OK, time to confess! what bulbs did you order this fall?!

I don't even want to add up what I've spent on perennials, bulbs, annuals, and house plants this year...

...and especially the bulbs part this fall.

*Ignorance is bliss*


Kylee

Wonderful pics, Tammy. Thanks for posting them. I was feeling a little down in the dumps because it's snowing and blowing here. Nothing like some fresh (as in not seen before by me) garden pictures to bring me out of it!

The yellow balls are trollius (I think Lemon Queen) and it is a ligularia (don't recall which).
The pink flowers (from white to pale pink to deep purple) are all Primula Japonica. They
self seed gloriously. This was the image in my mind when I first saw the property. Its wonderful
to have brought it to life.

Its a natural spring. WHen I moved here it was totally surrounded by multiflora roses; took
me two years to clear them out and start setting the rocks (that were there both above
ground and under). I had to work a bit to redirect the springs (every time I pulled a big
rock, a new spring would pop up). Here's a picture after the first year of pulling roses. Still
lots to do but you get a feel for how rough it was. (I also took down one tree to open it up).

Tammy, your spring garden is wonderful. I get sort of dejavu when I look at the pics. Seems to jog childhood memories of being in a beautiful, magical setting such as yours.

James, there are several shades of blue among cammasias and all that I've seen are lovely(any blue is welcome in my garden). Mine bloom with single late tulips and Spanish bluebells in May.
Neal

Tammy, that garden is absolutely beautiful! How lucky you are for that spring!

I had been behaving myself not really buying any bulbs....My replacement order from Blooming Bulb arrived then I ordered a few more from them. I looked at all the sales and still behaved. Yesterday I found myself at Lowe's and a bit too near the 50% off signs. I caved. LOL I have a bunch of Lilies, some crocus and a single Frit to plant. I never have any luck with them and didn't want to blow the money. LOL

Thank you, Gemini. That helps tremendously in my design plans.

Good thinking, Badseed. When there is a genera I'de like to try, of which I know nothing, I go for them on sale. ( that covers about 5 genera this year.) I don't always know when something is an acid-lover or a humidity-needer. Keep the frit in a place that drains extremely well. I'm in the desert and I've rotted a bulb. I t also helps to plant them on their side, so water doesn't get trapped inside. (I'm assuming you mean Frit. imperialis...)
Kenton

I missed classes this morning so I suppose I'll be planting bulbs... Botanical delinquency?

I placed an order with Blooming Bulbs last week, then several days later got an e-mail from them that they didn't have them. I wish they'd indicated that when I ordered from them.

hehe, "Botanical delinquency"-I like that one! I think I've used that excuse to.

kbaumle, what were you ordering from Bloomingbulb? I've been scouring the sources for stuff (I kind of feel like a buzzard!) that's cool and cheap, so I may have seen it.
Neal

20639 Orienpet American Flame (5) $15.05

:-(

Ohh no! What a great deal it was to! I feel your pain, that's a lily I've really been wanting; the whole American series for that matter-only one I've got is American West. I'll keep my eyes open for it though.

My Van Engelen order just arrived! Lets hope it stays warm 'til the weekend.
(It was in the high 60's today! Weird weather we're having.)
Tam

Thanks for the "Public Service Announcement" JamesCo! I just placed an order with Brent and Becky's Bulbs for:

Calochortus - Symphony
Dichelostemma - ida-maia
Freesia - Double Mix
leucojum - aestivum "Gravetye Giant'

frausnow

You're welcome, Frausnow; I went for the Dich. ida-maia too. We'll compare notes next summer.

K. Baumle, I've wanted American Flame too. I almost ordered it, as I read the price wrong. I thought it was 5 bulbs for 4-something! What I've seen of the 'American' series Orienpets is: very broad, open flowers, good color, that face downward. The down-facing can be a plus if they are taller than 6' but a real minus when small.

B&B was very prompt when they called me this AM to say they were out of a Crocus 'Dorothy.' So they will replace it with one that I know is almost exactly the same: C. 'Goldilocks.' Nice folks. My spring order plans (based on last spring's catalogue) are scary.

May the Bulb -"Vulturing" continue!
Kenton

Wishing for a "big" sale at Blooming....like the one at Brent and Becky's....love that American Flame, also. big deep sighhhh....wish I could grow a money tree LOL.
God Bless, Margo

I did some damage at Brent and Becky's yesterday too. I guess at this stage in the game, I can say I am buying stock for my nursery. LOL I just need them to mulitply reeeeeeeaaaalllly rapidly. :)

Oh, dear, when I started this thread I didn't mean for it to be an "Enabler"!!

I think next spring I'm going to design a road trip and hit all of your gardens. Your bulb plantings sound too delicious!! Especially when several of you are into the 'thousands' for new bulbs!

