I’m trying not to buy dozens and dozens of bulbs, because planting bulbs is such a pain in my hard clay soil. But here’s the count for this year:
6 Crocus blue moon mixture here and there
50 WFF crocus cream beauty in front garden
6 Tete a tete daffodils at edge of sunny border
25 WFF Spring Green Tulip Mix in containers (visible here).
12 WFF Tulip ‘Tom Pouce’ in containers
May it be a beautiful spring!
This gardening season has had its ups and downs, as usual, and I want to capture my ideas before they melt into the mist.
Spring brought some lovely blooms. The irises, which I sometimes despair of because this bed is so weedy, were lovely (if a bit floppy). I especially like the blue ones. Wish I still had the white ones I inherited from my mother, who got them from Bob Taylor decades ago. This was in mid-May.
Zepherine Drouhin is always lovely, but after she blooms, she’s a mess. Maybe add a clematis next year so there’s something else blooming there?
Despite my vow to sow annual poppies early, I failed. Luckily, this one self-sowed. I love the delicate shading on the petals.
Sarah Bernhardt was in bloom just in time to take her to Duck for the week.
Allium globemaster looked appropriately modern in a 60s sort of way. Plus, it lasted a long time. This was at the end of May.
The drumstick alliums were not quite what I expected, too tall. We’ll see if they come up next year. I was aiming for something like this
but they were very long-stemmed and flopped over. We’ll see if they come back next year.
By the end of June (after the wedding, and English garden pictures to come), long, spiky blooms appeared on the bottlebrush buckeye. The butterflies love them.
(And note the new fence, raw as can be but it should weather to gray eventually). Here’s one of the day lilies, though they seemed a bit meager this year. I love the dramatic dark reds:
And here’s the gallant calla zantedeschia that came as a bonus bulb from McClure and Zimmerman several years ago. If I’d realized its scale, I wouldn’t have planted it so close to one of the lush hostas, but so it goes. It comes up faithfully every year.
And look what’s popped up! A couple years ago I dug up a couple of plants that were just too big for their britches. This is a helianthus that just couldn’t be killed!
There are also signs that the amsonia is resurrecting itself, too. I may bite the bullet and pull it out, replacing it with a variety that has better fall color. We’ll see!
And this was the flowerpot on the steps this year. The pots worked well, but the railing planters were a mess: very dry, and I didn’t have any good fillers or spillers. I’ll add Soil Moist next year and go for something easy like calibrachoa to add color.
The houseplants enjoyed their spa vacation, as always. Note to self: you can never mass too many pots together.
Since this area is part sun at best, it’s all about the foliage here. Still, it could use a little more color but on the whole I was pleased.
Finally, the hyacinth beans I got on sale from C&T did pretty well, though what is apparently a stinkbug larva liked them, too. Never mind, the colors were delicious.
The other nice thing is that the shades of purple went well with the clematis and the Autumn Joy sedum, almost as though I had planned it (ha!).
It’s actually on the 15th of the month, but I’m a bit slow to catch up this time. In bloom in my zone 7 garden last Monday:
snowbells (just starting to bloom)
hellebores
species daffodils (my favorites)
winter aconite (just going by)
crocuses (I don’t remember planting these here, but okay)
squill
It’s been a cool spring, and things are late this year, judging by last year’s photos. The forsythia is not blooming yet, and the daffodils in the cutting garden have just started to open. Soon enough it will be on us like a runaway train!
All bulbs have arrived, except for the B&B order, which annoyingly won’t be here for another ten days. Tulip Maytime will go in the raised bed for cutting, and the crocuses will go around the maple tree. I love the West Point tulips, so some will go in the raised bed and the rest will go in places where I will see them easily.
