My bulb project, Before picture #1

I love that bright yellow! The St. Kevernes look very strong and healthy. Thanks for posting the picture.

It was a fabulous day today, weather-wise-- which is encouraging with my daughter's wedding only two weeks away. With a few more sunny days, my tulips might be in bloom. They're growing fast. This is so suspenseful.....

Things are happening fast now, after our long, cold winter. The Ice Follies Daffodils are almost all open. I like it about them that the newly opened ones have the yellow center, then it gradually fades to almost all white. It gives me an idea at a glance about how much longer I can enjoy the show.

Here is an Ice Follies flower that has started fading.

oops, I did it again. Here's the picture.

Here's a new one.

More daffodils are getting buds. The buds aren't showing color yet. This is in a shadier spot.

The tulips are showing their first buds. This is an Exotic Emporer.

Wow Nancy, your Ice Follies photo is spectacular - what a sight that must be for you! LOL. My garden looks more like the second wide shot you have, LOL. Lots of stuff buddung up but still fairly few blooms.

Steve, the way the daffodils look NOW is what I had in mind for them NEXT weekend when we have the wedding. LOL- Mother Nature doesn't ask us about our 'druthers!

Still, I have my fingers crossed that there will be enough new-ish daffodils left to look good. It could happen... We've also got a chance for more good weather, after the rains move out next week.

Spring is really here, with some great rain and 76 degrees today. All the plants are on Fast Forward, after being on Pause. It's wonderful outside. Such a welcome change after the hard winter.

Here is the first tulip to open. It's Purissima/White Emporer. I understand that this creamy yellow color with fade to a pure white. Either way, I'm happy to see it.

Here is an Exotic Emporer tulip group. It is supposed to have yellow and green streaks. The buds are twisty and interesting, not at all like the Purissima.

This is Bridal Crown, which worried me at first because of the buds pushing up out of the soil. I needn't have worried about them. The fragrance is wonderful.

Here is a group of daffodils whose flowers have just popped open. Could be Twin Sisters? I'm not sure.

Another picture of of Exotic Emporer.

Purissima lining the walkway.

Another unidentified daffodil getting ready to pop. I have to look back through my records and see what this is. It's not Ice Follies, it's a smaller one.

The Ice Follies are hanging in there! They've been blooming a pretty long time. I looked back and saw the picture I posted on February 19th. In two more days, it will make three weeks of bloom. It's still cool enough at night that they are staying in pretty good shape-- though in February, it was more than just a little cool. Blizzards, etc..

Wow, that is absolutely spectacular, Nancy - can't wait to see your tulips in bloom. I think my favorite shot however has to be the "Bridal Crown"...are those all from last fall's planting? How many bulbs did you plant, anyway?

^_^

Gorgeous! I love the Bridal Crown planting with Helebores, Pansies, and Primula- stunning!

Steve-- there were several hundred Bridal Crown. Since each bulb puts up several stems, it looks like even more. Good bang for your buck!

I planted a few of the tulip Weisse Berliner for the same reason, loving that bouquet effect I saw in the pictures, all from one bulb. They are quite a bit behind the others, not at all close to blooming right now.

Gemini Sage, thank you so much. I have adored those things together too. It is a happy sight.

I have to agree, that is a beautiful garden setting. And look at all those things coming up! Then those gorgeous daff blooms.

The wedding out in our yard, that I have worked really hard to get the garden ready for, was this last weekend. The weather was perfect! In the week before the wedding, we had rain, a little hail, and strong winds-- then everything calmed down on the wedding day. It was lovely. The flowers did just what I had hoped for-- mostly bulbs! There are some pictures I took today.

The first is the Exotic Emporer tulips.

Beautiful.

Purissima or White Emporer tulips. They are still pale yellow, or showing pale yellow stripes. You can see a bright yellow center when they opened up in the warmest part of the day.

Thanks, newyorkrita!

Here's a group of the brightest yellow daffodils I have. I really can't remember what they are, but the color is electric! No butter yellow here.

These are fully open now, with scilla interspersed and also some veronica called "Georgia Blue". On a garden blog called " Donald's Texas Garden", which is in Arlington, Tx, right next to Fort Worth, I saw a picture of yellow daffodils growing out of a patch of bright, bright blue Georgia Blue veronica. That's what I'm going for, -- but my plants are going to have to grow a LOT (which will take a couple of years??) before we're there.

Gardens are never finished. I am always working on mine to make it better yet no matter how much I do, I am not ever done!

Bridal Crown daffodils, still going strong.

Wow, very, very nice. They look great planted en mass like that.

You are so right. Just today I saw an enormous crop of tiny weeds coming up through the mulch. Gotta keep at it.

Newyorkrita, My plan was to plant all those daffodils in the spaces between low-growing yew. I thought that perhaps the yew branches would disguise the daffodil foliage as it dies down. The question is whether or not the yew will gradually get so thick the daffodils don't get enough light-- and whether, if that is starting to happen, some pruning will fix it. I tried to get the "prostrata" variety that spreads low and wide.

In a few weeks, when the foliage is really wilted, yellow, and nasty, I'll be considering if this plan was a horrible one.

The Purissima lining the walkway!

The tulips along the walkway are just FABULOUS!!!!! Mine are just stuck hodgepodge here and there around the garden. That picture deffinately gives me an idea of maybe lining my own front walkway.

Newyorkrita, thanks so much. I went all out on the bulbs this year, all for the wedding. I probably won't have any tulip displays like this again for many, many years! Down here, they usually don't come back for us. (I'm trying one that's supposed to be an exception to that.) Daffodils are cheerful and so beautiful, but there's just nothing like a mass of tulips to make this gardener's heart leap.

Nancy, Wow, you really outdid yourself - what a beautiful display!! Your gardens are spectacular - looks like a professional setting. I am so glad your bloomtimes worked out for you in relation to the wedding.Even if the tulips don't return well, you'll still have a fabulous daffosil display year after year. Great job!!

nancy, had I been in ft worth, that would have been a wedding I'd crashed, just to see your plantings. They are spectacular. How many tulips did you plant? And what's next for you, plant-wise?

That's a very good question, vossner. It has been a double whammy of busy-ness -- planning for all these flowers and also planning everything else for the wedding. Now both are done! If the nature of a garden were not that you're never finished -- as we were saying back a few posts -- I really wouldn't know what to do with myself! One thing on the list is watch what the peonies do this year. With all our unusually cold weather, it should be a great year.

PS., I ain't a-saying how many tulips I planted. My husband might read this! LOL

Gorgeous! Excellent job of making a great plan, and executing it! Did the bride walk down that tulip lined walk way? What perfect settings for pictures too!

Here is what the Purissima tulips look like inside.