What new bulbs are you planting and where did you get them?

Spring bulbs were my first experience with gardening as a middle schooler, and are still special to me. Especially being the first showy flowers of spring, they're the stars of the show till the late spring perennials start blooming.

My favorite sources are Brent and Becky's and John Scheeper's/Van Engelen. In 2013 and 2014 I went hog wild and planted over 2000 new bulbs both years, but was more restrained this year.

I rely on Brent and Becky's for their awesome selection of daffodils- yes, I'm daffy for daffs! On Friday my order arrived, consisting of:
5 Corydalis - solida 'George P. Baker'
10 Corydalis - solida 'Beth Evans'
50 Chionodoxa - sardensis
10 Narcissus - W. P. Milner
5 bulbs each of the rest:
Narcissus 'Snow Baby'
Narcissus - Elka
Narcissus - Bahama Beach
Narcissus - 'Winter Waltz'
Narcissus - Prototype
Narcissus - 'Sunlight Sensation'
Narcissus - Stint
Narcissus - Puppet
Narcissus - Sherborne
Narcissus - Obdam
Narcissus - Manly
Narcissus Hardy Lee
Narcissus Art Design
Narcissus - Saint Keverne
Narcissus - Red Aria
Narcissus - Princess Alexia
Narcissus - Gigantic Star
Narcissus Capree Elizabeth
Narcissus Altun Ha
Narcissus - Marieke
Narcissus - Kiss Me
Narcissus Grower's Pride
Narcissus Kingham
Narcissus - Primeur
Narcissus - Pistachio
Narcissus - Classic Garden
Narcissus - British Gamble
Narcissus - Bravoure

The John Scheeper's order that arrived last week:
10 Narcissus Spellbinder
10 Narcissus Classic Garden
10 Narcissus Sentinel
10 Narcissus Jamestown
20 Tulip White Emperor
10 Tulip Big Chief 5087
20 Tulip Cream Jewel

And the order I'm expecting to arrive today from Van Engelen:
50 Scilla mischtschenkoana
100 Anemone blanda Blue Shades
100 Scilla siberica Spring Beauty
100 Crocus chrysanthus Cream Beauty
100 Crocus tommasinianus Roseus

I'd love to hear how you're using your bulbs in your garden design and combos you're planning.

I'm determined not to add any new beds, so here are some pics from this spring of areas that these bulbs are being added to. Some beds will be expanded a bit, but the great thing about bulbs is they're easy to tuck more in here and there :-)

WOW! Absolutely beautiful!

I went nuts with allium last year - 20 karataviense, for example, lots of chionodoxa, camassia semiplena under a paperbark maple, lots and lots of lilies, including some I had always wanted to try, like speciosum Uchida and platyphyllum. The trick was acidifying the soil. I grew Uchida before but this time it was four times as tall! I am being relatively retrained this year:

20 anemone blanda in white, a Griesbach Tetra Pink and a small, for me order from Brent and Becky: 10 allium Purple Sensation (I was given three and they are wonderful!), Tulips White Trumphinator, Angelique, Perestroyka and WP Milner, allium oreophyllum, and leucojum Gravetye Giant. I dig up my tulips so I have lots from last year.

And I was incredibly "gifted". I received wonderful calla bulbs and, most astounding, abyssinian glads from a friend for whom the season was too short. Enough for three clumps! Yes, I had to dig them up but wow! They started blooming in August and were still blooming (lots of secondary buds) when I dug them up today.

I put the camassia semiplena under my acer griseum. The rose in this picture is Stanwell Perpetual. What a honey! I just love it. No care! Beautiful and scented and still blooming!

As as part of my philosophy of who needs grass, on the parkway is Salvia Mainacht (grew it for master gardeners and they actually made me remove it), Salvia Rose Sensation, an improved salvia Rose Queen I got for 3 bucks at the end of last season, and the rose on the right is Morden Blush. To the left is Kathleen Harrop, and you can see the stuff from the previous picture in my yard. On the other side is also peony Cornelia Shaylor in it's first year of bloom!

You know, it broke my heart when I had to leave my garden behind. But I only moved in three years ago, and I am able to recreate lot of what I couldn't take. I guess I know more - things are really taking beautifully. And it is really clear to me when I take pictures that I am a cool color gal - all that pink and purple and blue.

The last picture is orienpet 'Blueberry Crush". I have to take care of it because I only got one and I got it from Faraway Flowers, and she sadly is no more. I had it in a really bad place year one, moved it, and it rewarded me with a display that took my breath away!

