic display. For the past few years, Karen has concentrated on a vibrant mix of Impression tulips, a vigorous Darwin hybrid with immense goblet-shaped flowers.

• Rather than using a bulb planter, Karen digs a broad hole, lines it with compost, and plants a cluster of seven to nine bulbs at a time. She fertilizes with Bulb Booster in the fall and in the spring once bulbs have flowered.

• As a guide to where to plant each fall, “I plant Muscari armeniacum, a cobalt blue grape hyacinth that blooms in April and May, with each group of daffodils and tulips. The foliage of this particular grape hyacinth reappears in the fall, a signal to me when planting new bulbs, ‘Don’t plant here.’”

• Don’t be afraid to plant bulbs in shady areas; bulbs bloom before the trees leaf out.

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More of Karen’s gardening wisdom and wit is available in Karen’s Garden Calendar, a month by month gardening guide for the St. Louis area containing advice on everything from when to divide peonies to how to control spider mites.  The guide is priced at $10 and available beginning in April at Sugar Creek Gardens. Snippets from the calendar also are available on line at www.sugarcreekgardens.com.