OK, time to confess! Bulb orders PART II.

It's 29 and sunny. I'll be out gardening, too.
Kenton

Its just FREEZING here... the snow the fell the day after I planted my bulbs has
not melted and we've gotten more. It was 7F this morning and probably will be
colder tonight. And more snow tomorrow. Its not even winter yet!
(Sorry for the rant. Just can't believe this weather).

Kenton - sorry to hear about those bulbs!!!! You're going to try to at least get
your money back aren't you?

And it gets harder & harder to get me away from home. I have to be home
from early Mar through June. I'm OK to travel July & Aug 'cause its too hot to plant
and most of my seedlings & acquisitions are all planted. And then Sept through
Nov I have to be home 'cause its prime time to put in new beds & of course, plant
bulbs. So I can travel Dec -> Feb. (Maybe a trip to South Africa? I hear they
have fantastic gardens. Just need to save some $$ for that trip!!! LOL)

tammy, right on about travel in winter, when our gardens are for the most part dormant.

kenton, ditto on the MONEY BACK!

I got a call from B&B today. She is refunding the whole order, and more importantly, said that they were changing thier policy next year to send via priority anywhere west of the Mississippi. She did not explain why they weren't sent that way to me (on the other side of the Rockies) and I didn't ask. I imagine that poor somebody in shipping dept. wasn't getting enough sleep or somethhing.

I did plant the bulbs today, though. I hope no one here is a psychologist. It isn't some sort of denial thing, but a hope that perhaps just a couple bulbs have just enough surviving tissue to live. I'm sure some do, even though the outside is squishy. March will tell.

South Africa (or anywhere in the southern Hemisphere) sounds darn right about now, Tammy.

I have to travel in summer only because of school, but that isn't so bad. In fact, I hope to visit my Eastern DG friend's gardens next summer.

Kenton

Kenton - are you studying horticulture by any chance?

Art major, but I'm doing the Master Gardener thing January-March.

I love art. I just got this from Art.com for one of our daughters' old room:

That is well-designed, compostition-wise. I can't post my last painting out of "decency!"
look at my trade list, Kylee.

I looked and am impressed!! But I'm puzzled.......what isn't 'decent'??

Don't ask me, I would post it. I don't get to define "decent."

It is a nude wherein I used hyper-exaggerated color. I'm pleased with most of it.

Oh, so THAT one ISN'T there!

Right.

kenton, i worry that if i post my paintings for trade, i'll get the plants, and DGers will turn down the painting. lol.

Certainly not. I can't imagine.
I suppose I really don't expect anyone to go to my art trade section for the art, but in case they are getting rid of a plant and I can give them something in return.
That's why artists starve to death. I don't feel sorry for them. They sould become gardeners! (And then paint things!)
There is just something wrong with art when it is for money, and not for the heck of it.
In my completely, perfectly, one-hundred percent unbiased opinion.

Does anyone have bulb orders they are waiting on or just recieved? We have been sustaining ourselves on Annapet's nice Amsterdam pictures, now lets see the bacon.

If there aren't any bulbs to look at, I suppose we will just have to ask annapet to post her art!
Kenton

kenton, right on! (artists) should become gardeners, and then paint things!

i started growing plants so i can have more "plein air" sessions. it's not easy for me to drive to the local gardens and conservatories because i am also a stay at home mom.

i'll post something one of these days when i get back to it. i usually paint in watercolors, but i have acrylic paints that i want to open and play with.

btw, moonglow is a favorite tube of daniel smith paints. my ebay id, quinmagenta is another favorite. i am such a geek.

is bloomingbulbs still selling bulbs this late? very disappointed with the stuff they sent me this year, and i ordered early. i hope it's an isolated incident.

annapet

OMG! I am in absolute pain! I nearly fell of the porch a minute ago when hubby brought me the mail. Some smart aleck in KY mailed me a seven foot long receipt! OMG! My stomach hurts so bad. Thank you so much for that much needed laugh. Can someone send an ambulance? I am in pain. LOL Thank you FRIEND! LOL

What a laugh. Holy Bovines.

Annapet, I just can't seem to find a good orange Acrylic. They are so darn weak... It took nearly ten coats to do a certain painting (Orange background) It should be called "El Dorado" if it is ever formulated.

