Thanks Cat! I just got caught up in bulb mania and forgot my own criteia! Because I have so little sun after the trees leaf out, bulbs, especially late ones don't have a chance of storing up enough energy to bloom the next year. Better that they be where they can repeat at your house, gracing your lovely grounds
Group buy FALL bulbs Phase II
thanks, Coleup--that's interesting about needing to store up energy to bloom the following year. I hadn't thought about that!
Well, I am looking forward to this! I know I will learn a lot. And hopefully I'll also end up with some pretty daffodils and other flowers next spring! :-)
Cat--
That is why you are not supposed to cut off the foliage from any bulbs,
They have to wither naturally (takes about 6 weeks) and, in the process,
it stores energy in the bulbs for next year's blooms.
Sunshine helps that process, of course. G.
Thanks, Gita. I noticed that for most of the cultivars it says 'sun, part shade'. But people's experience is the opposite? that they actually need full sun?
I spent some time on B&B's this morning and what a wonderful variety we have of colors, heights, and bloom times! yay!!
Coleup, nope, I'm not planning on Naptown next weekend. Will just go straight to critter's from here.
Looking forward.
Jan, do you need a place to stay over Saturday night? My brother & nephew will be here next weekend also (soccer tournament), but that still leaves a back bedroom free (or at least as "free" as a craft/sewing room gets!).
CatMint, glad you're pleased... I was trying to go for variety!
The more sun the better, but with even a few hours (4-6, say) of sunlight a day, the bulbs will "regenerate" for next year. Many areas that you think of as "shady" might be perfect for spring bulbs if they are actually "shaded by deciduous trees." By the time the trees leaf out, the bulb foliage is fading. :-)
When you're planning where all your new pretties will go, think in terms of "sweeps" or "clumps" of color for more impact. If you spread even 100 daffodils all around a garden, they may not have the effect you'd imagine... if you plant them in clumps of 5 to 15 bulbs, or "sweeps" of 25 along a border (but please not lined up straight like soldiers on parade), they'll have a lot more impact.
Especially if you're new to bulbs, look in the DG articles for more information also.
This is from an article on daffodils & companions that I wrote 5 years ago:
In general, bulbs should be planted at a depth equal to 2 to 3 times their diameter. For daffodil bulbs, that generally means digging a hole 4 to 6 inches deep. uneven I like to plant bulbs in clumps. I think clumps of daffodils create a more natural, "naturalized" look than scattered single bulbs. It's also much quicker to plant 100 daffodil bulbs by shoveling out a dozen holes for clumps of bulbs than by digging 100 little individual holes with a bulb planter.
I like to dig holes a foot or so across that can hold 5 or 7 bulbs, placed 4 or 5 inches apart. For a natural, "naturalized" look, avoid straight lines and squared-off groupings of bulbs. Circular clumps will work, but I like the look of "blobular" shapes. A handful of bulb food scattered in the hole will get your new purchases off to a good start. My grandmother, who was an artist, always said that everything looks better placed in odd numbers. So, I plant clumps of 3 or 7 bulbs rather than 2 or 8.
full article here: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1415/
love the article, Jill--thanks! Lots of food for thought! :-)
Agreed, od numbers look best.
Thank you, dear, but I will need to get back Sat. Night. I have Sunday school class to teach. Appreciate the offer, though.
Martina was having "option anxiety" just over the short list I gave her... you should see how big her eyes got when she saw all the bulbs in the garage as I was starting to get them organized this afternoon. The smaller boxes have pictures... she didn't see anything she didn't like! ROFL
She does want the last amaryllis and those last 10 'Tahiti' daffs (huge bulbs on those, btw), so I'm moving them back out of your column, SSG
The invoices I'll be sending out (probably Tuesday while Joyanna is in pre-K) may not be very pretty, but hopefully the numbers will agree with what you think you've ordered!
Don't panic when you see a really long list of varieties... I didn't want to delete by hand the ones you didn't order (or try to write a macro for prettier invoicing)... you only have bulbs of a variety if you see a quantity and dollar amount following the name of the bulb!
CatMint & Happy, I had put both of you down for 10 white 'Carnegie' oriental hyacinths, which I added when we didn't get 'Fondante'. Much to my surprise, we have a box of 'Fondante' in our order anyway! Do you want 10 of them? (They're the 2-tone pink ones, very pretty)
Got a few things to straighten out with Chris tomorrow, mostly about bulbs we have in double quantity (error in our favor, although I figure it's enough to be worthwhile for them to pick them up for return), also going ot make sur ethe amaryllises are coming this week.
