Daffodil season is here!

Apr23

I like daffodils. The color range isn’t nearly as wide as tulips, they sometimes nod a little too much, but they’re still a sure sign of spring. In another couple days daffodil and tulip season will be in full swing here (assuming it ever warms up) and if the wind would only die down a bit maybe I could get some decent pictures.

“Golden Echo” is a real nice shorter one, it grows, blooms and multiplies well but I wouldn’t mind if the blooms stood up a little higher. Still a current favorite.

The yellow in front is “St Patrick’s Day”, a little bit of a nod-er, but a strong plant in the garden. “Barret Browning” is behind, it’s an oldie, but how can I complain about a reliable, good doer that holds it’s blooms up above the foliage and faces out nicely?

“Ice King” on the other hand, is a mess this year. The up and down, cooler temperatures have put alot of greenish color into the blooms, and the wind and heavy rains have thrown the top heavy blooms all over the place. I meant to remove this one last summer but forgot exactly where it was, so only dug up maybe a half dozen bulbs.

The big brother to “Ice King” is “Ice Follies”, the two are nearly the same plant just one has a mutation which resulted in a doubled center (called a sport). Among serious daffodil nuts (those infected with the “yellow fever”) “Ice Follies” is looked down on as the cockaroach of the narcissus world. It’s nearly unkillable and a perfect daffodil for beginners. I have to laugh at this section of my daffodil bed where a nuclear bomb or something has nearly killed off the other narcissus while “Ice Follies” just gets fatter.

I promised a picture of my plain old corydalis solida in bloom, so here it is. Kind of washed out, but it does have its good qualities. Note the attractive Taraxacum coming into bloom on the right. Latin sounds alot fancier than just calling it a dandelion. Also the grassy sprouts with the brown seeds still attached are scilla siberica seedlings. I might be just a couple years away from a new weed problem here.

I’m hoping for better daff pictures this week. I have a few more in the back and I hate to leave you with the impression that all I grow is”Ice Follies”!

Hyacinths have arrived

Apr12

It’s not hard to find hyacinth bulbs in the fall. They’re one of the “big four” (a term I just made up) that describes them and the tulips, daffodils and crocus that show up every fall in garden centers around the country. They’re easy, fragrant, come back reliably and run the whole range of colors with the exception of green and true red. What’s not to like? There must be something, because even though they’re good enough to buy forced to celebrate Easter and other springtime celebrations, they’re not always the first choice for planting.
I say go ahead and plant them this next fall. I think you’ll like them.

A couple warm days have brought all the hyacinths into bloom. They’re remarkably color coordinated considering I originally planted just $7 worth of no name clearance bulbs from SAMs club. This would be year 5 for them and I think over that time they’ve actually gotten bigger each season, especially the pinks and whites. Some push up two stalks of fat blooms, and if there’s one fault to these flowers this might be it. Sometimes the blooms are so heavy they flop.

A newer “retro” hyacinth that avoids the flopping problems are the multiflowering types. Each bulb can push up a less dense, often multiple, flower stalk. I say they’re a retro version because people commonly compare them to the old roman hyacinths, which were an older (less hardy) version with a similar, wilder look. I’ve got “Blue Festival”, which doesn’t make much of an impression in the garden, but even so I’d like to add the pink and white versions too. Close up the blue looks great. I need to get mulch down around these bulbs. Maybe it will be the weekend project, but with daffdil season starting any day now who knows?

Spring is Official

Apr10

Two warm days and spring has exploded into full force. The trees don’t have leaves yet but 70°F brings up all the bulbs, opens the hyacinths, and starts the daffodils. It also brings out the neighbors. I saw more people around the block yesterday than I had in all the last three months combined, and everyone was out raking, fertilizing, aerating, blowing….. all the good things that responsible subdivision inhabitants fill their sunny days with. In the front bed we have our first dose of flower sunshine, good old “tete a tete” daffodil. It’s the Stella D’Oro of daffodils and gives nice early color.