Forgive me for going on and on! I LOVE this stuff (bet you can't tell)!

I can't wait to see your bloom next year. What you have from last year is truly spectacular.

Always good to hear from you, Neal.

Thanks, hostages!

Donna, no need to apologize, please do go on and on- always happy to hear about your garden projects :-). I love those camassia, I've had my eye on those for years and need to break down and get some. I picked up one of those Rose Sensation salvias on sale last year too- and what a great performer it has been! Love it!

I've started a rotation of digging my tulips too. Some will be dug every year and others I'll dig every 2 or 3 years. Many see this as too much work, but it doesn't seem to be much more trouble than the weeding and clipping back the dead foliage to me.

I've been working on an area I call my "sky garden" where I use blues, yellows, and white. A big chunk of it had become infested with bind weed and I put black tarp over it for a year to solarize and help deal with the invasive vines. This spring I started planting and added roses, a bunch of irises, and a handful of other perennials. A lot of this years bulbs are for that area and how nice it has been planting in a bulb free area where there are no worries of getting too close to already present bulbs- oh how that sound of biting into an apple while sinking the trowel into the earth makes me cringe! LOL

The sky garden consists of 3 beds, and all 3 have been expanded. Besides the one above, another has a blue spruce that had browning bottom branches and those limbs were removed. That added a big area to that bed, as well as the recent removal of a big patch of ribbon grass. The 3rd bed also had a big patch of ribbon grass that I dug out a few days ago. This left all 3 beds with big, bulbless patches...which I simply cannot have, LOL.

In youth the only daffodils I typically saw were various yellow trumpets. When I started buying bulbs as a teen I wanted different- not what I saw everywhere else. Well into adulthood I saw yellow daffs as common and steered away from them. Now that I'm well into middle age I'm rediscovering the good old yellow daffodil. So that's why my Brent and Becky's order is so heavy on various yellow trumpets and large cups. Its funny how our tastes and perceptions change and evolve as we get older.

The first photo is where the spruce was limbed up. 2nd is a combo I was really happy with, Anemone blanda "blue shades" and Tulipa sylvestris. 3rd is another combo that made me happy, of daffodil 'Wave' and hyacinth that was supposed to be Delft Blue, but looks more like Blue Jacket. The last 2 are the bed where the tarp was, but that part is blocked out of the photos.

Oh, Neal, How gorgeous. I was particularly blown away by the blue hyacinth yellow daffodil combination. How wonderful that you have such gorgeous open spaces to play with!

I too was considering a combo of Anemone blanda in blue with the red species tulip linifolia. I just got involved in so many garden projects that it will have to be next year.

I did a version of your tarp by using cardboard boxes over the winter a couple of years ago. I was impressed - it worked like a charm. The previous owner was far more involved in fruit and vegetable gardening, which has its rewards. I have a peach tree, a sour cherry tree, a lot of installed raspberries, loganberries, red currents, raised beds and a compost tumbler. Which is great. I also have tons of violets, creeping charlie, and he had accepted ditch lilies from the neighbors. With some elbow grease, I eliminated the latter, but violets are particularly pernicious. So I decided to grow plants that outcompete them.

Campanula takesimana 'Bellringers" works great, but for heaven's sake don't buy it. Thinking it was very pretty, I bought three from Bluestone. It did wonderfully, so the next year I bought three more. Oh, oh! Talk about vigorous. I divided one plant into three, and then a second plant into three, and was wondering what to do with them.

Ah, ha! I put them in the back yard amongst the violets and creeping charlie. I also put peonies that are not true to name back there. Amazingly, the campanula is outcompeting the weeds and slowing them way down. I'm going to transplant more of the campanulas to ares I want to fill. There is nothing quite like a pretty no maintenance plant that eliminates the bad guys.

I laughed when I read about your cringing at the "crunch". I was afraid to transplant lilies for years until I realized that the use of a garden fork would eliminate the problem. I now routinely move them around. I am in the provess of digging up the gorgeous abyssinian glads I was gifted with, as well as the callas. In their place are going a combo of the tulips I dug up last year along with the new ones I bought.

I am mostly a pink and white lily gal (Mrs. Backhouse, Mount Hood) and though I disliked yellow daffs, but the previous owner had them and, unlike my earlier reaction, I find them charming. Much to my surprise.

This is fun, Neal. Please keep us posted.

Oh I feel your pain about the violets- I'm in constant battle with them. I made the mistake the first couple of years here of thinking "violets are pretty, I'll leave them"....was that ever a huge mistake!

