Category Archives: Spring Flowering Bulbs

March 18, 2013 · 1:11 am

Garden Travels

It’s finally here…Spring!

Officially on Wednesday.

It’s just a bit soon here to begin digging.

You can start cutting back all that brown dead stuff

And racking back that protective coat of leaves.

But instead of standing at the window

Staring into the backyard

Wringing my clean hands

I’ve been lucky this past month

And gotten to visit not one,

But two glorious botanical gardens.

About 3 weeks ago Virginia, Debra and I

Spent an afternoon at the Desert Botanical Garden.

I’m not really a desert person – Virginia is

It was after all a garden, so I was happy to tag along.

So glad I did.

There was a bit of Chihuly glass.

If you don’t know Chihuly glass

Get to know it

It’s art…beyond belief.

Butterflies were another draw for me.

A butterfly pavilion had been added for the next few months.

Being in a small enclosed space with hundred of butterflies.

Or…flutterbyes as I like to call them.

Is…well…like having God doing a fly by.

Really low!

Now, I’m not someone who travels a great deal.

Quite the opposite.

I love being home.

Somehow just two weeks later John and I were heading to Dallas

It was warm and sunny while we were there.

Yesterday on our way out of town we visited Dallas Blooms.

And bloom it does!

The Dallas Arboretum was lit up with no less than

500,00 spring flowering bulbs.

Bed after bed of daffodils and tulips.

Underplanted with violas of every combination.

Pots of Ranunculus

Shouting “It’s Spring”

Planter boxes with the tallest ornamental cabbage known to man.

We were in Texas after all

Brides taking their wedding portraits amongst the glory of it all.

And many princesses complete with crowns, gowns and velvet couches!

There’s a tradition there I need to explore.

Then there were these two darling boys.

Who I was certain had found a lady bug

or caterpillar

or some wonder of nature

Because they had turned their backs on this breathtaking beauty.

Look closely

It’s an iPad!

Somehow I kept from screaming at them.

It’s starting here.

Hellebores are always first.

Patches of daffodils are beginning to bloom

Next will come forsythia and flowering pear trees

Then the big parade begins

I can’t wait

I’m just grateful for such a splendid preview.

Take in a little spring this week.

Gail

6 Comments

Filed under Butterflies, Daffodils, Forsythia, Hellebores, Ornamental Cabbage, Spring Flowering Bulbs, tulips, Uncategorized, Viola

April 1, 2012 · 2:53 am

YUMMY SPRING

I love the progression of Spring.

Each week brings some new spectacular blooms

The colors are so bright – so clear.

The weather allows me to spend hours in the garden

Soaking it all in.

Nothing renews me like the slow progression

of my garden emerging from the earth

or the cracks in the patio bricks.

Slow progression.

Not this year.

It’s as if John Phillip Sousa has come back to town

and is conducting a fast march through the season.

I was planning on writing about a single plant this week

Wisteria

Early in the week I was drooling over my wisteria.

Driving around town taking pictures of wisteria all over town.

Gay discovered this one in our neighborhood.

It’s at least 30 feet high and has attached itself to a tree row between 2 houses.

Then Debra’s gift of OSU tulips began to open as a nice buttery yellow

and ended the week a great orange.

Next the Parrot Tulip Blumex began to open

and open.

I can’t stop taking pictures of them.

It’s all happening way to fast.

After all it’s only the 31st of March.

Roses are budding

actually the first bloomed TODAY!

Iris are also on the fast track with lots of buds popping up.

But the most breathtaking gift of the day is my

Japanese Tree Peony

You may remember it from last year.

Bought it at least 10 years ago.

Tiny, expensive root it was.

Transplanted to two different gardens.

Accidentally sliced it in half at one point.

Waited patiently – most of the time.

This year it has 14 giant buds.

They open at night

So on a spring morning I am surprised .

This morning I was as my mother would say “flabbergasted”

SIX blooms the size of my hand

Absolutely yummy.

Since it’s so very warm I’ve put my green market umbrella over it

To give it shade.

Because the blooms don’t last long.

So…if you want to bask in its glory.

Better come tomorrow!

Gail

BULB PLANTING TIME

It’s the time of the year when I begin my frost dance.

Or should I say “threat” of frost dance.

You know the routine.

The first few nights you just throw a sheet or towel over a few tender plants

Then you drag most of the ferns in to the warmth.

After a few more sunny days

It happens again.

Freeze warnings

You begin to take them seriously.

You start picking things.

Almost ripe tomatoes

Not quite mature peppers.

Then the freeze frenzy really sets in.

One cold windy morning you yank every green tomato off the vine.

Cut cockscomb to the ground.

Whack away at armloads of roses and zinnias

Dig up baby basil plants for your winter supply.

Then lie in wait for mother nature to kill everything you’ve nurtured all year.

After several nights of freeze warnings

It finally happens.

The first hard freeze.

The killing freeze.

With the end of one season

Another begins.

So now it’s time to plant…….

Spring Flowering Bulbs!!!

Even though I won’t actually plant my bulbs till later in the month.

I thought I’d send along this primer.

Here’s what I know about planting bulbs.