I have to confess I broke the camera last weekend. It’s a Nikon D3000 with a Nikkor 18-55mm 3.5-5.6GII lens……. I have no idea what any of that means but I’m sure it has something to do with expensive and something to do with even more expensive to fix. The camera met the floor and the plastic tabs that hold the lens snapped off. Apparently it’s a common break and after several hours of moping and cursing (silently of course, away from the kids) I went online and found the fix. It was a generic lens bayonet piece which I ordered as well as the tiny screwdrivers needed to replace it. Two days ago I replaced it and am now back in business. There was one more final blip in the road, it was the crappy, non-functional, cheap (more cursing) screwdrivers. I gave them to the boy, who has a talent for disposing of small tools, and then made a trip to Home Depot and got a Husky set (for less money btw). The camera came back on line just in time. Here’s a picture of the front border with blue scilla siberica and the reds of corydalis solida. Corydalis might just be one of my new favorite spring bulbs.

I’m not 100% sure if they really are true to their names, but I bought the darker red corydalis as “George Baker” and the lighter, almost pink as “Beth Evans” (both from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs). Most of the time I can’t tell the difference between the two, but I don’t entirely care. Both are nice and I need more. There are whites, purples, pale pinks…… but they’re hard to find and not exactly cheap. Maybe I’ll treat myself this fall to two or three affordable ones….. I just won’t buy any more new work ties for a year or two.

Not blooming yet are some I bought as the generic corydalis solida, it’s a murky mauve color, shorter, wimpier looking, and I’m not crazy about it. I’ll bore you with a picture of it when the blooms open.

The blue of the scilla siberica and the violet stars of the chiondoxa are nice enough too, but if you look closely you’ll see a bunch of seedlings coming up. I’m not sure I want that many and wonder if they’re going to be a pest some day. But on the other hand a weed with a bright blue or violet color might not be the worst problem to have, so for now they are welcome reseeders.

The hellebores have come up too, these survived spending the winter buried in kids toys and trash and are now looking all dark and moody.

They look better in the picture than in the garden, the colors are too dark to show up well, but the dark one is cool. Originally these were bought as “sunshine strain” from Barry Glick’s nursery maybe 5 years ago. I expected a nicer range and bigger blooms but I guess you get what you get…. also the plants were kind of tiny when I got them…. I should probably stop there.

Here’s a lighter one, an “Ashwood strain” from Santa Rosa Gardens. I like it.

That’s enough for now. Daffodils are coming up and I need to save my energy for that.

The crocus meadow

Apr4

Calling it a crocus meadow might be overselling things a bit, but I like to think of my little plantings last fall as the start of something bigger…. even though right now its main function seems to be rabbit buffet.

Of course a green background of lush grass would make a nicer setting than the current dried tan, but even this little burst of early spring color is most welcome at a time when everything else is still on the sidelines, waiting for the weather to make up its mind.

The meadow wasn’t much of an investment. All the bulbs were purchased for around $30 with shipping from Van Engelen during their post-Thanksgiving clearance sale (an awesome sale btw). I chose the species grand collection which included (50) Blue Pearl, (50)Cream Beauty, (50)Goldilocks, (50)Purity and (50)Ruby Giant. A pack of 100 Crocus tommasinianus also ended up in the shopping cart. I got some great clearance prices but even pre-sale they still would have been a good deal. You just have to be able to meet their minimum order since they are a bulk seller.

Cold weather and 350 small bulbs in need of planting doesn’t sound like a good combination but I tried a new (to me) planting method. Someone on the bulbs forum on Gardenweb suggested using a masonary hammer for planting and I figured I’d give it a shot. Using the sharp end you swing it into the ground, pull back, drop in a bulb or two, hit the hole closed with the hammer end and you’re done. Repeat 300 times. It only took me a couple minutes and only cost me one blister on my hammer hand. I like the results!

An early Easter and late spring worked out perfect for hiding eggs among the flowers. I don’t know if the kids were impressed but I thought it worked out nicely.

One problem has been the rabbits, they love the fresh crocus blooms and every now and then mow down part of the display. Oh well, as long as the crocus live to bloom another day. Another crocus bloom killer is the little girl who lives here and her playmates. Once the fun of the egg hunts ended the kids spent a good hour making bouquets and delivering them to the neighbors. How could I say no to that?

I didn’t plant any of the big purple and blue hybrid crocus, I was trying for a species look and I suppose I got that. For now they’re out, but I’ve seen lawns with the bigger types naturalized and they do look great.

I did sneak in a couple spare snowdrops.