Mary’s Garden Patch
Tulip Lily Maytime
McClure & Zimmerman
Budlight Lily-Flowered Tulip
Crocus Tommasinianus Roseus
West Point Lily-Flowered Tulip
White Flower Farm
Tulip ‘Tom Pouce’
Tulip ‘Queen of Night’
Tulip ‘White Triumphator
Brent and Becky’s
Narcissus – Topolino
Narcissus – Pink Charm
Narcissus – Sunlight Sensation
Narcissus – Baby Boomer
Tulipa – Happy Generation
Ipheion – uniflorum ‘Jessie’
Ipheion – uniflorum ‘Tessa’
Narcissus – Paperwhite ‘Ziva’
Posted in bulbs
The horrors, of course, are the many manifestations of Covid-19, aka the coronavirus, aka the pandemic, the global pandemic, the quarantine, etc. Starting around March 13, when everything shut down with only a few hours’ notice, we have been living a different life from anything we were imagining before. No socializing, library and schools closed, businesses shut down, restaurants only providing takeout (and several with groceries available, too), curbside pickup at stores, no going out to eat, listening to music, having meetings. Don’t even think about traveling, not an hour up the road to Washington or across the ocean to Vienna, as was our plan for September. It’s not so bad for people like me who have money and access to food and supplies, but it still wears a person down, especially given the criminal negligence of the government. But that rant will remain unwritten here.
On the other hand, it’s been a lovely spring. The cool weather has persisted with none of the 80+ degree days in April that cook the tulips. Instead, long stretches of cool, sunny weather with even frost warnings a couple times in the last week. We’re down for the year, but for the month our rainfall is right on track. I can’t complain!
Narcissus ‘Sunlight Sensation’ and ‘Baby Boomer’ not only bloomed prolifically but lasted and lasted. This is ‘Sunlight Sensation.’ Would definitely buy more next year to strew under the maple tree.
The tulips were a bit meager this year, with a few exceptions. The ‘Happy Generation’ tulip that was supposed to bloom with this ‘Pink Charm’ narcissus barely grew a leaf or two. Tulips in pots seemed to be particularly weak or non-existent. Voles??
On the other hand, these dark pink tulips seem to be perennial (so far) and dutifully bloomed at the same time as the viburnum (just out of the frame).
The unfortunately named tulip ‘Bud Light’ was particuarly beautiful, though I don’t have a good picture from my garden. Here’s one from Jackson & Perkins, and it’s just about how it looked for me, too. 
Another one I’d buy again.
The oak tree garden, as always, was an absolute delight, starting with the winter aconites in January. Here they are on February 9th, interspersed with snow drops. 
And a wider view, on April 11,
when the aconites are gone except for their foliage, and the bluebells, star of Bethlehem, columbine, Japanese roof iris and bleeding heart have taken over.
A closeup of the bluebells in late March: 
Not to forget the hellebores! They bloom so early, last so long in bouquets, and are so incredibly lovely that I don’t mind that they breed like rabbits and self-seed everywhere. This one was blooming on February 9th. 
So many beauties that I had to make a slide show for you.
But wait, don’t forget the peonies and roses! This was a hand-me-down from my friend Susan Hepler, known to me always as the Hepler peony. 
The ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ has tons of buds but no blooms yet.
‘Zepherine Drouhin’ is one of my favorites, though it seems to have a fainter scent this year. Maybe because of the cooler weather?
The ‘souvenir de Ste. Anne’ is an Earthkind rose, 
the very palest of pale pinks.
Then there is this neglected part of the garden:
The oakleaf hydrangeas that were supposed to grow six feet tall and help to obliterate my view of the neighbor’s shed never did grow very tall. Then last year we had lots of rain at one point, and this corner of the garden tends to get soggy. I think they have given up the ghost, and a great culling will happen here soon. Edging, obliterating the hydrangeas and forsythia (at least some of it) and cutting down the maple saplings that have taken root. What a mess! Welcome to spring in Virginia!
For various reasons, I did only a small order this year and it was certainly much less stressful planting fewer bulbs. One order from Brent and Becky:
5 Narcissus ‘Pink Charm’ planted with 5 Tulip ‘Orange Emperor’ per their suggestion
5 Tulip ‘Happy Generation’ – red/white, mid-spring
10 Tulip ‘World Expression’ red/white, good cut flower
5 Tulip ‘Budlight’ yellow lily-flowered, late
Crocus ‘Cream’Beauty’
Crocus tommy ‘Lilac Beauty’
Paper white – 10 ‘Ziva’ and 10 ‘Wintersun’
Oh, and a few species tulips and narcissus that were marked way down at Meadows Farms. And that’s it!!
