I spent a good part of my Sunday just chillin out with this Allium ‘Globemaster’:
And enjoyed watching this guy come and go over and over again:
A garden tour from this Easter afternoon:
Viburnum buds continue to progress. And I realize just how many ornamental grasses I have based on their need to constantly photo bomb:
See what I mean?
What is interesting with these Mt Hood daffodils is how the trumpets start off yellow and eventually settle in pure white:
The Summer Snowflake blooms are appearing in bunches now, but I was more intrigued by the early evening sun on these bulbs:
More and more leafing out on the trees:
The lilac shrubs have shown signs of life for the first time:
The peonies continue to emerge and unfurl:
I planted two Leymus (Blue Lyme Grass) ‘Blue Dune’ in containers last summer and let them overwinter outdoors. They didn’t take long to appear again this spring:
The Dappled Willow (Salix ‘Hakuro-nishiki’) has fully leafed out and looks better than ever:
The tulips I overwintered in the garage actually bloomed (yeah buddy) so I made sure to bring them indoors where they could be gleefully ogled:
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend.
Ours was kind of awesome.
I am going to take you through my recent bulb planting in rapid fire fashion because, well, that is also how I put my plan together before I started.
Here we go:
1)Narcissus ‘Jack Snipe’:
Quick logic behind location (see photo below):
Negatives after evaluating my location decision:
2)Narcissus ‘Tahiti’:
Quick logic behind location (see photo below):
Negatives after evaluating my location decision:
3)Allium ‘Grateful’:
Quick logic behind location (see photo below):
Negatives after evaluating my location decision:
A potential positive spin after even further review:
4)Allium ‘Globemaster‘:
Quick logic behind location (see photo below, will be in the middle of the bed):
Negatives after evaluating my location decision:
And then to top it all off, since I have failed numerous times in the past to successfully grow tulips in my wet soil, I figured why not give them a shot in containers. I will just store them in my garage over the winter. I’ve done it once before with moderate success so I am optimistic that I can pull it off again. And since I used bulbs from Martha Stewart, nothing can go wrong:
Wish me luck.
John
Everyone loves the daffodil.
They are the ultimate sign of spring after a long cold winter. A promise of better things to come if you will.
But yours truly is completely indifferent to the narcissus … with one exception. I dig the white ones.
A few years ago, I did my homework and determined that the best white daffodil available was ‘Mount Hood’. I can tell you from experience, they rock:
I have always had a soft spot for white flowers (one of these days I will create a moon garden filled with only white flowers, but I digress) and Mount Hood fulfills that need.
What is interesting, is that when these daffodils first bloom (late April here in zone 6B) the trumpet is a pale yellow color:
And eventually transforms to a pure white (as seen in the two photos below):
Some other nuggets of info before I get out of here:
Have you grown this? Dig it? Would also love suggestions for other ‘whites’.
John
To actually see a bulb peaking through the soil in early spring is a thing of extreme joy for me:
Some additional photos:
The leaves are strap-like and glossy and form a vase shaped clump:
As the blooms appear, the leaves and flower scapes take on a bit of an arching shape:
As for the actual blooms, each “bell” is made up of six equal petals each marked with a green dot at the tip:
While most of my bulbs are relatively young (3 years), I expect them to multiply as the years progress so I will soon be looking at some serious drifts each April/May.
The foliage has already emerged here with the warm temps and I am pumped to see how they perform.
Now it is time to get out of here and do a Google search for some more wet tolerant bulbs …
John