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