Posted in bulbs
The orders from M&Z and B&B are being delivered after Halloween, but I wanted to plant my containers now. Off to Roxbury Mills, came back and emptied out the sweet potato vines and geraniums, and on to bulbs and pansies.
Kolpakowskiana tulips, apricot passion hyacinths and crocus Snowbunting in the front door pot, plus one other standard tulip that I have already forgotten!
Pink Impression, Ivory Floradale and Queen of Night tulips in the two blue pots
Texas gold tulips in the green pot
Tulipa Texas Gold
According to Mr. Google, phenology is “the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, especially in relation to climate and plant and animal life.” This is how you know when it’s time to plant peas (when forsythia and daffodils begin to bloom), or what bulbs will bloom with what. Sometimes it works, and sometimes, given climate change, it doesn’t.
So, one success this year is planting grape hyacinths to coincide with tulip sylvestris, an elegant swan-necked yellow tulip that I read about somewhere and planted for the first time last fall. 
These grape hyacinths are bigger and bolder than my older ones, and the bees love them.
Another success, at last, is ‘Sun Disc’ daffodils with Virginia bluebells. Here they are by the oak tree trunk, finally blooming at the right time.
Other phenological observations are that the cherry trees are beginning to fade, just as the redbuds spring forth. Here’s a cherry tree in my neighborhood several days ago: 
Alison’s two gorgeous crab apples are in full bloom right now. In my garden, there are tulips (the pink ones blooming with the Judd’s viburnum, just as ordered), daffodils, squills, ipheion, snowdrops, and more. It is an exuberant time in the garden.
Trying to note the bulbs planted this fall before it all vanishes from my brain:
24 ‘Blue Giant’ chionodoxa under the maple tree and in the front garden
24 Anemone Blanda mixed under the oak tree and under the akebia vine
4 ‘Spring Song’ tulips (above) free from McClure and Zimmerman in the walkway garden
In the blue pots in the driveway garden: three each of Queen of Night, Maureen and Cape Holland. Perhaps they will even bloom in unison! Over-planted with pale yellow and white pansies
…which is a nice way of saying that I have neglected this blog in favor of the faster blip of Instagram posts. The original purpose of the blog was to document my garden so that I could learn from my mistakes and notice changes. Of course, over time I’ve included travels and quilting, but in the original spirit of things, here’s a whirlwind tour of what happened this spring.
When Your Plan Actually Works
The ‘Tête‑à‑tête’ daffodils did just what they were supposed to: add color to the early spring garden in front. As a bonus, they bloomed with the grape hyacinths, great color combo. These were perfect and I may get more to add under the maple tree next year. 
I love the English bluebells with the pale yellow daffodil ‘Sun Disc.” Every few years they actually bloom together the way they are supposed to, and this was one of the years.
When You Had No Plan and It Still Works
These pink tulips (French single late from WFF?) beautifully echoed the pale pink viburnum ‘Judd.’ I did not realize I was doing this but will take all the credit for it anyway. Will they bloom at the same time next year? We’ll see.
The yellow hostas and yellow ‘West Point’ are another striking combination for which I will also take )unwarranted) credit.
Old Favorites Do Well
These are Tommy crocuses caught in just the right amount of sunshine.
And these are my favorite lily-flowered tulips, ‘West Point,’ that go on year after year. I hope these do the same even though they’re in a pot.
Echoing Ruth Krauss, daffodils are to give everybody enough.
Sometimes There’s a Mystery
The ipheion in the walkway bed seem to have petered out, so I ordered more. Here is one, looking a bit different from the originals, in the bed by the sidewalk. So I think it’s ipheion ‘Constellation of Blue Stars’ but maybe not?
For next year: more anemone blanda, especially under the maple tree. I also added more trout lilies and English bluebells under the oak tree, and that was a Good Thing.
Caroline's Garden and Travel Record 