This makes me happy. It looks like something to come upon in the woods up north. But it is just leaves that blew into the garden here.
simplicity
Tag: Tulips
Tulip planting time
It is tulip planting time. “What?”, you say. “Perhaps fall would be better?” you say. Yes, but these are bulbs from a watch’em grow vase our grandson, by way of Mom and Dad, gave me. They started to bloom before we went on our first ever planned “down south” vacation, and waited to wrap up blooming until a few days after we got back. Amazing! Maybe it was because we needed some cheering up during our covid bout.
Where should they be planted? Maybe up north. Maybe in the front of the townhouse. Or maybe at a new volunteer location, if approved of course. I will keep you posted 😁
Tulips
The runner-up to the first green of the season was a clump of tulips out front, the one below I am guessing they are the ones that do not bloom, but maybe they will surprise us. Later on Saturday I found another tulip shoot up, and a tiny daylily shoot.
Then on Easter Sunday morning I found the snow had melted enough to uncover yesterday’s pics. So they got first sharing. Those will probably also bloom, if sir bunimous does not get them first. I have, hopefully, a solution for that. Post upcoming.
What’s up?
It is a late spring this year. But sure as can be, the gardens are starting to emerge. Even without doing any digging I know the ground is thawing because when I come in from doing the early garden prep, my boots have mud on the soles. Ahhh! Dirt! And out of the thawing ground the tulip leaves are up quite a bit in the past few days. Those may or may not bud and bloom. Tulips do not have much year over year blooming power around here. But it is good to see green again!
Cherry trees and tulips
The cherry trees in the association stated blooming a couple weeks ago. Who doesn’t love their blooms?
They are stunningly beautiful for two-three weeks and then fade to the background to start building for next year’s show.
Similarly, the tulips take center stage at the ground level at about the same time. Immediately following the crocus, they put on quite a show.
I love it all! Here’s my dilemma – Unlike the cherry trees, the tulips are more of a “one and done” most years. Essentially they are fall planted annuals that bloom the next spring. In the years after the initial bloom year they are awesome at growing … leaves, but no blooms.
This spring, last years tulips looked like this.
As beautiful as the tulips are, I have another plan. I am going to dig them out, reclaim that real estate, and plant some of the baby Purple d’ Oro daylily seedlings in that spot. If they take off, in future years they would look absolutely lovely in front of the sedum.
Having repurposed that space, when the spring bulbs start showing up for order and purchase later this season, I have an alternate option. I have, in past years forced tulip, hyacinth, and crocus bulbs in large plant pots. Maybe I’ll do that this fall again.
We’re running now – here and up north
As I enjoyed my “putz and pamper” time this past weekend, I had time to reflect on the gardens so far this year.
After a very long winter, and months of feeling like a horse at the gate, we are running quite fast now – both here and up north.
The cherry trees wrapped up their bloom here quite a while ago, but a pleasant surprise was that we got a glorious “re-do” during one of our trips up north. Such a treat to get multiple blooming schedules.
At the townhouse, sadly, my favorite long-lived bunch of purple tulips has faded. They were an icon each spring. I will try to find something just as iconic, but maybe a different species. Not sure what yet, but it might be harvested daylily seeds. Just thinking at this point.
The new tulips I planted here last fall were glorious this spring.
Now the blooming season of early clematis has also passed and the weigelia has hit it’s peak bloom. Soon the asian lilies will start blooming.
What I did not expect was a hosta bloom so early – yet here it is, beginning to form. And on the ground in that garden the forget-me-nots are beginning to pop up.
To watch here this year – two plants from 2017 harvested daylily seeds – both from ‘South Seas’ – one of my favorites. We’ll hopefully see a bloom or two on them this year, and discover what we got with the help of our pollinator friends. What I know for sure is that daylilies are deer munchies, so I have decided they will not be making the trip up north, as divisions or as seedlings.
In pots, the hibiscus and the gladiolas here are squirrel favorites. I have put chicken wire around a number of the potted plants and bulbs – not a flattering look – but needed.
The Aureomarginata hostas here are gigantic again this year, the daylilies I added last year are looking good, and the Blue Mouse Ears are more full than ever.
Which leads me to options. Up north, the trail cams are showing us oodles of deer, a coyote, lots of bunnies, and a bear. Makes sense – there’s lots to eat, including wild strawberries all over the property that just wrapped up their season. I wanted to divide the Aureomarginata hostas and bring them up there but it’s probably not the smartest. I will be fighting a munching battle that will only make me sad.
There’s also a sedum that has been crowded here for a couple years. I wanted to bring it up north and put it in the sunny garden to let it shine. But despite web lists that say sedum is on the list of “deer-resistant” plants, I am hearing reports that they too are tasty morsels up north.
