20 October 2007

Further bulbacious beauts



Do you suffer from acute bulbitis? It strikes without warning. You go into a nursery, ostensibly to pick up a dozen more snowdrops or crocus or tulips of a specific colour...and suddenly you find yourself with another couple of hundred bulbs of various species, colours and sizes. That's my story and I'm sticking to it...even if it took me going to two garden centres to relieve the symptoms of bulbitis yesterday.


What followed me home this time?
Tulips, of course: Apeldoorn Elite; (bicolour Darwin, red-orange flushed with gold, sometimes showing hints of fuchsia)
Tulip 'Curley Sue' a deep purple fringed type
Jackpot, deep purple with white edging
Carousel (a delightful fringed beauty with rosey 'flames' on a creamy white flower)
Marilyn (lily flowered, similar white and rose colour scheme) Marilyn was my former mother-in-law's name, in whose memory I planted a butterfly garden, which unfurls with a procession of flowers and shrubs all season. It starts out with some daffs and brightly coloured tulips, (last year including Toronto, Apeldoorn Elite and a couple of others), then aprocession of perennials and flowering shrubs keep things going. It seemed like the right way to remember a very remarkable woman.

Species tulips, the small but marvelous showoffs: Tulip saxatilis a dainty beauty in soft pink
Tulip humilis violacea (don't you love its black heart?)

Other bulbs:
Crocus Advance (purple and gold)
crocus, mixed purples and whites for naturalizing)

Muscari Blue Spike: This double-flowered grape hyacinth is so cool, with almost-fringed flowers and of course that wonderful sweet scent. So I needed more of them.


Alliums:
A. ostrowski (small, deep rose, late)
A.sphaerocephalum (deep purple, medium height, late)
Al. moly luteum (small yellow fireworks, really cool)

Itis reticulata (blue)
Iris danfordiae (yellow)
The small early-flowering irises delight me; they're about the second bulb out of the gate in the spring, barely having their foliage above the ground before bursting into bloom with purple, blue or yellow flowers about three inches across. Wonderful, and they multiply gradually; but I prefer to add a few new ones every couple of years just to ensure their delightful presence.


More snowdrops, Fritillaria meleagris, and oh yes, a couple dozen Leucojums I stumbled across. What I haven't picked up any of this year is daffodils and narcissus. Not that I don't love them--we do--but we have lots, and they are all naturalizing very nicely around the yard. What I'd like to know from others, however, is what they think of the 'pink' daffs, those cultivars with pink trumpets or coronas. Are they pink for you, and are they as reliable about naturalizing? I had a few once, years ago, and they were more salmon-orange than pink. They might still be around (I can't remember!) but I'd like to try again if they really ARE showing pink. So what has your experience been with them?

17 comments:

  1. I do! I've already planted tulips, aliums, narcisses and hyacinthes. Now I feel an urge to plant some botanic tulips in containers ... I might add snowdrops as well.

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  2. Yes, it is dangerous to go to garden centers, especially now when all the bulbs are there. I've been careful so far and just have a few hundred bulbs to plant. Well maybe 500. We'll see, I haven't added them all up. I'll start planting next week. Then I can see what gaps I have and go buy more!

    Carol at May Dreams Gardens

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  3. I still need to buy bulbs!!! I planted 'Replete' several years ago and as I blogged about it on March 20th and April 27th, I don't like it. At all. It's NOT pink and it's not a nice double. It looks pretty from its backside, though. LOL.

    Maybe the color has to do with the soil content, like hydrangeas?

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  4. Guilty! Addiction is difficult to handle but in this case at least it is a positive one! LOL at all the bulbs you brought home! I will look forward to seeing them in bloom!

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  5. jodi - i'm picturing you at a BA (bulbs anonymous) meeting. "hi, my name is jodi and i'm a bulbaholic."

    i'll be watching for comments on this post since I picked up a bag of assorted pink daffodils and now I'm curious what people think of them.

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  6. Are you kidding? I'm Dutch remember so yeah I have a very bad case of bulb-o-mania. ;-)

    Great post Jodi and with lovely pics too. It made me wish it was spring already.

    How nice to have made a memory garden for your former mother in law Marilyn. She must have been one special woman!