I plan on adding other bulbs this fall. Maybe a few of the early (short) daffodils, possibly a few alliums that will bloom amongst the uncut grass, maybe a couple other things. Right now the only bulb on the definitely transplant list is this scilla mischtschenkoana (trust me I googled that spelling). It’s another early bloomer that I hope will do well in the grass.

Crocus!

Apr1

Finally some springtime weather. The crocus jumped at the chance to soak up a little sun and warmth and give the bees a chance to do their thing. These are in a warm spot near the house, but even in the open garden stuff is starting to show up.We were all home for an extended Easter weekend and I was determined to get the yard ready for spring. Thursday was a warmup day with a little cleaning out front, Friday the big bed along the street, and Saturday I spent most of the afternoon cleaning the backyard. It still looks a bit grey and dreary but there sprouts showing all over.

One plant that looks better than ever is cyclamen coum. It’s been blooming through snow and ice, rain and frost. They’ve been giving color since late February. These are just two year old seedlings, but I bet they’ll outlast the crocus.

New bird sighting

Mar24

Redpoll at the feeder

These have probably been to the feeder before, but yesterday after a closer look I saw we had a small flock of redpolls sampling the sunflowerseed. Cool, I’ve never seen one before. It’s a bird of the tundra and boreal forest, so not exactly a hopeful sign for spring, but a new bird is always something. They were followed later in the day by a swarm of starlings searching out grubs and worms in the lawn and then a flock of grackles eating the cracked corn. Even though grackles are listed as year round residents here I only notice them in the spring. With that in mind I’ll count them as a sign of warmer weather.

Indoors I planted the next bunch of seed. These were the 4-6 weeks before frost bunch and although I’m on the late side once things go outside they will hopefully catch up.

They say it’s spring, I don’t agree.

Mar23

Easter decorations

All the signs are there, the calendar, the birds, the rabbits, the plants, but one thing is missing. It’s still crappy grey windy weather and I don’t feel like spring at all. In fact after a snow day this week, I’m expecting another on Monday when another 2-4 inches comes our way. Hardly the weather of egg hunts and daffodils, but there’s not much you can do about it. I suppose the silver lining is once things start going it will be so late the threat from late freezes shouldn’t exist…. but you never know.

Every time the snow receeds (the sun when it does come out is pretty strong) the plants that reappear seem to have grown a little more. The cyclamen coum is really taking off now in spite of the cold, and the winter aconite wins the distinction of being a flower so early it’s actually now over for the year. My cyclamen picture doesn’t really capture the glow these early cottoncandy colored flowers give off on a grey day.

A few hardy Cyclamen coum in the garden

Crocus are trying, and on the first warm day will burst out fully opened. It amazes me how these flowers seem to explode into bloom when the temperature rises. The snow crocus are first with yellows and creams and smaller flowers, the bigger dutch hybrids are a little later with dark purples.

Yellow species crocus

We will see this spring how my crocus lawn is developing, it’s a bit sparse right now but I see lots of sprouts and I’m hoping more will show. Here’s the only lawn picture I got before the rabbits nibbled off every single bloom.

Purple dutch crocus hybrids

A sheltered spot near the house has the first hybrid crocus ready to bloom. The other ones planted in the open garden are barely just appearing through the mulch.

For all the complaining, spring is not much later than average. My less than scientific investigation puts us maybe a week behind a normal year. I’ve kept records of bloom dates for a couple years and like looking back to see what’s up and what’s missing. My records should be more organized and I should plan a little better but this is about all my procrastinating self can handle. Right now I feel like I’m already behind and should have more seeds started and more cuttings rooted, but you know how it goes, you’re either much too early or (for me at least) much too late.

seed exchange packets

I guess it would help if I stuck with the plan and didn’t take advantage of the surplus round of the North American Rock Garden Society’s seed exchange. Here are 40 more packets waiting for me to do something with them. Did I need them? Of course not, but who can resist giving excess seeds a home and only spending $10 dollars doing it?

So in the meantime I’ll start the peppers and tomatoes and stick with the indoor gardening. Under lights the onions are coming along, the snowdrops are starting to yellow and the cyclamen coum is still showy. Two months of indoor color during the dullest time of the year is pretty good in my book!

Onion seedlings coming along under the shop lights

sorta like suburbia

more than you ever wanted to know about my garden

Category Archives: early spring