Big Bulb Planting Day

I think that bulb-planting week should be a provincial, if not national, holiday. I would even be willing to have it as an unpaid holiday. Just so long as I could always get the first week of October off of work to plant tulips and daffodils, I would be pleased. Instead, I crammed most of my bulb planting into this morning. At least the weather was beautiful. In the end, I concluded that I should have planted more bulbs, though I suppose there is some limit to the money I would spend on those papery little imports.

Raised bed in fall colors extravaganza:

This year's order from Botanus was large enough that they threw in a free DVD entitled "Passion - a documentary on the Dutch Bulb Sector". That sounds like one to watch on a romantic evening by the fireplace with RLM! I started watching it this afternoon, but the musical soundtrack was too emotionally intense for both the dog and the littlest gardener, so I had to turn it off.

Scabiosa caucasica "House's Hybrids": a purple bloom from the mix. This flower is always reliable for giving me nice October flowers.


Here is my new planting of Muscari armeniacum, the common blue grape hyacinth. I've read that planting them as "rivers" gives a nice effect. My river is narrow, but meanders gracefully through part of the raised bed.

Otherwise, I've planted various types of tulips including Single Lates, Double Lates, Fosteriana, Giant Beauty, Lily-flowered, and Triumph tulips. I'm also trying Allium atropurpureum this year, to add to A. "Gladiator" and A. Purple Sensation which did well this summer. I also planted a total of 100 yellow daffodils around the raised beds and I look forward to seeing those next spring. I boldly planted Anemone blanda, with the knowledge that it may well not survive the winter here. I'm living on the edge...the edge of my hardiness zone.

Tulip-palooza

Thankyou Veseys for waiting until the end of September to send my bulb order (to my sub-arctic yard). Thankyou Canada Post for taking nine days to get that order to our local post office (our health system may be okay, but the Americans sure do have a superior postal system).
I went to that local post office twice a day for the last two days, anxious to get the parcel. Resident-lawnmower-man also had the (actually very helpful) post office staff double check and see if the parcel was with the unsorted parcels a few days ago. Fortunately, the bulbs and a peony root arrived yesterday and I planted the bulbs this morning. Yes, on a cloudy day at 3 degrees Celsius (37 degrees F) with stuttering fits of snow falling from the air. I don't even own thinsulate-lined garden gloves!

Temptations of the Advance Spring Catalog

I planted fewer bulbs than last year, but combined with the previous year's bulbs, I've probably put at least 1500 bulbs in the ground in this yard. Somehow, word about this hasn't gotten out to the bulb-eating rodents and I hope they aren't reading this blog!

Today, I planted some minor bulbs (Chionodoxa forbseii, White Muscari), some large yellow trumpet daffodils, Double Late "Blue Diamond" Tulips, Allium "Purple Sensation", Allium "Gladiator" and a pink double flowered peony "Bouchela". The Alliums are possibly not hardy, but I got them for a "value" price from Veseys and I'll be thrilled if they do well.

A Convallaria majalis that I DON'T HAVE:



Veseys also sent along an advance spring catalog with the promise of $25 off my next order. You must see this catalog. True horti-porn. My eyes bulge at the delectable new plants I MUST HAVE, or forever dream about. These people know how to market plants. Take this "New for 2008" Lily of the Valley that "is a real conversation piece", with its "pristine white fragrant flowers" which apparently "dance merrily among deep green leaves striped with creamy white veins". Of course, I tell myself that paying $52.95 for 3 pips is totally justifiable for these reasons:
(a) I don't have one of those
(b) now that I read this, my novelty pink "Rosea" Lily of the Valley isn't so cool anymore
(c) it grows in zone 2 and hey, they just aren't many of those

Then again, I'll probably agonize over the catalog for another two months trying to decide which plants I really must have, considering there are so many deals and hot new plants. And these are the months of dreaming and planning...

Solitary Snowdrop: 3 Years in the Making

I went out into the garden today to see if the balmy warm (+18 C) weather brought out any new flowers or green shoots. Sure enough, more bulbs were pushing their spiky green leaves into the air. Then, behind the leafless lilac I spotted something that I did not plant last fall, or even the fall before that. I could not believe my eyes. There it was -- a solitary single-flowered snowdrop -- planted in the fall of 2004 before I had learned from a wizened old garden sage that snowdrops "don't grow around here". So here we are 3 years later, with the bulb marker long since removed. Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are supposed to be hardy to zones 3-9 and planted in shady areas. Clearly, they don't thrive here, but I am impressed with the bulb's ability to be a recluse for so long only to make an appearance 3 years later! I don't know much about snowdrops other than seeing carpets of them in Vancouver. However, a quick search of the internet reveals that there are people calling themselves galanthophiles -- there really is a fan club for everything!

Burying fall treasures

I planted bulb number 192 today and have 100 crocuses yet to go (but they're small and you can bury them in groups). Today's bulb plantings include Eranthis (Winter aconite), Tulips, and Scilla campanulata. This picture shows the planting of the Tulip "Skagit Valley", a frivolous botanical splurge for bicolored purple and white may-flowering tulips. I use the manual bulb-planter I bought in BC last year, a replacement for the cheap one that broke on last year's muddy soil.

The fluffy backyard companion is happy to have company outside, but would rather go for a walk than supervise bulb-planting from behind the fence!

I dug up 3 of the cannas from the whiskey barrels today. I am not really intent on drying and saving the roots for next year (because it's more fun just to buy new ones every year!). However, I brought the 3 plants into the garage and potted them up. One has buds on it and I will feel cheated if I never get to see a bloom out of the poor tropicals that tried and ALMOST made it in this forelorn northern climate.

The fall colors are cheerful as some of the trees still cling to their leaves. The Siberian dogwoods have brilliant red leaves and the spirea shrubs are bright yellow. This pretty seed head belongs to Pulsatilla vulgaris (Prairie crocus) which rebloomed late in the season, after its big showing in Easter.

At left is the full bloom of Aster dumosus "Alert", a late-season bloomer. It is certainly the only plant with such a floral show in October! In another two weeks it will likely be covered in snow. It works much better here than the standard chrysanthemums, which never did bloom before snow and hard frosts.

Itty Bitty Flowers

This week the botanical tulips, Narcissus, Muscari, and Chionodoxa are blooming. All are quite tiny flowers from tiny bulbs and hopefully they will multiply next year. Pictured are
(1) Chionodoxa (pale blue)
(2) Tulip turkestanica (white)
and (3) Tulip pulchella "Eastern Star" (pink).
I tried narcissus last year and it never came up. This year it was planted in a full sun location and it did well, although with only 3 flowers!