HeHeHeHeHe!!!

You are such a hoot! I still cannot believe you did that! Of course I had to explain it to my husband in between bouts of hysterical laughter before I ran to the bathroom. LOL Now, I HAVE to go back to Lowe's to see if they still have the bulbs. If nothing else, it will totally be worth the laugh to unfold that sucker! ;)

i wish there's a lowe's nearby, and i'll check if they still have bulbs....please mail the receipt to california.

=)

Kenton, I think it's cool you're offering artwork for trade. My Art major friends have always had lots of work to find homes for when in school. A close friend of mine just had a piece accepted into the Lexingon Art League Nudes 2006. It's a black and white photograph of a friend when she was 1 week from giving birth. She's done a series on pregnant women.

And when I've got plants you'd like, I'll trade for your art! I love originals!

Chelle, I just could'nt resist LOL.

Thanks Neal, and- Well done. Very well done.

Tell us what happens in Lowe's, Chele. It promises to be priceless if fruitless.

As soon as this darn rain, ice and snow stops, I plan to go back to the other house. Going to Lowe's is my motivation to go. LOL If I can actually get an employee with a personality, I'll try to get them to pose with the receipt. ;)

OMG, this is hilarious. I can just see it.........the Round Robin Receipt. LOLOLOL.

i have a feeling that the DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS when the huge christmas stock is gone, bulbs will be back. i hope.

please have the receipt handy. can we make copies? lol.

kenton, btw, what brand of paints do you use? now i'm testing oranges out of curiosity. swatches galore today.

more bulbs to pot up....

I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I have just bought good ol' cheap Ceramcoat, since I use so much, I layer and layer paint. I like the ergonomy of bottles. If I have house-paint leftover, it works nicely ( I've got a half-quart of 'Moss Landing.' What a lofty and horticulturally satisfactory name if nothing else. But, into more 'authentic' (and not craft-oriented, but painter-oriented) paint, I like the consistency and saturation of 'Van Gogh.' They have a decent orange, and a whompin' blue. It's what's available around my city-domicile.

I'm a free man! Break started today! Paint-paint-paint while I drink tea-tea-tea.
An plant bulbs-bulbs-bulbs when I can-can-can!

James (had too much coffee tonght)

oh, that's neat. love callas.

hopefully 2006 will be a good painting year for me. my sessions have been really quite sporadic---few and far between. not a complaint, since i've enjoyed potting up plants more. now my painting area is a seedling rack!

boy, i'd love to trade in my paintings for plants. that will be so awesome.

the TULIPS i've planted earlier are coming out. i see GREENS!

Christmas came early this year! I got a package of bulbs from Kentucky today.
Thanks Neal!

Post pictures, Annapet, when they blooom.

Yep, everything goes to back-burner when you are a mad gardener.
Like cleaning, sleeping, eating, discontentedness...

woo-hoo, tam!

it's going to rain all day. hauled in my bag of perlite and potting soil to pot up more bulbs.

will definitely post photos when blooms happen. we should start a monthly thread for the photos just so it doesn't take forever to load.

did you all see the DAFFODILS dovey posted? spring comes early in california.

Tammy, you are so welcome. I'm packing a box for Margo now, and since she said to suprise her, I really do feel like Santa!

Annapet, you're giving me major zone envy! But, you all realize after Dec.21 the days start getting longer again, don't you! Hurray!! Even if it is the first day of winter, I think about the sun gathering strength each lengthening day, working up to spring.

Kenton, Hurray!! the semester is over! My bedraggled friends in school now are breathing a sigh of relief to. Enjoy!

Just about got finished up planting today. I even dug random holes on my "hill of discontent" behind the house, handed a friend a bag of bulbs (I'd mixed for naturalizing), and said "put a handfull in each hole, pointed side up, and kick the dirt back over them". I'm not nearly as particular as I was a couple of months ago LOL.
Neal.

Hehehe. I like it. Spring after the 21st, California blossoms, Semester's end, and planting bulbs as a parent kicks her child out of the door on the first day of kindergarten.