I hadn't realized the proper name of it, but just looked it up and I too purchased Campanula takesimana Bellringers last year. Didn't realize how aggressively it spreads till this year, but it is in a dry semi shady area where I'm mostly glad to see it. Of course this is only year 2, so I may regret it yet, but they sure are lovely. I planted it near 5 tubers of Cyclamen persicum and it is invading the Cyclamen spot, but I'm thinking those Cyclamen aren't going to establish well in this climate- only one leaf has emerged so far. My Campanula is rosy pink, but I saw violet colored ones this spring and wish I had gotten one.

After several days of rain the sun is shining and it is nearly 60F, so I'm back into bulb planting. Just finished planting the pink bed with some tulips and hyacinths I had dug in late spring and a few white daffodils and corydalis that are new this year. Below are some pics of the pink bed this past spring. The tulips are a 3 variety blend of pink late singles from Colorblends. Last year I planted them all together, but masses that size look out of place in my garden of little patches of this and that here and there. This time I separated them into 5 smaller clumps throughout the bed. The only thing left to plant in that bed are 100 Crocus tommasinianus 'Roseus' that haven't arrived yet from Van Engelen.

In the 4th photo above those are Pink Charm daffs, which I love, and they do match the warm pink of the Mystic van Eijk tulips nicely, but I have removed them from that bed. I love "pink" daffodils, but in this bed I'm going for more cool pinks or blue pinks, so the peachy pink was really bugging me. Which is rather silly since there was nothing else pink bloom at that time for it to clash with, but hey, I'm an OCD floral designer- I can't help it! LOL

Ah, I see in this first pic that Pink Charm did indeed clash with the hyacinths!

Gorgeous, Neal. The Pink Charm with the daffodils is particularly lovely. I had always wondered how pink it really was. A lot of pink daffs are orange, which I knew I didn't want. I have Mrs. Backhouse "the first pink", but it is really more apricot. I do love it.

And I adore Mount Hood, but the cups are definitely yellow before they turn snow white.

It's gotten quite chilly here at night, and during the day it is only in the 50's. I have managed to pull out and protect all of my glads and have gotten my leucojum Gravetye Giants in, but it's time to get the tulips and alliums in between shivers. And I have a tender abelia that I dig up and bring in every year. Raulston Arboretum gave it to me, and I find that it's worth preserving. I have a client who put two quite large tropical hibiscus in pots and were going to let them die. I took them to my home, promising to protect them over the winter on a big table in my southfacing living room, and will return them in spring.

LOL, if you're going to overwinter two large hibiscus, I think you should keep one for yourself come spring!

The closest to true pink that I've seen on a "pink" daff to date is 'Pink Beauty'. It's a little peachy but getting towards baby-girl pink.

A unique "pink" daff is 'Caparee Elizabeth', yellow petals around a long trumpet that starts out apricot and matures to salmon-pink. Not one I'd order more of, I think I like white & pink better, but it's a fun novelty.

'Precocious' is a strong coral-pink, very striking with big blooms and a ruffled, flat cup.

'Delnashauge' is a sweet scented double, white with peach-pink petaloids. It's a favorite with the neighborhood girls when the kids pick bouquets out back.

Thanks Donna! Pink Charm is a prolific grower and one of my favorite pinks, and it opens pinkish and not yellowish in the cup. I have clumps that need dividing, I'll be sure to let you know and am happy to share bulbs with you. I love your clump of Mrs. Backhouse, just added that one last year from OHG. Another I added last year from them was Beersheba, an elegant white trumpet that opens white. I hope it increases well- if it does it will be my very favorite white daff. Louis de Coligney is another pink I got from OGH last year, lovely and fragrant.

Hi Jill, good to hear from you! Pink Beauty is lovely- one I need to add! I just planted Capree Elizabeth yesterday along with a couple of other yellow/pink bicolors, Prototype and Art Design. I'm drawn to the pink/yellow bicolors because they're so novel, but have found I do like the soft, quiet yellow of the petals with the pink.They look really pretty with Gypsy Queen and City of Haarlem hyacinths. I use those in my west facing "sunset beds" where the color scheme is indeed inspired by the colors in the sunset. I've had yellow/pink Billy Graham for several years, but it seems to be dwindling. Also have grown Lorikeet, which also dwindled and finally disappeared altogether. A couple of pink/yellow ones I added last year were Blushing Lady and Tickled Pinkeen- LOVED them both, lots of blooms, and they looked gorgeous with Darwin hybrid tulip 'Marit'.