Jill, I'm actually glad Martina's taking those bulbs. I have so much digging to do!
So excited about Saturday!
sure, Critter, that sounds great on the Fondant! :-)
Me too. I'm "whatever" on everything.
I'm getting excited -- it's almost party day! I'm thinking "Calico Beans" and "Mac & Cheese" -- good cool-weather dishes, especially as the forecast looks chilly & rainy for Saturday. I've got some chips, salsa, etc. I wasn't really thinking about doing a covered dish sort of lunch, but if anybody has a fun snack or addition in mind to bring, that's fine. If you have a "beverage of choice" to bring, that would be good also!
:-)
Happy, thanks so much for coming over last night! We're off to a great start, just a couple more non-daffs to repackage. Terp is stopping in this evening, and I know we'll get a bunch more done. (I'm going to put him in charge of portioning out the crate from B&B!) Both of you, thanks so much for making a special trip up to help sort since you knew you wouldn't make it Saturday. It's going to really help to have a lot of the bags divided out ahead of time.
I did bulbs instead of invoices yesterday... I don't think the numbers have changed much except for additions since I sent out the "preventing sticker shock" totals, but I do want everybody to have a chance to check their order. Actually, some of the numbers have dropped a bit as a few of the daffodil bags were $62.50 on the delivery invoice rather than the $72.50 given on the website -- and I checked with Walter to be sure that would be the final cost, LOL.
Oh, a discrepancy I discovered yesterday...
We got a box of 150 "regular" Leucojum instead of 100 L. 'Gravity Giant'. They're very close in cost, so I'll make sure they've been substituted with no additional charge. Here's the ADR page for them: https://www.adrbulbs.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/plants.plantDetail/plant_id/689/index.htm Note that N. 'Suada' is mentioned as a good companion (meaning they should bloom together).
If you ordered Leucojum and do not want the "regular" kind, please let me know ASAP so I can remove them from your invoice (I'll take them, no worries there).
Assuming you still want them, you'll be getting 50% more bulbs of the "regular" kind... if you ordered 10, there are 15 in your bag, if you ordered 20, there are 30 in your bag, etc.
This message was edited Oct 9, 2013 1:36 PM
Jill, I'll bring some chips and dip. Can't wait!
Joyanna and I had fun party-shopping... a little cheese here, some apples & grapes there, some spinach for dip, hamburger & bacon for the Calico Beans, and would you believe we had to hunt all over for "regular" macaroni? Loads of fancy shapes but no plain macaroni, and the first person I asked directed me to the mac 'n cheese blue boxes ROFL.
I did veto a Minnie Mouse balloon taller than she is, even though she thought it would be the most perfectest decoration. My nephew's soccer tournament (in Columbia) got canceled (flooded fields, probably), so we won't have half my brother's family here for the weekend after all... so you'd all better arrive hungry, LOL. (The other half of my brother's family has a skating competition in SC.)
A BIG thank you to CatMint... she came over this morning, and you would not believe how she whipped through those bags of daffodils, getting them sorted out. I think we're down to just 6 or 7 varieties left to parcel out, including the 2 crates of jumbo bulbs. :-)
I'll call ADR in the morning and see what's up with our amaryllis bulbs. Cross your fingers that they are on their way here!
I've started Dmailing invoices, so some of you have them, and the rest will go out soon. Please let me know if anything doesn't look right!
Jill, do you have a preference on how you'd like to get paid? Paypal? Should we just bring a check with us? Does the total include the other expenses you talked about earlier, or do we need to add something to the final total?
It sounds like you already got chips and dip! Should I bring something else? Maybe something sweet?
I'll stop by Safeway and pick up some of their corn bread to go with the bean thingy. The corn bread that you can find in their bakery section is pretty good. Easy, peasy. Can't wait for the get together tomorrow. See you soon.
The thanks go to YOU Critter for your wonderful job organizing such a massive group buy!!
Looking forward to tomorrow!
See you tomorrow!!! I'll try to think of something to bring.
Woot, woot!!
I may (very likely) need a bulb fairy.
I have family visiting and don't think I can skip out to come Saturday.
And all this rain is really making today and tomorrow plans for said family, a big downer! Renaissance Fest in the rain? yuk. Appropriate to the setting, but turns into a mud pit!
If no one can get the bulbs all the way to sally, if ssg or catmint can get them to the DC area I can bring them to sally -- I periodically make forays to Meadows Farms. Or sally can have a field trip here.