About the camassias--I researched a little bit on these and there are several strains of the common camassia in 'the market' with varying shades of blue and also varying bloom times. Also one source said the white semi-plenas bloomed two weeks after the blues, which I don't know if that is always so, but I planted them with my peonies and siberian iris, hoping for a good show.

I wish I had a gently inclined hill and a little stream like Tammy's! So pretty--I think I saw fairies dancing in one of those pics.

It's been so cold the last few days, I restrained from indulging in B & B's sale. I think we planted about 600 bulbs this year, though, counting all of my picks from the HD bargain bins, Van Engelen's, B & B, tons of alliums from Touch of Nature, the lily society's specials, the Cincinnati Civic Garden Center Bulb sale, the Daffodil Society's sale.

They add up, don't they?!!

But they are all in the ground, mole traps set, mulch and "deer scram" on the garden, and Christmas lights in place. Amen!

Tabasco, please remember to post pictures of all those alliums! I imagine they have an other-wordly sense to them in numbers. I'm all for roadtrips. "Mi casa es su casa," if anyone is passing through this valley. I think, (money pending) I'm going to do Eastern america next Summer. Gardens included, if possible!
On mass planting: I ordered 100 Scilla siberica 'Spring beauty.' It had better look perfectly oceanic next spring. If not, they reseed!

Kenton

I just love scilla! I visited one of the local nurseries years ago when the scilla
was in bloom - they had a huge huge spread of those glorious shining blue
flowers! Just amazing. I haven't gotten them for my new place yet.... hmmm...
and B&B has a big sale? hmmm.... gotta go guys! :-)

I found this old picture when looking for something else. This is my hillside in bloom.
I added several hundred more red tulips last year and the critters got 'em all.
Every one. But I have this picture to help me recall that fleeting moment. (Its packed
with muscari & buttercup. Turns blue and then yellow. Then I mow it. This place
is a dream come true!)

Really nice, Tammy!!!

It is truly a beautiful dream come true:) God bless you and yours, Margo

That is beautiful Tammy!

My new place is completely flat. I have many visions of me with a front loader and tons of top soil, turning the property into something a bit more rolling. LOL

I have no idea how many new bulbs I have bought, not tons but enough to not feel guilty nor like I have done without. :) Since I just bought new property and moved so much of what I had at the other place here, it will be like it is all new because I have never seen them bloom where they are now. How is that for creative thinking? hahahaha

badseed you are so funny. I, too, have had visions of making my own hill, to add interest to my flat as a pancake property. Too funny. also like the comment about buying enough to not feel guitly. I can relate to that, allright

and what I like best of all this morning is Tammy's hillside. that is gorgeous!

Tammy, the image of you beautiful hillside is stuck in my mind now :)
I have a steep hill that faces north just behind the house that needs work and that naturalized look would be perfect. I've been at a loss how to deal with it. It's rocky, steep, and lots of stinging nettles grow there (so fall is a good time to work there). The good side is there are tons of trillium, wild ginger, maidenhair, Christmas, and lady ferns, aruncus, and wild hydrangea growing there already. I'm accustomed to starting with more of a blank slate, so I've just put that area on the backburner for the time being. It's what I see out the sliding glass door of the dining room, so I am itching to get it into shape.

Inspiration, eh, Gemini? Sounds like it is nice already. But there is never a finished garden..
I admit to inspiration, too: now I think I will make my back ditchbank a sort of nature preserve setting, 'naturalized.' Thanks, Tammy. -and it stinks that B&B is out of Scilla...

Guilt: I don't know about a happy medium. I think that the realms of Guilt from too many and guilt of too few bulbs touch eachother; no place in between for me. It can be said that many of us like to err on the side of caution and order too many. It's only safe, right?

New topography is a great excuse to go rock-hounding, too: "Critical Erosion Control."
Kenton

I got my Narcissus yesterday ('Lemon Beauty' and 'Pipit') and the Calla lily. And a sweet surprise from a very nice DGer who just happens to have posted in this thread right before me. All planted! I'm pretty sure that's it and I'm done planting until winter sowing time! But I thought I was done about a month ago, too... LOL

Thanks again, Kenton! :-)

gemini, I am drooling over the weeds on your hill! LOL

And thanks for all the nice things you've said!

Edited to remove my idea of posting my really steep
slope along the driveway. I already posted it - Oct 30.
Duh!