As with all of gardening the health and size of the bulb will determine the quality of bloom.

So look for big bulbs that are firm.

Make sure there is no mold present

Soft moldy bulbs will only turn into compost not flowers.

Tulip bulbs should still have their brown “skin” attached.

We talked about bulbs a bit in August in two prior blogs.

Planning Time and Planting Hope

So lets cover how to plant all this stuff.

First – find a gardening friend

Make a pact to help each other plant bulbs.

This friend may be a spouse, a child, a sibling, a neighbor

Or if you’re lucky you have a Megan.

Megan has helped me plant bulbs for well…

I don’t remember how long.

We use the “lasagna” method.

It saves labor

And makes for glorious blasts of color.

Which means you never….never….never

Plant in rows.

Instead if you want to line an edge

Dig a series of oval holes.

Good sized holes

Because you will put a minimum 7 daffodils and 11 tulips in each hole

Dig the hole 6 ” – 8″ deep.

Mix in a little Bone Meal

Place the daffodils pointy end up

(That is very important !)

Make sure they don’t touch – or they will rot!

Use odd numbers 7 – 9 – 11.

Cover with a few inches of soil

Add a bit more Bone Meal

Then place Tulips

Again pointy end up.

To get a good show use at least 11 tulips or more.

Then repeat soil and Bone Meal

Top off with Dutch Iris.

Then refill to ground level.

Actually a little higher since it will settle when you water it all in.

And do water it all in

The water will fill up the air pockets in the soil

This will keep it from freezing when it’s first planted.

If you’re really energetic or inspired you can cover it all with pansies.

Now….that’s a blast of spring!

We do a series of these “lasagna Holes” on each side of the path

Leading to my garden house.

This forms a full border that doesn’t look contrived.

You’ll notice that the biggest bulbs need to be buried the deepest.

So you plant from large to small bulbs with this method.

Lilies can be planted 3 – 5 to a hole

Or…you can dig a winding trench

Place the bulbs in a zig zag pattern along the trench.

I generally don’t plant anything else with them.

So…that’s pretty much how we do it here.

It’s a tried and true method you may want to try.

Or not.

After all gardening is personal.

We learn from each other.

We adapt to our own garden.

We create.

We wait.

Gail

BLOOM WHERE YOU’RE PLANTED

For years I’ve drooled over pictures of homes in the south.

All those gloriously tall trees

Dripping with Spanish Moss.

It all seems so romantic

So splendid.

John & I have talked about a trip to Charleston for a long time.

So when this summer failed to produce a vacation.

We decided to do something completely out of character for us.

A September trip.

John did his usual research and before we knew it we were off to Charleston.

And since we had met a man from Beaufort, S. C. on our “urban sailing vacation” a few years back.

We decided to visit his beloved hometown.

The fact that John’s favorite author Pat Conroy resides there only sweetened the deal.

And then as if that wasn’t enough we learned that the Charleston Preservation Society was having their fall home and garden tour.

It was meant to be.

So off we flew to Charleston.

Now…I ‘m sure you are thinking that the pictures of Charleston will begin here.

And they should.

But I didn’t take any.

Weird, but somehow after all that dreaming we just didn’t click.

So…we decided to move on to Savannah.

Savannah is built on a grid

The planner a Mr. Oglethorpe (I think) wisely included 24 “squares” in the plan

22 survive today.

They would now be known as “green spaces”

What a forward thinker.

Most have a statue

All have enormous old live oak trees.

Dripping with moss.

Now I expected some sort of Southern Living gardening extravaganza of color.

Wrong.

I kept looking for banks of glorious Hydrangea

Color filled cutting gardens.

What’s going on here.

A few pots here and there but really…no color.

Then it hit me.

The thing about all those glorious old trees is

Shade.

They create shade

Lots and lots of shade.

The kind of shade that only allows green to grow.

Moss, ferns, hostas, boxwood.

And oh how green it is.

The humidity hovered around 95% our entire trip

Afternoon showers came almost daily.

So what was needed here was a paradigm shift.

What I came to see simply doesn’t exist here.

Time to start admiring green

And foliage.

And small “secret gardens”

And the seashells poured into the roads centuries ago.

It’s that “seeing thing” again.

If we look we will see.

And appreciate.

And then there were the houses of Beaufort.

We saw them all.

Courtesy of a charming young guide named Carly.

She’s passionate about history.

We walked the town with her for 2 1/2 hours listening to her slow southern drawl.

She told us how Beaufort was founded in 1711 so that makes it 300 years old this year.

The town decided to identify all the trees that have been there from the beginning.

300 year old trees – imagine.

As you can see they are beyond description

They call them Birthday Trees.

I like that.

Then there were the homes.

Old gracious homes.

As it turns out one of these homes we have known for some time.

It’s the house where my favorite movie “The Big Chill” was filmed.

But before that it was also the home in “The Great Santini”.

The book that got John hooked on Pat Conroy’s writing.

So what is the lesson in all of this for me.

It is that simple saying

“Bloom where you’re planted.”

I’ve admired these old homes and their charms for years.

As it turns out they are gorgeous.

But they are really old.