Precocious is a gorgeous showy thing isn't it! I divided them a couple of years ago and spread them around- love them!

Below are some photos of the sunset bed this past spring. First is the combo that made me so happy of Marit tulip and Blushing Lady daff. 3rd pic is Tickled Pinkeen. 4th phot shows Marit with Fragrant Rose daffs. 5th is Orange Emperor tulips with Flower Record daffs.

Here's a few more shots of the sunset bed. The daff in the 3rd photo is Accent, which opens with a touch yellow at the base of the cup and then matures to a solid soft coral. I liked the City of Harlem and Gypsy Queen hyacinths with them echoing both colors, which you can just see a glimpse of in the background.

I've been mostly putting "pink" daffs in a front foundation bed, because that coral/apricot tone doesn't "play well" with a lot of the yellow daffs, IMO.

I'd been wondering where to put 'Gypsy Queen' some year, and now I know! the pink hyacinths aren't right in that bed. I'll have to get some 'Marit' tulips, too -- they are gorgeous!

I'm trying 'Gypsy Princess' (I think -- yellow hyacinth) and a pink hyacinth under the little dogwoods in front, a sweet display of Easter Colors, I think! I might pick up a few blue ones to go with that... we didn't make numbers on a sky blue variety in our recent group buy.

I wonder if anyone else had the problems with triandrus daffodil that I had. I started with old House Gardens and ordered the ones I have already mentioned - Mt. Hood and Mrs. Backhouse. (I never had to order any more Mt. Hood, because they increased in a way such that I feared they would come knocking on the front door and tell me to get out. At former house 5 turned into about 50. I also wanted triandrus daffodils, so I ordered Thalia, and later Tresamble, and finally Silk Shot - all from the best - Old House Gardens, but Thalia melted out after the first year and the others never appeared. I think there was something weird in my soil.

I also got, well let's just say fooled. White Flower Farm trumpeted (pun intended) that they had Vie en Rose, which they said was a Division 1 trumpet. I paid $19 for 1- TWICE! Not only did not return, but Brent and Becky put them in their catalog for far less money because Vie en Rose is a Division 2 long cup. That made me very wary of buying anything "new" in its's first season.

One old combo I did at home was that of the multiflowering Trumphs Happy Family and Weisse Berliner. The second is possibly White Upstar (a substitution) with White Trumphinator. Once I realized that lily flowering and double late tulips bloomed simultaneously, I was all about iT.

Then I would take my bulbs from that season and mix them all together in other beds. One of my favorites was White Trumphinaor, Mount Tacoma, Angelique and Maywonder, the latter of which has disappeared from commerce (the dark rose one in the third picture).

Then I would pull out Happy Family and Weisse Berliner and put in gladiolus Matchpoint, and let nicotiana alata, verbena bonariensis and mirabilis jalapa seed. Then in the fall, the tulips went back.

And Critterologist, I agree with you about the hibiscuses! It was tough dragging them into the house!

Jill, I agree about that pink-apricot not playing well with most yellows. I noticed light blue hyacinths aren't available like they used to be, and that's been bugging me. Sky Jacket was the one often offered, but nobody has it this year. That's why I don't use strong yellows in 60-70% of the garden. Since I do love lots of colors, but have to make it look right to my eye, I've striven to create a gradual transition of changing color pallets as you move through the garden.

I recall reading that Gertrude Jekyll designed her gardens with primarily cool colors through the middle of the garden, and introduced warm tones toward the ends. I'm not exactly doing that, but the garden at the entrance of the house is all cool colors, primarily purples, lavender, mauve, blues, and pinks. I call that part "Jan's Garden" because it is inspired by and a memorial to a dear friend who lived in this house before I did (and died here). Those were her "signature colors", and I loved the garden so much it inspired me to paint the house lavender with purple trim!

From there the path moves toward the garden facing west I call the "sunset garden", where I bring in other pastels first, incorporating peach and apricot with the cool colors, and then brighter tones of coral and salmon. That's where I use some soft yellow in the mix, but no strong gold.

Next is the pink bed, and from there the "sky garden" of blue, yellow, and white where I start bringing in brighter yellows. I love seeing from various angles the sky garden and pink bed together- pink, blue, and yellow are so happy and springy!

That leads to the garden of fire colors, the only place I use strong gold, along with orange and signal red. The obsessive collector in me collides with the floral designer and sometimes I drive myself nuts, LOL.