Midnight on the night of the moon, I went to our yet untenured local park, fully intending to plant a bag or two of crocus in the grass. (not vernus cvs, of course.) It was so cold, I didn't have long-johns. My tougher dog's ears were frozen and more so was the ground. Well shoot.

I took both ratdog and mousedog to the park today when it was a propitious 33F, and in the ruthful but conspicuous daylight, sat down on my long-john padded arse, and felicitously stabbed at the ground with my favorite trowel. My neigbor walked with me between micro-excavations with his endearing flock of bassets and wondered what the heck I was was doing. That's about 50 crocus down, 100 to go...

Kenton

I propose a toast. Get your tea and coffee mugs, wineglasses, mixed juice cocktails and aquafina bottles.

"To Bulbs. Their exciting portraits in catalogues, their merry arrivals, their unusual path to our gardens and company thereof (including 7' reciepts) , and finally, their vivacious spring splendour."

Here here "to bulbs"

kenton - I'm curious. Why not Vernus in the grass? Too dark? or some cultural reason?

Tam

They bloom too late and the usual "reason" is that they will be in full bloom when it's time to mow. In practice, this means that the grass will be so tall by then and will obstruct their flowers. (not ot mention, the grass will look plain-old tatty. Also, their bigger leaves will persist in to the late spring and get lawn-mowed. (I'll ask a friend to supply pictures of her vernus-filled lawn.)

C. crysanthus cvs. are smaller and usually are done blooming by the first mowing. (Galanthus are ideal.)

I just hope that things work out so that my little friends don't see the park & rec. mowers.
Those people are bolshie.
Kenton

Say, does anyone know if other early-spring bulbs do well in grass? Anyone try eranthis? Iris reticulata, danfordiae, or histrioides? Hermodactylus? Miniature Narcissus?

Kenton - I heard a talk by the director of Chanticleer last week. He showed slides of a wonder river of
grass which followed the river of bloom. They planted crocus, daffodils, muscari & scilla amongst
Links Mix Fescue. He said it doesn't get as tall so bulb folliage can ripen.

I have muscari growing in my hillside. I have to wait to mow 'til late May.
Tam

Thanks, Tammy. How tall is the grass in May? I assume that it doesn't hurt it too badly.

I have read about later-spring things like Tuliips, but this, of course, requires that the grass grows very tall before cutting.

As it reseeds and divides like mad, I was curious if anyone has seen/tried Chionodoxa, and if so, when did you mow?

(I personally think grass is far overused, thus the attempt to mix it up with flowers!)
Kenton

neal, 21st is something to celebrate then! 2006 is going to be super exciting, i just know it!

58F today, but 18-21mph winds. we had tornado warning earlier....and it's been raining cats and dogs since last night. winter has arrived in the san francisco bay area --- and i'm planting more bulbs. yipee!

ok, i had too much coffee, too.

My grass is really tall when I finally mow. My DH uses a sythe to cut it down
before I get the mower out there. This year I got a new mulching mower and
it managed to cut it down w/o precutting. First comes the muscari and then
the buttercups. Too pretty to mow. My neighbor told me that one of my fields
was completely covered with muscari before one of the previous owners
did lots of work on it, probably replaced with a grass mix for the horses.

Now if you meant the Links Mix Grass - I think he said 8". You could google it
if you are really curious.

I've only grown chionodoxa in beds. Really pretty!

tammy, those are pretty. glory of the snow it is.

Kenton, scilla siberica and chionodoxa are wonderful naturalized in the lawn. They bloom early, are very short, and reseed and form offsets to naturalize freely in the lawn. I love all those vivid blue stars in the lawn. I think puschkinia would also be a good candidate for this use. This is my first year growing them myself, but I planted some for a friend once, and they were similar in stature to scilla.

Iris reticulata, on the other hand, is not so good in the lawn. While the blooms are short enough for this use, the foliage continues to grow after the flowers are gone. Mine reaches a foot or more, so I sprinkle them throughout the middle of beds, so in early spring there are pools of violet underplanting other bulbs and when the foliage gets tall it's not in the front of the border looking weedy.

I think some of the short species tulips may be good candidates for this use, like tarda or turkestanica. They bloom early, and most tulips foliage goes quickly after the blooms.
Neal.