Tiny Spring Bulbs & Flowers

The lawn is still brown, the lake is still frozen, and the shrubs have yet to grow any leaves. The broad landscape looks dismal on this rainy day, unless you look closely. On a small scale, there is beauty in the tiny flowers of the early spring bulbs. I only have a few of these, but enjoy them nonetheless. All the tiny spring bulbs should be planted in clusters, for maximal effect. I'm hoping my bulbs rapidly divide and bulk up their clusters, so that they can be appreciated from afar (and not just my flower-seeking camera).
Scilla siberica:

Tulipa humilis violacea will be opening soon:

I have these tiny pink botanical tulips planted on my rock garden slope, which they appreciate for its good drainage. These are not picky or demanding little tulips, and have survived the worst winters here.
Fritilaria meleagris has emerged from the soil:

While the rest of Canada's daffodils are probably long past, mine will probably bloom at the end of May. I suppose there are not many other gardeners waiting longer for spring blooms than us here in zone 1b. Beyond this zone, I don't know how many bulb would even survive! Any Siberian gardeners out there?

Even More Tulips and Rock Wall Pictures

The blooming of the tulips makes a colorful show in our yard for the first two weeks of June. I love it. I only wish I could go perennial shopping to fill in spots where some other plants died over the winter. Unfortunately, RLM doesn't think that the 580 km round trip for a few plants is really justified and I have to agree. Reluctantly, of course. Instead, I'm getting my perennials for free! Yeah, I'm digging up my own plants and dividing them. It's a little boring, but effective.

Here are some gratuitous pictures of dry-stack rock walls and tulips for your enjoyment!

Both of the raised beds amid a lawn that needs some rehab:

The larger raised bed, looking towards the road:

Alchemilla mollis in the foreground and Negrita (purple) and Zurel (white/purple) Triumph tulips in the back:



Single late tulip "Menton" in front of "Negrita" tulips.

Some of the larger perennials are starting to grow too tall in front of the tulips!

The white blooms of wild pincherries make a cloud in the background.

Fragrant Narcissi and Finally Some Tulips

The raised beds are now blooming with color, with all but the single late tulip varieties in full bloom. Here's the larger raised bed, showing some obvious bare spots. I'm hoping to get some new perennials to fill in the "holes". It would be really nice to have some short flowering perennial to sprawl over the rock wall edges. I'll be working on that for next year.

Here is double late tulip "Blue Diamond", which is open only in the morning and early afternoon, closing by supper. From a distance, you can't tell that it's a double-flowered tulip, so it blends in with the single blooms of a similar-colored tulip. I'm not totally impressed, but the close-up shot is pretty.

Double late tulip, "Blue Diamond" from above:

Trumpet Daffodils and Negrita Triumph tulips:

An oddly side-facing "Zurel" bi-colored tulip.

Poetaz Narcissus "Geranium" has got to be my favourite narcissus (not that I have an extensive collection). It is beautiful and smells absolutely wonderful, two qualities that any gardener might personally strive for! Here it is in the sloped rock garden.

Another photo of Bergenia cordifolia's flowers, just because I really like this perennial a lot:

Bright morning sun on the tulips:

Aha! The Papaver somniferum (breadseed poppies) seedlings are coming up! I let last year's plants self seed and a nice number of plants has come up in the back of the raised bed this spring.

Spring Bulbs and Colorful Pasque Flowers

The weather has been warm for the last few days, coaxing the spring blooms open (finally). I have more blooms to admire today, and I notice that the daffodils may bloom soon as well! I will be disappointed if there are no big blooms in my yard when we have visitors a week from now.
Purple Pulsatilla vulgaris:

Here are three shades of pasque flowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris) in my yard. These plants form nice-sized plants in about three years. The flowers make a big show before much foliage has grown. I'd like to grow some more of the dark pink/red ones, but you have to plant the seed fairly quickly after maturity because the seed is "ephemeral", as seed sellers put it (it doesn't last long). I should try using my own fresh seeds. I'd also like to add a yellow one to my collection some day.

I just planted the new white-flowered Pulsatilla last fall.

Grape hyacinths have just started to bloom in the last two days:

Tulipa turkestanica, another botanical tulip. These started to bloom today.

Pulmonaria saccharata "Mrs. Moon" does well under the partial shade of tree branches. It has delicate blue and pink flowers in spring. This one must have self-seeded, because I found about 6 little plants around the large one. I read that other growers complain of powdery mildew with this plant, but I haven't had those problems here.

Pulmonaria blooms:

Scilla sibirica and Species Tulips

Spring is definitely slow this year, with these bulbs blooming a few weeks late. However, the weather is warming and the lake is finally thawing. Unbelievably, some foolish soul on a snowmobile actually crossed the lake on May 10. If you go fast enough, you can cross areas of open water for brief distances. Sounds stupid to me.

Scilla siberica is a spring bulb that grows these petite plants with beautiful deep blue blooms. Like many members of the lily family, the plant is poisonous. Scilla contain cardiac glycosides, particularly scilla-dienolides, which act like digitalis to slow the heart rate.

I really like these pink species/botanical tulips which I bought in BC last year. These are Tulipa humilis and they seem to be the brightest and showiest of the species tulips in my yard. I grow them in my sloped rock garden.

Dimorphotheca "African Sun" blooming like mad in a sunny window. These poor plants need to be outside soon. They're quickly outgrowing their pots.

More Little Bulb Wonders

The lovely little blue grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) are blooming so nicely. I dug into these clumps last fall and snatched many bulbs away for other flower beds. You really can't even tell there are bunches missing! The dried flower heads look a bit unsightly late in the summer, but I leave them on the plants so that the seeds can spread around.
Another of my blooming botanical tulips is Tulipa tarda/Daystemon tarda. It has bright yellow and white flowers. The plant is alot shorter than the Tulipa turkestanica, which has mostly white flowers in cluster of five on each stem. I can't believe I have already received my first fall bulb catalog for the year! Anybody for bulb-shopping already???
These T. turkestanicas are looking even better in their second year, with the cloud of white blooms waving back and forth in the breeze. I think a field of these would be lovely. Again though, the dead foliage and seed heads are best disguised later in the season. Unfortunately I have these right at the front of the perennial border and I'll have to tuck annuals in around them!

First Botanical Tulips

Two of the botanical tulips (aka species tulips) are blooming now. I am still waiting for Tulipa tarda/daystemon. Last year, I never deadheaded these tulips, as recommended in a garden magazine I just read. I even let the seedheads dry and spread the seeds in the dirt. I did this mostly because I was impressed by the naturalizing power of these little tulips. Such a change from those fanciful but feeble Dutch inventions! This spring I saw a vertiable grass of little green spiky seedlings in those areas. You can the seedlings and blooming Tulipa turkestanica in this picture (below). At the left foreground is a little (and I do mean tiny) bunch of Crocus chrysanthus (Snow crocus) "Romance". They are a pale yellowish, but don't contribute much to the big picture, since you can't even see them over the rock wall edges of the raised bed!The other blooming botanical tulip is Tulipa pulchella Eastern Star (below). It is such a vibrant pink. I really wish I had a large patch of these. I shall have to spread seeds from these tulips around the rock garden. They need a season of cold to germinate, so there's no point in trying to grow these seeds indoors. Thankfully, squirrels don't seem to bother any of my bulbs. They live in our trees and screech at our dog, yet they haven't found the buried treasures in my garden.