What did work in the year one test garden up north is two types of seeds directly sown into the raised beds – malva zebrina hollyhock, and cinnamon mint. Some free carrot seeds are also sprouting, and two asclepias plants have survived, so far. Coneflower seeds did not sprout, asclepias seeds did not sprout, and all of the kale and asparagus died back. I think it needs more water than we can provide. We are just depending on watering when we are up there, and rain.
And, after much deliberation, and my husband mentioning he doesn’t think he’d like the look, I have given up the idea of using a dog kennel as a critter-proof option. Alas, I don’t like the look of chicken wire here. I probably wouldn’t really like a dog kennel asthetic up north.
So the lesson so far is – some things will stay townhouse garden plants, and we will embrace what’s already on the land up north, plus seed sown additions that can survive with just rain, and that are not attractive to critters.
I heard lupines may be an option. They do naturalize beautifully …
Whirlwind
Every night I think, “Tonight I’ll blog”, but it’s been a four week whirlwind of activities. Tonight’s the night. There is so much to share!
My 15 yr old purple tulip bunch that I have truly enjoyed each and every year faded this year to one small purple tulip. (Plus one the bunnies might have enjoyed)
I have wonderful pictures over the years and will always remember spring mornings relaxing on the patio, looking at their gorgeous blooms swaying in the breeze.
Besides these giant new tulip “bouquets” I planted last fall,
Last fall’s planting also brought a new, delicate bouquet of pink tulips out back. At our family gathering last week someone thought they were artificial! I reportedly gave a funny look and said, “Go touch them!” – lol. They were, admittedly, pretty “perfect”.
Right next to them, the bunnies had a munch-fest, so having them spared was awesome!
The amur maple out front flowered last week. It smelled glorious for two days, and then I got a cold. But I trust it still continued to smell wonderful for a few more days at least! Hopefully our family enjoyed it a bit!
Now the pink tulips are starting to fade, the asian lilies are starting to show buds, and the daylilies and hostas seem to have doubled in size this past week.
The days have been full. The sunsets have been incredible.
We have also spent time up north, where the sunrises were awe inspiring.
And we saw the sunset reflect off one of our very old old pines. We think this one is over 100 yrs. Notice it’s size compared to the other 20ish yr growth!
Quite a difference from “Charlie” who we moved to get the camper situated.
Grow, Charlie! Grow, Charlie! He has a companion “Lucy” who we will also need to move. They will both be in decent proximity to “Linus”. You get the theme?
The seeds are half planted up north. Lifting 440 pounds of dirt into a raised bed garden was enough for me for one weekend.
And that was 2/3 full of branches (see hugelkultur post).
Unfortunately, there is a center support that it turns out bends pretty easily when you push down on branches. Oh well! Live and learn!
I still have one more (identical) raised bed garden to do. And I have milkweed plants to get in the ground, and stakes and chickenwire to put up once the seeds sprout, plus daylily seeds to try. It’s all so much easier to have “scope creep” in the winter when planning! But slow and steady wins the race. I keep reminding myself my gardens at the townhome are years of putzing – changing this, moving that, adding “one more thing”. This is the Year One Test Garden up north.
Tulip update
The tulips I planted out front last fall came up beautifully.
A single survivor out front from years past and another bunch out back were mysteriously cut off. The ones that were cut off out back totally disappeared. Bunnies? I did see a deer wander through the neighborhood very early one morning a few years ago.
There are a few more bunches still coming up. We’ll see how they fare.
A day’s difference
What a difference a day, and especially two, make at this time of year. Two days ago only the cherry trees had leafed out. Today this site was common.
Yesterday our ninebarks hadn’t leafed out. Today they looked like this.
Two days ago the clematis was inches closer to the ground. Today it looked like this.
The tulip are starting to show buds. The sedum are starting to round out. The daylilies are up 4-6″. The asian lilies are popping up in back. Even the new red asian lilies I planted in front popped up overnight. And a few hostas are starting to come up. Not as many as I’m used to this time of year, and that slightly concerns me. We lost some very healthy full hostas during the 2017-2018 winter and I was at a loss as to what happened. I’m hoping it doesn’t happen again.
But almost all the daylilies are up, including one from last year’s seedlings. And THAT is very exciting.
The tulip greens are up – hooray???
The tulip greens are, of course, well up now. I have a “love/expect little” relationship with our tulips. Many produce abundant greens every year, but no blooms. I leave them in the ground, ever so hopeful. They are tulips that bloomed beautifully one, maybe two years, but then just fizzled out. It seems they find it very easy being just green.
Last fall, once again, I planted a large bag of tulips. I do see some up already. They are the ones poking up in front of the taller tulip greens that look like they will not have blooms again this year. We’ll see how the new ones do.
There is, however, one large bunch of purple tulips that has bloomed abundantly for over a dozen years. They are so beautiful. I just love to see them again each spring. Many many years I have shared pictures of them and friends have loved their gorgeous color. They are just starting to pop up now.
I will keep you all posted!
Susan's Daily Garden 