Donna, that is so surprising to me that those triandus daffs didn't perform for you. Next summer I'll be dividing some Thalia and Petrel, both wonderful performers for me. I'll send you some bulbs and let's see how those do! I had a similar experience with 'Weena', a white large cup from Brent and Becky's that they listed under trumpets with the explanation that they believed it belonged in the trumpet class but the powers that be reclassified it as large cup division. It was okay year 1, and didn't return after that. I rarely have that happen with a daffodil- I think that was a first.

My Petrel clump has done something interesting- a sport has formed! The sport has a doubled cup, and now is more plentiful than the original- it seems to be more vigorous. For a while I couldn't figure out what was going on, and thought I must have forgotten what I had. Kept searching for double cupped triandus daffs as old as mine have to be, but came up blank. Last spring I saw the single, original blooms in the mix and realized what had happened.

I've seen where various trumpets have been moved to the large cup division, I wonder if that happened with Vie en Rose?

And Donna, I love your combos! How long have you perpetuated your tulips? I just finished planting a blend of Darwin hybrids from Colorblends called "Gentle Giants", a mix of pink, peach, and salmon, and a blend of rose shades of late singles they called "French blend- rose". They had indeed increased, because I planted 100 Gentle Giants and bagged 30 for for some friends and had started out with 100 last year.

Here's the Gentle Giants blend and the French blend- rose

Hey Neal. I was looking on Colorblends. I was tempted, but I have always blended my own, and as I learned more about bloom times, I would mix and match. I love the way White Trumphinator, with it's strong stems, towers over almost everything else without dominating.

I find that tulips can last many, many years if you dig them up, throw them in the back of your garage and replant them. The species and near species work the best, but doubles and lilyflowering work well too. So do single lates. The multiflowering tulips tend to start breaking into single bulbs, but I would then put them in my peony beds or around my roses. The species turkestanica, which I was originally given six of as a gift with a McClure and Zimmerman order, morphed into 25 tulips. I can actually leave it in the ground and get that effect. If you dig around you find that it forms little strands which are connected to new bulbs.

By digging and storing (so easy) you multiply your effects in the garden. I ended up with hundreds upon hundreds of tulips, while only buying perhaps a dozen a year.

Oh, found pictures. Those multiflowering tulips I showed you? Here they are several years later, often as singles, in the peony beds at my former home. While you are waiting for the tulips, you get a free treat! These are the bulbs I showed you before - but this is the batch from two or three years ago.

Some people have told me that it's too much work to dog and store. But heck, they dig and toss. Since they are going to dig them any way, it is pretty easy to put them on any flat surface and let them dry out, and create another kind of display with them. I have these two bulbs from last year's planting at my new home. They are dried out in the garage. I am about to plant and enjoy them again. Like old friends.

It was such a lovely fall day today and I planted 22 bulbs . I bought them from one of my nurseries on the island. This nursery have bins of bulbs and you can pick the ones you need and the info about planting them and put them in separate bags so you kept track of the color and type you bought.

Nice choices, cytf! I love choosing my own bulbs and bagging them myself when they're sold that way! Not many local garden centers are doing that any more, they often say they don't sell many bulbs these days, which I think is so sad.

Donna, when you're saving tulip bulbs, what size bulb is too small for you to concern yourself with saving? I noticed some varieties were smaller than others. Queen of the Night for example, seemed all the bulbs were smaller than others I dug, the largest were about the size of a nickle, not quite as big as a quarter.

I reinstalled my Angeliques and White Trumphiators along with some fresh bulbs of those types. Those second year bulbs are always good sized. And when I dug up my abyssinian glads. Some of the bulbs were very small.

I figure, what the heck. Some of last year's bulbs, especially the multiflowering bulbs, had split into smaller bulbs. I toss them all in the hole, and I do it when they are even smaller than yours. Being back in the ground, they will continue to develop.

Now, of course, if you are dealing with a formal display, it's different. Sometimes I take my second year bulbs and put them in a less formal space. Once my bulbs go past the second year they are usually planted separately. But I have noticed over the years that they start bulking up, if fed, and some actually approach the size of first year bulbs. This year I put in Angelique and White Trumphinator together. Had to do it. My neighbor across the street (the very studly battalion chief fireman - who looks pretty darned good in that battalion chief uniform) was blown away by Angelique last year. He came across the street to ask what it was, and said it was gorgeous. People around here tend to gravitate toward strong colors - almost all of the peonies and roses here are red - so I was surprised. Heaven forbid I should disappoint such a gorgeous man, so I planted it again in the same spot.

