bulbs
We can plant bulbs all the way through December. That means that we can wait for them to go on sale. That brown paper bag, top-left, holds regular big yellow daffodil bulbs that were half price at the local Feed & Seed. Of course, there were only twenty of them remaining in the bin…but still… Top-right, ‘Salome’, was also half price at the local one-stop-shopping center. Everything else, I ordered from John Scheepers. They carry all sorts of exotics, and I had my heart set on Allium ‘Hair’, an oddball character that I spotted for the first time last spring. It looks like an alien invader, so of course it has an engraved invitation to invade my space. To round out the order, I added Brodiaea ‘Pink Diamond’, Allium sphaerocephalon, or drumstick allium, and ‘Lemon Drops’ narcissus.
Last Saturday was a rare, wonderful day to be out in the garden. I got exactly half of the above bulbs into the ground. The soil yielded to my shovel in a most accommodating fashion. The sun warmed my shoulders without overdoing it. Night fell before I could completely overtax neglected muscles. Oh, for another such day to complete the job.
November 19th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Thanks for the reminder! I’m on it.
November 19th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Won’t we be smug, come spring?
November 19th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Surely we deserve another dry (dare I say sunny) day…soon!
November 20th, 2009 at 2:38 am
I just planted a bunch of drumstick alliums as well. Can’t wait to see the alien invader allium! I love alliums. I’ve planted schubertii a few times I think but it never seems to grow. I can’t resist when I see it in a catalog though. I’ll keep planting them every fall until they grow.
November 20th, 2009 at 6:53 am
This sounds like bliss, Ricki. Especially the part about the soil yielding.
I love that we PNW’ers can get bulbs on sale and still have time to plant them. You’ve got some very nice choices. I hope we’ll see photos next spring.
November 20th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
You’ve reminded me I still need to get some snowdrops to plant. They’re a little off the beaten track, ulb-wise so I hope I can find them. Cheap would be even better!
November 20th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Loree: we can hope.
Wendy: my schubertii became less vigorous with each passing year, so i transplanted them to a berm with plenty of compost…hard to dig with fingers crossed.
Grace: if all goes well, there will indeed be photos.
Jane: I bet they have snowdrop bulbs at Portland Nursery, and even there they may be on sale by now.