Which means lots of work.

And the giant trees that surround them

Equally amazing

But giant trees create endless shade.

So though I consider myself contented.

I am even more so

After all

My garden has sun and shade.

We have a 9 month growing season here.

Which gives me days and days in the garden.

Then just when I wear completely out.

The freeze comes.

And with it needed rest.

So perhaps we are where we are supposed to be.

Or…maybe we adjust to where we land.

It’s really up to each of us

To choose to bloom.

Gail

2 Comments

Filed under Ferns, Gardening, Hosta, Live Oak Trees, Moss, Spring Flowering Bulbs, Uncategorized, Zinnia

August 26, 2011 · 12:51 pm

PLANTING HOPE

Last week we talked tulips

Glorious tulips

Now lets see what else we can find to bury this fall.

Daffodils are just about the happiest flower there is.

They will often begin poking their noses out of the ground before Christmas.

Some years they even bloom by Valentines – more often in early March.

My favorite is a solid yellow called King Alfred.

It’s the traditional large cupped solid yellow.

There are hundreds of varieties, but I must confess to only planting this one kind.

Don’t let that stop you from finding your own favorite.

Daffodils are more perennial than tulips.

King Alfred edging the garden in late winter

Which is good since they cost more.

Another standard for me is Dutch Iris.

You might recognize them as a standard in florist bouquets.

Dutch Iris "Delft Blue"

They are a smaller bulb, don’t require much space and easy to plant.

One of my real favorites is the tiny bulb and bloom of the Grape Hyacinths.

They bloom early and long.

They are wonderful at edges.

I’ve lined much of the path of my garden with them.

Grape Hyacinths along the brick path

I’ve also scattered them on my one little “hill” and let them roll down to the edge.

Grape Hyacinths and vinca minor on the "hill".

And best of all they are pretty cheap!

The other bulbs I order this time of year are lilies.

Asiatic, Oriental and Trumpet

I love them all.

This year I’ve found a semi-shady place to add lots of Oriental lilies.

So I’m buying a mix of pinks and creams and whites.

Stargazer - a staple Oriental Lily

Mixes generally save you a little money, but you don’t get to pick the colors.

I’m also adding Oriental Lily Golden Star to the yellow Orientals I all ready have.

I’ve also found Trumpet Lily African Queen.

I saw this melon colored beauty in a magazine and tracked it down.

Now…no bulb order would be complete without Amaryllis.

You will know them as the fantastic flowers forced into bloom at Christmas.

My favorite is the Hybrid Dutch Amaryllis.

The pink and white Apple Blossom is glorious.

Apple Blossom Amaryllis

A fairly new Black Pearl is a most dramatic dark red.

Black Pearly Amaryllis

Actually, there isn’t a bad color of Amaryllis.

They are monster bulbs fitting snuggly into a 6 ” pot.

Forcing Amaryllis for Christmas in the garden house.

Where do these bulbs come from?

How many do you order?

How do you know a good bulb?

How do you plant all of this stuff?

We’ll save the last question till time to plant.

Which for me is in November.

Suffice it to say it’s good to have friends in November.

Let’s tackle the rest.

Where to get bulbs?

You’ll find them at garden centers, nurseries and stores that add seasonal greenhouses.

Along with all kinds of catalogs and websites.

I find them well…everywhere.

I will tell you though I don’t like the pre-packaged bags of bulbs.

Though my friend Debra literally grabbed a bunch of these last fall

Through them into the ground.

And had glorious bulbs.

But, I like to pick out each one to make sure that it is firm, has no sign of mold, and most importantly, big.

The bigger the bulb the bigger the bloom.

It’s just that simple.

Though I do my best to support local merchants I do have to confess to being a little picky about the colors I want.

So for that reason I do order from catalogs.

My long time favorite is a company called k. van Bourgondien.

I have found their selection to be very good – to the point it takes me a week to figure it all out.

I also think their quality is excellent and reliable.

Their prices are fair.

As for quantities.

Well…this is my weak point

I always over buy

But I always get them planted

With Megan’s help.

Here are a few guidelines

But remember – it’s just my own opinion

Which is worth exactly what you are paying for it here in the blogosphere!

With the exception of grape hyacinths and other tiny bulbs I never plant in rows.

I dig – rather Megan digs – big oval-shaped holes.

In them we plant odd numbers of bulbs

Daffodils & Dutch Iris – 5 or 7 or 9

Tulips – 9 or 11 or 15

Lily bulbs are bigger and need a bit more space 3 or 5 per hole.

So…that gives you a guideline.

You can measure and multiply and see how much trouble you can get into.

We’ll cover more planting information come fall.

This should get you in over your head.

But come spring you’ll be so glad you took the time to plan ahead

I think of it as planting hope!

Gail

Hope !

3 Comments

Filed under Amaryllis, Daffodils, Dutch Iris, Grape Hyacinths, Oriental Lilies, spring, Spring Flowering Bulbs, tulips

Category Archives: Spring Flowering Bulbs

Garden Travels

YUMMY SPRING

BULB PLANTING TIME

BLOOM WHERE YOU’RE PLANTED

PLANTING HOPE

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