I used to order a dozen Angelique, a dozen Mt. Tacoma, a dozen Maywonder (a glorious deep rose double that has disappeared, along with Holland Chic, which was fabulous) together with a dozen White Trumphinator. And then I let allium christophii naturalize in the bed, so I had a white, pink, rose amethyst party going on, with White Trumphinator, with it's terrifically strong stem, lending a striking accent. I did notice that Mt. Tacoma was never as strong as the others, and was contemplating trying double Maureen, which is new. I ended up ordering Perestroka, and then discovered that it has an orangy cast which then turns pink. Didn't want to deal with even a temporary clash, so I moved it away.

There is one Big cultivated bulb that does not decline. Single late Maureen. I was unable to get it out of the ground for three years, because I put it in rather deeply. It came back looking like a first year bulb - but then single lates have that reputation.

I usually don't buy bulbs in stores because they look so unhappy in their packages, but I went into Platt Hill Nursery here and was VERY surprised to find leucojum Gravetye Giant for sale. I put in a few, perhaps 5, from Old House Gardens a few years back and they exploded. So I thought that they would be easy to establish here and only dug up a few. I put them in semishade, and they have turned up their noses at me ever since. So the opportunity to put some back in full sun was more than I could resist. And the bulbs looked great.

Here is how they looked at my former house. Posing proudly in front of a crabapple, knowing they are LOOKING GOOD!

And here I'd been resigning myself to just replacing tulips every few years as they split & declined... I did not know digging them could make such a difference! I guess if they are fed and given room, they can bulk up enough to keep going.

I love double tulips! I'm putting in 'Foxtrot' and 'Mascotte' this year, just 15 of each. I also got some veridiflora tulips, 'China Town' and 'Esperanto'. I like their cream-edged leaves.

I didn't get a lot of bulbs this year, especially not by previous years' standards. I got little alliums and muscari and miniature daffs to use as "markers," planting them with late-emerging perennials. I planted some little pink Allium ostrawkianum around some new plants last year, and their foliage did a great job of marking where delicate shoots would emerge.

We were talking about pink daffs above... I'm trying 'Blushing Lady' this year, and I also picked up a handful of additional 'Cum Laude' to finish off a bag from our group buy.

Oh Donna, I got such a chuckle about the studly fireman across the street! LOL

I have read that Maureen is good for returning, and that her double sport is likely to do the same. I need to pick up a few and try them- I do love those tall elegant stems.

All of the tulips I'm replanting are getting some fertilizer. I've seen several sources recommend giving them that extra boost for increasing bulb size for digging and saving. It will be interesting to see the bulb size upon digging next year. None of my beds are formal, so varying sizes of blooms looks graceful and perfect here. I actually prefer that look to first year uniformity. A lot of single late varieties produce smaller, secondary blooms the first year- I love that!

Jill, I think you'll love Blushing Lady! Such an Easter-y looking flower, and very floriferous! That's a good idea using various little bulbs as markers for late emerging perennials. I need something as a marker to be visually present in fall during bulb planting time to let me know there are dormant bulbs below. I've actually been planting some autumn crocus the last couple of years and am finding them so delightful and charming! The autumn foliage of Muscari kinda works for that, but gets kinda messy looking by spring. Ipheion also produces fall foliage, but it is less obtrusive- I should start using those as little markers.

I have a couple of pink daffs that will need dividing next spring, Mary Gay Lirette, a split cup, and a large cup called Jubilee that I haven't seen offered in commerce for several years. I believe Jubilee may not have been popular because the blooms are too down facing for most garden situations, but the quality I like about it is the shade of pink in the cup. It is a rich, saturated color that is closer to true pink than others. If planted in a raised bed or on an embankment where you can look up at them, they're really lovely. This house sets on a hill, and all the yard has gentle slopes, so there are angles to view plants like that where they show off. I'm sure I'll have extra bulbs and will offer them up :-)

Found a couple of images of Jubilee from this past spring.

Also a pic of autumn crocus, C. speciosus from last year- just a few weeks after they were planted. Each corm produces several blooms in succession, so they were showy for weeks. They have returned well and are blooming beautifully now (and have been for 2 or 3 weeks). I planted 50 of them last year and loved them so much I added 100 more this fall. The new ones have just come into full bloom.

Wonderful color on Jubilee!

I tried some autumn crocus and got only foliage from them, never the fall flowers! that was years ago... maybe I need to try again in a different spot... :-)

I was just about to ask if anyone from my area had any luck with fall crocuses. I've never seen them naturalize here.

