Some Bulbs

The spring bulb season is racing along. Tulips from the grocery planted in the newly purchased last fall purple pot were pictured as a combination of purple- Purple Prince and orange-Van Eijk. Squinting might let the prince be purple, but orange, well, who’s complaining, it looks fine anyway. In fact the photo shows it as more orange than the pink it is in real life.Lorikeet opens solid yellow then the trumpet blends to peachy pink as the days roll by.Tahiti came with the property and has been vigorous and dependable. The orange highlights in the double petals echo the coral of the flowering quince.Mount Hood was another daffodil growing here when we moved in. The trumpet opens yellow then fades to pure white. This is an elegant and large flower.Hyacinths in the yellow/white bed were purchased in bloom several years ago for that pale yellow color. One has turned blue. It is always astonishing when things like that happen.Limbo with the orange trumpet is planted on the daylily hill with Pink Pride.Pink Pride is a delicately colored creature. Planting one each of Limbo and Pink Pride in every hole several years ago seems like it could have been an error in judgement. But the spring foliage of Magic Carpet spirea helps tie these mismatched colors together, seen in the lower right in the Limbo photo and mid left above.Fritillaria uva vulpis is in full bloom along the wall. They need dividing but each time we thrust the shovel downward it isn’t far enough to get below the bulb and we decapitate them. Very disheartening. The coral greiggii tulip Toronto is opening. The red flowered Oratorio is barely showing a bud. The hoped for pairing of these two is not panning out. We won’t even mention the little hoopskirt daffodil Golden Bells that is totally obscured by the tulip foliage as it bravely tries to show its yellow blooms later in the season. This might be the year to dig the whole mess out and replant now that the truth of bloom times is known.Scarlet Gem, which we at first thought was Yellow Cheerfulness is open along the deck wall. Last years post about the daffodils corrected the misnomer. Click here to read about the mid season and here to read about the late bloomers of 2008.Gentle Giant needs to be moved from the upper slope to the wall to better appreciate that astounding trumpet.Mixed hyacinths planted in the large concrete container will be planted out in the garden after they are past peak. I was hoping for a yellow one as was featured on the package. Maybe the unopened one will be that color. ADDED: (The unopened hyacinth in the above photo is indeed the desired yellow! Hooray!) Also planted at the same time was a pack of mixed crocus. They are completely obscured by the hyacinths and will be placed in a proper setting to be appreciated. Planting bulbs in containers is the best way to see where the optimum placement for them is come spring in a crowded garden.From dear neighbors Mae and Mickey, this might be Redhill.Muscari latifolium was seen in a magazine article in 2000 and planted along the ridge before any of the other shrubs and perennials. They are totally lost in the area now but a few have managed to show themselves, even if they have to pretend they are a hellebore to be noticed.Salome is another changling. This photo shows the beginning, transforming and final color of the trumpets. This daffodil is planted along the front curbing in three beds amongst the liriope.For those who crave a little macro magic, a red tulip that came potted from Walmart.
Frances
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The title is inspired by the name of Happy Mouffetard’s, The Inelegant Gardener’s, undergardener who digs where instructed, Some Beans.