Bulbs and Books

Bulbs and Books

books bulbs

Dear Gardening Friends,

Gosh no, those aren't my tulips in the picture, but I sure think they are pretty and I want some for my own garden. I saw these tulips and many others on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art this week.  They planted hundreds of thousands of bulbs last fall and a few mix-ins this spring for a big show they call Spring Blooms.

It really is a big show.

I posted

In the spring, I need to see every flower

In the spring, I need to see every flower

bulbs spring

In the earliest spring days, which is really the last winter days, I need to see every flower. Yes, I feel like every flower that blooms needs a personal visit from me.

I need to see them all. I cringe at the thought that one of the many flowers that lies dormant in a bulb in the ground for almost a year since it last appeared should not be properly greeted when it blooms.

I worry that if I

Crocuses and Snowdrops

Crocuses and Snowdrops

books bulbs spring

I'm still on the look out for a good chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting, one that is good enough to spend the time, money, and calories on.

But alas, the garden calls with more warm days in February than I ever remember, and I am of the firm belief that one ought to answer any call from one's garden. Therefore, the idea of the cupcake is on hold for now.

My snowdrops are blooming. I

Dirty Knees and All is Well

Dirty Knees and All is Well

bulbs gardening winter

A few days ago, the crocuses were covered with about an inch of snow and winter was decidedly present in the garden.

Today, the snow has mostly melted except in the coldest parts of the garden and the crocuses are coming up faster than I can count them.

Count them?  I did attempt a count last year, early on, and quit at about 300. I know I've planted well more than that–perhaps 3,000 over the

On the eve of February, some crocuses

On the eve of February, some crocuses

bulbs winter

On the eve of February, the first crocus buds poked up from the ground in the back lawn and looked around for signs of Spring.

I call these early buds the scouts. They appear first and presumably, if all is well, they will sound the all clear and then crocuses will begin to pop up throughout the back lawn.

Today, the crocus scouts found it chilly but not unreasonably so.  One can be fooled by

It was an amazing fall

It was an amazing fall

bulbs fall.

It was an amazing fall.

One day the high temperature was 73º F and the next day the high temperature was just 43º F.  If ever one was looking for a sign that our amazing fall of 2016 was over, I suppose that 30º drop in high temperatures from one day to the next was it.

What made this fall amazing?

It seemed to go on and on with fairly moderate temperatures. Even now there are still leaves

Before you forget... I just ordered bulbs

Before you forget... I just ordered bulbs

bulbs

Consider this a public service announcement, which I am only making because I've ordered my spring flowering, but you plant them in fall, bulbs.  Therefore, there is no risk that the bulbs I want will be out of stock if my public service announcement results in a mad rush to all the bulb sites to order bulbs.

Yes, that is my public service announcement. Now, right in the high time of the

Rescued from the Weeds: The Tale of Pinky and Pretty

Rescued from the Weeds: The Tale of Pinky and Pretty

bulbs Humor weeding

Pinky

Written by Pretty

Everyone thinks the life of a tulip is quite simple.

We get planted in the fall, hunker down all winter, then come up and bloom in the spring and soak up the sun juice to rejuvenate our bulbs. Then we rest all summer, fall, and winter, and repeat the next spring.

If only that were true.  There is much more to the life of a tulip, as Pinky and I will tell you, because

Mystery, thy name is flower circles

Mystery, thy name is flower circles

bulbs Humor lawn

Flower circle 
Mystery, thy name is flower circles.

In early spring, in the lawn, circles of flowers appear in some areas, especially those areas where gardeners have gone to some trouble to plant bulbs and corms in their lawns for spring flowers.

The mystery is therefore not the appearance of flowers. They obviously come from the bulbs planted by gardeners

The mystery is the appearance of

Tales of Traveling Plants

Tales of Traveling Plants

bulbs Humor Seeds

Traveling plant

"Hey, over here. Look at me. A traveling plant. I made it from way over there by the tree to the edge of the flower border, by the front walk.

I know. I'm impressive, aren't I? A regular vagabond. A pilgrim. A real adventurer I am. After all, I've traveled nearly six or seven feet from the other plants of my ilk.

Want to know how I, a plant with roots, managed to get so

Flowers in the Lawn

Flowers in the Lawn

bulbs lawn spring

Glory-of-the-snow in the lawn

Would you like to have flowers in your lawn in the springtime?