Sally, I hope to make it to Jill's tomorrow. Van has been loaded since before rains and sits in heading out position with a full tank! My problem will be finding Jill's once I get to Frederick!
I'm sure between Catbird and myself we can get your bulbs sorted and to you!
I love the Renfest grounds but mud it is starting with the parking! Extra family manpower might come in handy. Last Sat was super heavy traffic in bound from 8 am on. Plastic bags inside shoes over socks can keep feet happier while slogging. The tree canopy is great for shelter from 'showers' predicted.. I finish my route about a mile from there so can shoot you an exclusive local conditions weather report before I head home to take off for Jill's. Don't forget the Farmers Market just up the way for some additional shelter and diversion. Homestead also has lots of activities planned as well as Sunrise Farm (old Naval Academy Dairy Farm) if you are in to mazes!
Sally, we went to the Renaissance Festival two weekends ago. I had never been before and really enjoyed it, weather was great though. One of the things I actually liked the most was the glass blowing demonstration. Not sure how much the rain will hamper your fun, but there is always the eating and people watching LOL.
we'll see how Nephew feels about it. He's 20 same as my DD so that sounded like a good event- before the deluge! Good tip on the bags. Will I be toting a bag full of newspapers to sit on to watch any shows? Or have they roofed those stages? Where's my supply of Girl scout Situpons?....
Hah, girl scout situpons - I made many of those when I was a kid - hadn't heard or thought about them in years. I bet my mother still has them stashed away in her basement LOL None of the stages were under roof, at least none that I recall.
Situpons! Yep, use 'em if you have 'em!
SSG, chips & dip are fine, something sweet would be great also. The spinach is going into a roasted red pepper spread (from TJ's) with chevre (goat cream cheese), and I have whole grain bagels to go with it. Anybody arriving a bit early will find themselves pressed into service cutting up bagels or apples. LOL
I'll get a directions blast out asap. We were running in circles for a bit... my mom was in the hospital last night for diagnostics, turns out she has a ruptured disc causing extreme pain. My suitcase is packed, but for the moment they've talked me out of driving up -- in part because I know Mom would fret the whole time I'm on the road "in the hurricane."
I'm going up next weekend regardless, sooner if I'm needed. If I do suddenly need to go, the "party" will just turn into a "pickup," after which everybody can head out to Chef Lin for lunch!
Paying by check is fine and avoids PayPal charges. I did add the $1 + 1/2% (see "additional costs" at the bottom of your invoice).
I didn't calculate PP charges (30 cents + 3%), but please add that on if you pay that way. If you sent an earlier payment via PayPal, you'll see that the "payment" amount on your invoice is the amount you sent minus the PP charge.
Jill, I'll bring something sweet, maybe cupcakes.
Sorry to hear about your mom! I can't imagine the pain from a ruptured disc. And I chuckled at the "hurricane." My mom *still* doesn't want me going out in the rain!
Edit: I forgot to add, please let us know if you need to leave earlier or cut the party short!
Sally, I'll be happy to pick up the bulbs if coleup can't make it.
This message was edited Oct 11, 2013 1:57 PM
I'm also happy to help bring bulbs back to DC for both Happy and Sally.
I'll bring something sweet to eat.
I've got a lemon cake ready to bring!!
Sounds like our dessert selections are all set! Thanks!
Catmint or ssgardener, y'all can fight over me! Mark and I are fairly lightly scheduled and would enjoy a reason to ramble around your area for change of scenery.
Hope your mom is getting better, Jill, she is a sweetheart.
AMARYLLIS bulbs came from ADR today! They look FANTASTIC! When ADR says "jumbo," they mean JUMBO!
Thanks for the well-wishes for Mom. She's home tonight... she's a sweetheart, but she's a tough cookie, too!
I'm looking forward to seeing everybody tomorrow... noonish, unless you want to be put to work before lunch, also!
Sally, would love to have you out this way!
Safeway Bakery was out of corn bread this morning, so I'll try to think of something else to bring.
Aspenhill, I'll get the cornbread!
I'll make some rice, too, in case there's no cornbread. Easy-peasy in the rice cooker.
Aspen, you're bringing your smiling self early to help me prep... nothing else is needed! and thank you!!
I just got home. That sure was a LOT of bulbs. What a great time!
yes, thanks to all and especially Critter for planning and hosting this fabulous event! Soooo sad I had to leave early, but timing was perfect as I got to friend's house right on time to pick up my daughter.
Donner, so glad you made it and hope you enjoy your plants!!
Coleup, I'll be picking up the abelia soon from SSG--thanks so much!!