We can plant bulbs all the way through December. That means that we can wait for them to go on sale. That brown paper bag, top-left, holds regular big yellow daffodil bulbs that were half price at the local Feed & Seed. Of course, there were only twenty of them remaining in the bin…but still… Top-right, ‘Salome’, was also half price at the local one-stop-shopping center. Everything else, I ordered from John Scheepers. They carry all sorts of exotics, and I had my heart set on Allium ‘Hair’, an oddball character that I spotted for the first time last spring. It looks like an alien invader, so of course it has an engraved invitation to invade my space. To round out the order, I added Brodiaea ‘Pink Diamond’, Allium sphaerocephalon, or drumstick allium, and ‘Lemon Drops’ narcissus.
Last Saturday was a rare, wonderful day to be out in the garden. I got exactly half of the above bulbs into the ground. The soil yielded to my shovel in a most accommodating fashion. The sun warmed my shoulders without overdoing it. Night fell before I could completely overtax neglected muscles. Oh, for another such day to complete the job.
Thanks for the reminder! I’m on it.
Won’t we be smug, come spring?
Surely we deserve another dry (dare I say sunny) day…soon!
I just planted a bunch of drumstick alliums as well. Can’t wait to see the alien invader allium! I love alliums. I’ve planted schubertii a few times I think but it never seems to grow. I can’t resist when I see it in a catalog though. I’ll keep planting them every fall until they grow.
This sounds like bliss, Ricki. Especially the part about the soil yielding. 🙂 I love that we PNW’ers can get bulbs on sale and still have time to plant them. You’ve got some very nice choices. I hope we’ll see photos next spring.
You’ve reminded me I still need to get some snowdrops to plant. They’re a little off the beaten track, ulb-wise so I hope I can find them. Cheap would be even better!
Loree: we can hope.
Wendy: my schubertii became less vigorous with each passing year, so i transplanted them to a berm with plenty of compost…hard to dig with fingers crossed.
Grace: if all goes well, there will indeed be photos.
Jane: I bet they have snowdrop bulbs at Portland Nursery, and even there they may be on sale by now.