I tried a couple of other varieties last year that haven't been successful, Crocus medius and C. sativus (saffron crocus). C. medius produced blooms last year, but I only saw one this fall. C.sativus all bloomed last year, but rabbits mowed the foliage that followed bloom down. This year they all had leaves, but only 3 bloomed.

The Brent and Becky's catalog described C. speciosus as a vigorous naturalizer, so that's why I took a chance on more bulbs of those than the others. Turns out that was a good call.

Jubilee is stunning. Such a beautiful saturated color.

I used to grow crocus speciosus cassiope. It was my absolute favorite - so lovely. My problem was that I didn't understand how to deter squirrels then, and they would dig up the crocuses and move them under shrubs and bury them so deeply I could not get them out. They were very fond of putting them under my bayberries.

I should try again. Yours are GORGEOUS!

Ssgardener, I'd never seen autumn crocus growing here either (newly planted or naturalized). I suspect they could be found at historic homes- seems they were once more popular than they are nowadays. Brent and Becky's is the only vendor I've ever seen selling them.

Donna, C.speciosus would make a good marker plant- it just occurred to me they have spring foliage and then the autumn blooms, so they mark a spot at both of the most vulnerable times when I'm most trowel happy, LOL. I tried another variety this fall called C.speciosus 'Conqueror' with larger, deeper violet colored blooms. They're positioned where they don't get morning sun and have been slower to come into bloom, but they're starting. Not sure what I think about them yet; they are taller, which is kind of awkward looking. Maybe when more blooms are open it will look better. I got some more photos yesterday while the sun was shining, I'll post a few once I've retrieved them.

Monday afternoon I expanded the bed of fire colors a bit to accommodate the new daffodils. That bed is pretty full of bulbs, and although I thought I had the blank spots well mapped, I still ran into some bulbs when I tried to dig, so I went the safe rout and took more useless lawn.

I planted 5 each of the following daffodils: gold trumpets, Primeur, Kingham, Grower's Pride, Marieke, and gold/red-orange large cups Red Aria and Princess Alexia and yellow/orange jonquilla Puppet. Below are some images of the fire bed from this spring.

Wow, gemini, GORGEOUS colors!

You have a good point there, Neal. Another reason to grow speciosis would indeed be as marker plants. The former owner planted muscari under a Bradford pear I had removed, and amazingly the muscari survived. It then went from a plant I had no interest in to an applauded survivor. It even looked better to my previously jaundiced eye.

Right now my other markers are chopsticks. I use them to mark the locations of my lilies. I got some quite gorgeous ones from World Market. 20 for about $5.00. No more digging into lilies. I used to think that the remains of the stems would indicate their location, but that trick doesn't work a lot of the time. This way I know exactly where they are, and what is more interesting, I know what's missing. The squirrels took my Price Promise bulbs on a field trip. I had three - two haven't turned up yet and the third was moved about five feet away. In a way it was OK because I had them next to the Oriental Sorbonne and PP faded much faster, which you really noticed because they were next to each other. I now think that when a provider states that a lily has strong substance. Longiflorum asiatics, like Red Alert are really thick, and now I wonder if Longiflorum Orientals, like Prince Promise, don't. I still love it, but I will no longer put it in a position to be visibly outcompeted.

Did any of you get in on the 50% off bulbs from Brent and Becky's? I wasn't planning on it, but ended up ordering about 500 more bulbs- I find clearance sales hard to resist, LOL! A few more daffodil varieties were added to the mix, Lorikeet, Bella Vista, Joyce Spirit, Merel's Favorite, and Merlin. Also picked up several tulips, 25 Purple Prince, 10 Flaming Purissima, and 5 each of World's Favorite, Candy Apple Delight, Apricot Emperor, Albert Hein, Sweetheart, Juan, T.humilis Coerulea Oculata, Miranda, Pink Star, Uncle Tom, Victoria's Secret, Flaming Spring Green, Virichic, Night Rider, Sensual Touch, Queensland, Marilyn, Purple Dream, Fire Wings, Renown, Paul Scherer, Sky High Scarlet, Kingsblood, and World Expression.

Also picked up 50 each of allium moly 'Jeannine', A. oreophilum, A. caeruleum, 25 A. aflatunense 'Purple Sensation', 5 Allium 'Mars', 5 Camassia cusickii, 5 Camassia leichtlinii 'Semiplena', 20 Ornithogalum nutans, 5 Ornithogalum magnum, 10 Bulbocodium vernus, 10 Iris bucharica, 10 each of hyacinths Top Hit and Woodstock, 50 Muscari 'Valerie Finnis' and 10 Eremurus 'Spring Valley hybrids'.