Of course you would!

And you can.

It's easy.

Just order some corms for crocuses, Crocus tommasinianus is preferred over other crocuses, and some bulbs for glory-of-the-snow, Chionodoxa luciliae.  I like to order them as soon as they start selling them in late spring, early summer.  I usually don't

Secret sources and mysterious methods for early spring blooms

Secret sources and mysterious methods for early spring blooms

bulbs spring

Iris reticulata

 Iris reticulata is my favorite early spring flower, this week.

It's a resilient little bloomer, able to handle the cold and a bit of snow, which it did a few days ago.

Those who don't garden much are surprised to see them this early in the spring, too.

They recognize them as "irises" because of their distinctive flower form, but scratch their heads because they only know

Enjoy the flowers

Enjoy the flowers

bulbs spring

As soon as the weather warmed again, the crocuses returned.

And not just the crocuses.

The bees showed up, too.

They seemed almost frantic as the went from one flower to another, grabbing all the pollen they could.

And I'm sure I looked a bit frantic, too, as I went from flower to flower trying to take pictures of all of them.

Honestly, I looked like I had never seen a flower before.

Crocuses Bless the Garden in Late Winter

Crocuses Bless the Garden in Late Winter

bulbs spring

When Carol returned home on Friday and looked out the back door at the garden, she gasped audibly.  Were those crocuses blooming already on February 5th?

She flung open the door and rushed across the patio to the lawn.  Yes, those were crocuses blooming.

In the fading light of the day, she took pictures of the buds and marveled at how early the blooms were.

The next day, Carol's first

Holiday Bulbs Giveaway

Holiday Bulbs Giveaway

bulbs holidays

Amaryllis - picture courtesy of Longfield Gardens
If you are the type of person who heads right to the buffet table as soon as you arrive at a party, here’s what’s on the table.

The good folks at Longfield Gardens set up a nice buffet, I mean giveaway, of a Winter Gift Kit, featuring amaryllis or paperwhite bulbs, plus a rare bulb called Scilla madeirensis.

Leave a comment below to enter

Enjoy each flower as it blooms

Enjoy each flower as it blooms

bulbs weather

Crocus speciosus

I like to think if you blinded folded me and lead me gently to the center of my garden on any given day of the year, and then took off the blindfold, I could look around and tell you about what time of year it was, give or take a week or two.

Today, I'd be off by a few weeks because this autumn crocus is blooming and I think it's early.

I usually look for the autumn crocus,

A magical place

A magical place

bulbs spring

I can think of no place more magical than a garden, where every hoe and trowel is a magic wand.

The magic is there in each petal of each flower as it opens up. It's there in the unfurling of each new leaf.

At times the magic seems to take place in slow motion. We wait and wait, and then in the blink of an eye, in just the second we turn our heads, it happens.

Flowers are blooming everywhere

And the lawn began to bloom

And the lawn began to bloom

bulbs lawns

For the joy of that first moment when I stepped out the back door and saw all the crocuses blooming in the lawn, it was worth it.

It was worth spending hours planting all those crocus bulbs last fall, and the two falls before that.

It was worth enduring the cold, wind, ice, and snow of winter, including the last snow just ten days ago that covered the back lawn with six inches of snow.

It

Searching for spring blooms does not help your posture

Searching for spring blooms does not help your posture

bulbs spring

The snowdrop bloomed when I wasn't looking.

If one could bring forth blooms in the garden by simply staring at the poor little plants until the flowers burst forth, I would be living in a floral paradise right now.

I spent many hours today (it was probably just a few minutes) hunched over looking through the leaf litter and mulch at the tiny leaves of crocuses and irises coming up, hoping to

The Tale of the Amaryllis and Other Bulbs to Force in the Wintertime

The Tale of the Amaryllis and Other Bulbs to Force in the Wintertime

bulbs indoor gardening

Miniature Amaryllis

My amaryllis bulbs, including the miniature amaryllis bulbs,  are all up and in various stages of bud and bloom.

The miniature amaryllis is pretty but isn't the variety I ordered. So I wrote the company this morning to see what they can do. My first choice is to get the variety I ordered, but it is sold out.

But I've ordered from this company for years with great success