One Tough Daffodil March 29, 2010

For anyone who has had trouble getting daffodil bulbs to flourish, I have one to suggest for next spring – Narcissus poeticus.

I have had bulbs of it in my current and previous garden that continued to bloom for years with zero assistance, where many $ of other, showier daffodils perished after a single bloom (or not even one).

As an example of how it can thrive in non-ideal conditions, I dug out a bunch of bulbs, mostly scilla, last summer when we changed some things around in the back garden, and many got tossed into a garbage can lid for future re-planting or give-aways. Guess what happened… nothing. Until spring:

There wasn’t even any soil in the lid. Now THAT is one tough daffodil! I think the variety is ‘Pheasant’s Eye.’ It also has a lovely scent and the bloom time is super long.

Do you have plants that seem to do fine no matter how poorly you treat them?

Plant of the Day: Tulipa Turkestanica March 16, 2010

Every year since I planted this unusual species tulip, Tulipa turkestanica, it comes up in the spring and I forget what it is and have to go look it up. This year, it was a neighbor’s inquiry that alerted me that it had even started blooming – a few clumps in the parking strip get extra sun this time of year and had started early.

The thin, strappy foliage and smallish, bell-like flowers always fool me – I think they’re going to be fritillaria or some other, forgotten, early-season bulb. I have a real soft spot for species tulips, and add more each year in no particular pattern or color scheme. Right now, I have white, soft red, purple, and yellow ones all showing themselves. On sunny days, they open their petals and drink in the light, just like me.

Here are the turkestanicas, happily blooming next to muscari, which was an accident but a nice one, I think.

I doubt I will ever get to Turkestan to see them bloom in the wild, but that would be pretty cool. Have you ever traveled to a far-off place because you wanted to see a particular plant?

The Race to Spring is ON! January 31, 2010

Ready…

Steady…

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Crocus tommasinianus over the course of about a week. I don’t remember having planted this many, so maybe they are naturalizing. That would be nice, especially if I would remember to divide and move them around a bit for even greater enjoyment next spring.

Alien Seed Pods June 23, 2009

Yet another reason to love the species tulips that came up first and lasted longest in the parking strip this spring:

I just read recently that the trick to getting tulips to repeat is to plant them in an area where they receive little or no water during their dormant season. If they’re where it will get wet, it’s better to dig them up and store them until fall, so they don’t rot. I might have to go to the trouble, which I never have before, for these ones. They’re just too cool to treat as an annual like I usually do with tulips.

It’s weird to be thinking about bulbs now that the Summer Solstice has passed, but I’m trying to be good about letting my bulb foliage hang around as long as it needs to, so I’m grateful this bunch is at least not too ugly to look at amid all the surrounding greenery.

Do summer’s beauties make you forget about your little spring friends who are done for the year? Or do you miss them and think of them, even a little bit, sometimes? (I do.)

Underwhelmed by Allium moly June 11, 2009

I should know by now that my impulse bulb purchases often turn out to be busts. I’ve had a few lucky finds (especially these species tulips, the hands-down winners of Best Bulb in my garden this spring) but the rest are usually either kind of boring or just too weird to be useful.

My hand inexplicably reached for a bag of Allium moly, despite the lack of an accompanying picture (should have been a tip-off) at the Arboretum bulb sale last fall. I thought, what the hey, never heard of these before, Allium are super trendy, maybe these will be fun.

Well, they might have their proponents (please speak forth if you are one!) or could be nice when massed among other colors or against a background of silvery foliage plants, but dotted in twos and threes in my parking strip, their primary yellow is just not that welcome in mid-June. I can barely stand plain bright shades of this color in the earliest of spring blooms (tiny narcissi are exempted, they’re so cute), and by this time of year I’m just aching for richer and more subtle hues. I do kind of like the semi-fan shape, different from the typical Allium globes, more like something you might find growing in a meadow somewhere.

Maybe they come in other colors? I could handle purple or reddish-orange or white, or even pink. I don’t generally have that much success with alliums, so maybe these will disappear after this season, never to be seen again. Next year, I’m just going to put a. ‘Globemaster’ on my list and stick with it! Did you have any disappointing bulbs this year?

Mystery Bulb June 4, 2009

Earlier in the spring, my daughter helped me divide some overgrown clumps of what I thought were no-longer-blooming crocus that were probably here before we moved in. I spread them around the backyard and figured I’d just see what color they turned out to be next spring.

Imagine my surprise when a bunch of cute little white flowers began blooming in those spots last week. Late May, hey wait, that’s way too late for crocus. What gives?

(Yes, my camera decided to focus on the chickweed and mulch instead of the actual flowers – it has an aversion to white flowers, unlike some people I know…)

I probably would have done one of my typical “hey, do any of you know what the heck this is?” posts except for the fact that I just stumbled upon a new-ish blog by a fellow Seattle-ite, Seattle Plant Exchange. Guess what? She was wondering what this was too, had a better photo of it, did her research, came up with an answer, and emailed me her findings. Can’t beat that! She says it is Ornithogallum umbellatum, common name Sleepydick, but I think it’s also known as Star of Bethlehem, which is more something you could say to your mother without snickering if you were giving her some divisions. Click here to see the zone requirements and hardiness info if you’re curious. Not sure how it got to me, but I have a feeling it’s going to stay – it seems like it could be a bit of a spreader, which is fine by me.

(Heading up to Kindergarten Camp today!?! Still can’t believe my kid is old enough to go to camp, even for two days. I hope we all survive! I plan to catch up with everyone when I return – I’ve been swamped with packing and other prep so blogland has taken a back seat recently.)