This message was edited Dec 1, 2005 7:50 PM

Oh - and ditto that "drooling over your weeds" comment Neal!
What a wonderful collection of plants!
Tam

I love my weeds to, it's the jewel weed, nettles, and the occasional poison ivy that make it tricky. The gentlemen and the thugs co-habitate! There are natural rock shelves all over it, so you can imagine what potential I'm seeing there. It's a project that shant wait much longer! Working with my own psychology, I've created a bit of a garden room with some shrub borders (your fault Tammy!). That project halted in a curve, where it will connect with the hill area. That hill is soon to be defined, within obvious garden border (the psychology part). Then what choice do I have! Decent into garden madness continues!
Neal

Oooo... I love your dreams. Be sure to take lots of before
shots! I love rock shelves. Do you see moss dripping on
the exposed rock? And its not garden madness ... its
garden happiness :-)

I just apears that way to the locals LOL, maniacal laughter echoing down the hollow as I've just finished planting the latest bulb aquisition! Guess that's why I live in the woods. And moss? Yes! Quite a lot already there and I'd love to be able to see it better. I keep seeing cascading plants. I think I may start by exposing all the nice rocks. Hmmmm.

Terraces and Moss! Three hoots for Neal!
I just got rid of a huge chunk of basalt today. It took me and my neighbor (Ridiculously strong Neighbor) to put it in my truck. Now I wonder how the heck I got it loaded in the desert. The Rock had potential, but I owed something valuable to a fellow mad-gardener. Hey, I think I will start a "Rocks and Bulbs" post... seeing as how there is so much great stuff going on in this thread... And I think we would all enjoy pictures of such- Tammy proved that!
Kenton

yep. Just give us the link :-) Maybe in the Rock Gardening & Alpines forum?

Did I see some pics from posters on this thread in the DG photo contest?

I think I recognized a few gardens under the "Seasons" category and in "Flowers in General"

The "Seasons" bulb garden pics were wonderful. I voted one of them for "best spring
pic".

Next year we have to get our own category, I think.

Don['t forget to vote. BTW Are we allowed to campaign?! LOL

Thanks, Tabasco, and
The new thread is posted- in this forum. Read it to see why: "Rocks as Bulb Companions." I'd love to see your pictures there.
Kenton

In light of the *madness* I have to comment here. LOL At my other house I just moved from, behind my back I was referred to as the 'plant lady, garden lady, the one with all the plants, the one always working outside, the crazy plant lady, the crazy garden lady', etc. I take it as a compliment. The only people it ever bothered were the nuts next door that sat on their buns and hired everything done, of course hiring whoever worked the cheapest and not the best! They always had snide remarks and also enjoyed damaging things when they could.

Now that I have moved out to the country and my *yard* is 29 times the size of my other, nothing has changed. LOL I lost the obnoxious neighbor. Yee haw!! I am still known as all of the things above I think. :) Even the kids on the bus tell my kids the above names. I heard the ground here sits wet when it rains, so I laid down layers of cardboard and had dirt hauled in to build the beds up. Oddly enough, this crazy lady landed the ends of the beds perfectly short of where the largest puddles sit! So whilst these farmers out here might think I am nuts for raising all my beds and putting them on top of the cardboard (which several have asked my reasoning), they can call me lots of things but stupid nor lazy will never pass their lips. :)

As long as the madness keeps you happy and you can look out at the end of the day and feel like you did something good...madness is wonderful! LOL

I know what you mean, Badseed! When my husband and I were preparing the new gardens this fall, our neighbor told us it was like watching the Home and Garden channel on TV, but without commercials! LOL. His landscaping is native 'weeds' right around his home. Everything else gets mowed right up to the house. *roll eyes*

And our neighbor on the other side will only plant evergreen things because he hates leaves and he hates taking care of his yard or garden.

So you see why they think we are nuts.

I have been away from my computer for 2 weeks and I missed you all and your gardens. My youngest son and his wife took me with them on a cruise toWest Caribbean. We stopped at Montego Bay , Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cosumel. The weather was wonderful, rained while we were on Cayman, waiting for the tender boat to take us back to the ship. Two weeks is waaaay too long for me to be away from home, I was very glad to get home even if it was to 6 inches of snow.

Tammy your garden photos are so pretty, I live on a hill in the very dry part of Wash. state. No springs or creeks anywhere near, I can see a small lake, hence my address Lakeview Dr. Always wanted a creek to creat what you have, so lovely.

Badseed, I sure don't need to move any dirt to have a hillside, and I am thankful for not being on level ground, seems easier to showcase plants on slopes. Is it possible for you to take a sort of overall photo of your new garden area. Climb up on a ladder to get the heighth you need!!!!!!!!!!!

Neal be sure to take photos as you work on your bank. I don't envy you the poison oak and nettles tho. I would love to have trilliums, etc, growing natively here. Planted three bulbs in my woodland garden area a couple of years ago, and at last had a couple of blooms.

There is still 5 or 6 inches of snow covering everything, so gardening except in the gh is pretty much over for this year. I did stop on my 12 hour trip home from my son's house at my favorite nursery-gift place. Was very careful to buy only a few things!!!!! Did buy 3 small poinsettas and one larger one. Will send pics.

DonnaS

This is a picture of the three small poinsettas, planted into a large container my daughter gave me several years ago. It is just amazing to see the colorful variety of poinsettas on the market now. DonnaS