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  7. Your garden will be bulbolicious. I have a bad case of bulbitis. I have to get to the garden center and purchase some bulbs after looking at all your lovely bulb choices.

    Your MIL must have been a special lady and was lucky to have such special people that loved her as well as she loved them.

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  8. What fun to read about your addiction to bulbs, Jodi - 'Marilyn' used to be a favorite, with 'Apricot Dream'[?] and 'Queen of the Night'. I don't know if the pink daffodils were really pink, but some displayed lovely peachy shades in Illinois... I guess 'Passionale', 'Salome' and 'Filly' were my faves back then.

    I can't grow tulips, iris reticulata, snowdrops or large-cup daffodils here, but the Hippeastrum and paperwhites grow outside and we have oxblood lilies. That is not always a consolation once the tulip photos roll in on Northern garden blogs!

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

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  9. I have Narcissus 'La Vie En Rose' planted under 'Prairie Fire' crabapple. When they bloom at the same time it is truly stomach churning. 'La Vie En Rose' is pink, but a yellow pink, & the crabapple is definitely a blue pink. Last Spring they did not bloom at the same time, but I think I ought to find a new home for the daffodils anyway (I can see this scene from the dinner table). I have yet to see a "pink" daffodil that is a true pink or a blue pink, as opposed to a yellow-pink, bordering on apricot.

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  10. Nice to see someone else looking forward to spring!

    I have some "pink daffodils" too. Plant breeders definitely stretch the truth when they describe new varieties. ;-)

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  11. You bought more? I love it! Can't wait to visit your blog next spring when you're reaping the benefits of all that planting!

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  12. I'm crazy about bulbs too-my local supermarket sells them, so I tend to bring them home with the groceries!

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  13. Hi Jodi,

    I think it will be a treat visiting your garden next spring. You certainly will have a wonderful variety of bulbs plants. I think I planted 10 bulbs this fall - some tall tulips and some botanicals. That's it.

    Oh, and I wanted to say that the black and blue salvia is still blooming in my garden ... the frosts have only tinged some of the leaf tips black. I am quite amazed.

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  14. Hi everyone, welcome to bulbowriter, whoops, that's supposed to be bloomingwriter....

    Verobirdie, a few more bulbs are always a good idea, aren't they?
    Carol, you're ahead of me...I did go out today looking for Fritillaria imperialis, because I was told a way to get them through the winter in our soil is to dig the hole deeper, add about six inches of sand, and plant the bulb on top--they hate wet feet. But I didn't buy any more...yet.

    Kylee, hope you got some bulbs by now...I think from talking to others that the pink daffs are not so much pink as orange.

    Layanee, welcome to the bulbaddicts club...

    Gina, yup, that's us, bulbaholics...but hey, other than that, I'm perfect, right?

    Yolanda Elizabet, Marilyn was one of those people who was just so good and kind--she was better than the best of us, and a wonderful mother, wife, mother in law and grammy.

    Nancy you're always welcome to visit. Bulbs will work in a large container, but I'll have to do a proper posting to explain it out, I think.

    Lisa, welcome, and I had a quick chance to visit your blog--I'll be returning, and will add you to my blog listings.

    Annie, there's that climate tradeoff thing again, right? You have things we can't grow, and vice versa...but lucky for all of us we have the pleasures of blogs to catch up with what others can do.

    MMDaughter, thanks for the info on the pink daffs; I can see how they would clash in such a combination, but be great elsewhere.

    Dirty Knees, good description of the breeders and their descriptions!
    Lost Roses, yup...couldn't help myself. Haven't gotten any of them planted this week, but working on it. Maybe tomorrow.
    threadspider, welcome, sometimes I bring bulbs home INSTEAD of the groceries...
    Kate, that's great that the salvia is still blooming. Ours took a real beating with the wind this week, and then a bit of frost last night; probably again tonight, and that will likely discourage it.

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  15. Such beautiful photographs of tulips! They are one of my favorite flowers!

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  16. BEAUTIFUL; I WISH I HAD A GREEN THUMB. I LIVE ON 5 ACHRES AND DON'T HAVE ANY FLOWERS. I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR GARDENS. WHAT A LIFE UPLIFTER!

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  17. I really like your blog. It's very unique, writing & gardening.

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