Planting Springtime...It's Not Too Late To Get Bulbs Into the Ground, Thank Goodness

I've never gotten my bulbs in the ground so late...I blame it on the weather. Warm, dry weather persisted so long that  the hydrangeas, helenium and asters lingered into late October. I couldn't clean them up when I was still picking them! 

Then we fell of the cliff into November eveyrthing out there was drenched, and I retreated indoors. In an intense little garden like mine, there's so much clean up that needs to be done to make space for bulbs to go in...it's not like there's empty ground just waiting to plant. It takes a leap of faith to get out there and work in windy, wet, cold weather.

Finally, I bundled up between rainstorms and managed to cut back hostas and perennials. I recaptured soil from land grabbing strawberries. I pulled out pumpkins, and dug out Alstroemeria as I do every autumn. Is it possible to rid of a garden of these persistent, pretty Peruvian lilies?

Here's the evidence...The Allium christophii went in at the front of the raised beds, the crocus are scattered beside pathways, in pots, and along the sides of the patio. The orange and purple tulips are stuffed just inches apart into the round feed troughs...and the exotic-looking peacock fritillaria are so expensive that there are just three of them in a big orange pot.

I never get over the miracle of sticking a brown, inauspicious looking lump of vegetative matter into the dirt, and by next Easter - a garden full of flowers. It's a miracle that fills me with wonder no matter how many years I've been lucky enough to witness the garden's springtime resurrection.

The cleaned out, cleaned up feed troughs, freshly stuffed with tulips in the bottom layer, crocus above.

Comments

[Linda]

Sounds like you made great progress! My only problem is how to keep track of where I put the bulbs. Any thoughts?

[Chris]

Whew, I'm glad I'm not the only one tardy on the fall, bulb planting activites! I read somewhere as long as they're planted by Super Bowl sunday that they'll have enough time to bloom in the spring...just a little later than they normally would!! Besides...bulbs have no idea what month it is! :)
Linda...I put little stakes or twigs in the ground to mark my bulbs and sometimes rocks or small, terra cotta pots, turned upside down, with the names of the bulbs written on them! No need to buy plant markers!

[Helga]

Same here. Thought I was just being wimpy, so I did the heavy layers and put on glove liners inside rubber gloves. Don't have a good track record layering bulbs, but this time I'm experimenting with rock tulips under hyacinth in a whiskey barrel. I've had good results in a raised bed stuffed with good old yellow daffs, covered with succulents that flower yellow and pink. Thinking about topping the barrel with a trailing petunia come June.

[Helga]

My same amazement about bulbs becoming flowers. This is especially true for corn. How can a hard little seed, no larger than the end of my finger, become a five foot stalk with large cobs, filled with more kernels to eat. Also amazing, the cobs and stalks are so sturdy and tough, they don't compost in a home bin.

[Charlie]

I love the photos, it is very inspiring. I hate to work in the cold weather, but the cleanup now needs to be done since the birds have stopped eating the seeds. Since you did it I realize it is now my turn.

[Stephen Szabanowski]

I live 26 miles SE of Denver. I am interested in how you over winter your alstroemeria.