I'm stiff and sore, but hustled and got 'em all planted :-)

Hi Neal. My local Lowes had pkgs of 10 paperwhites at 75% (2.50/pk) and I couldn't resist. Also took advantage of B&B blue and white ipheons. I, too, am sore but its done! Not many amaryllis on sale. Either stores didn't know what to do with the unsold which start peeking out of boxes, so they simply didn't order as many for 2015, or people bought them early. I got only 1 hippie for indoor forcing.

The nurseries know to take unsold hippies, pot them up and sell at a premium next spring. But stores like TSC, Office Depot, Marshalls, etc. I guess they throw them away, dunno what they do w/ unsold.

Oh Neal, how funny!

I must say that I was tempted by B&B. But I noticed that a few of my tulips had lodged and when I went over to put them back in I realized that the ground was frozen, and I had to put soil on top. It's ironic, because for the next few days we are having temps in the 50's.

But it's wonderful looking at your selections, since in the fall and the previous one I also got, A. oreophilum (one of my absolute favorites), A. caeruleum (I installed them in clumps for a nice show), A. aflatunense 'Purple Sensation' (I was given three two years ago, fell in love and installed more), Camassia leichtlinii 'Semiplena', and Ornithogalum nutans. What fun! I could cut and paste your choices!

I have to be careful, since I have a billion lilies. My trick of putting chopsticks where the lilies are (since they completely disappear) makes it clear to me where I can plant. My callas and Abyssinian glads were dried out in the garage and are now tucked into the basement. Lots of tulips went into their spots.

What I find hilarious is that a lot of my tender perennials are seeding. White borage, blue salvia viridis! Overachievers. Of course, weeds are germinating too, but this is a great opportunity, with temperatures in the 50's, to take my dandelion digger and execute them!

Thank you for your wonderful list!

Woohoo, I went to another Lowes and found some more Ice Follies and Ziva paper whites at 75% off. Also got a bag of Dutch irises to see what they do. All planted now.

Party down!

I've still got bulbs to plant, and I didn't order many this year (really I didn't). I've been planting other perennials and getting a lot of maintenance work done on the house (hooray for excellent new handyman, but it's amazing how much of my time it takes up even when I'm not doing the bulk of the work). Anyway, I'm putting in some fat lily bulbs from B&D and marking their location with little pink alliums.

Temps are going up to 60-ish the next couple of days, and we're getting a light drizzle of rain now, so I'd better focus on the garden while the digging is good!

I did get a (small!) box from Van Engelen's sale, including a bag of Leucojum Gravetye Giant... I planted 5 of them a couple years back, and they finally bloomed this spring , so pretty I knew I wanted more... However, I've forgotten what those initial bulbs looked like. The ones I just got look so exactly like daffodil bulbs, I'm wondering if they could possibly be mislabeled. ??

Leucojum Gravetye Giant bulbs do look like daffodil bulbs - I've planted them more than once. I picked up some extras at my favorite garden center, put them aside, and when I took them back out I was confused until I remembered.

So you probably have the correct bulbs.

Our temperatures are approaching 60 too! What a treat!

Donna

I love leucojums. They multiply fast in my area.

Isn't it amazing? I had a mass of them here, in zone 5a, startingwith 5 from Old House Gardens. No one grows them here!

thanks! I'm looking forward to establishing my own little drift of them.

Donna, we are birds of a feather, and when you give a glowing review of a plant, I'm all the more likely to try it- you've never lead me astray, LOL! Most of the time it is something I've had my eye on anyway :-)

Way to go Nery! Nice deals! I think you'll love Ipheion- such sweet little star shaped blooms with a long bloom season.

Jill, I love leucojum too. Mine were given to me, so I don't know if they are Gravetye Giant or the straight species, but they certainly do increase beautifully! I was given a single bulb in a pot, and now its a lovely clump that I'll need to divide next spring. I've also noticed seedlings appearing around the clump!

You're right, the bulbs do look just like daffodils- same family. Even the foliage and buds look very similar.

Donna, I have never seen leucojum grown in any gardens here either- I can't imagine why! They're such a perfect companion for late tulips, Spanish bluebells, early irises, and so many other things. I'm a real sucker for anything with pendulous, bell shaped blooms too.

At the Bluegrass Iris Society meetings I met a couple from here in Winchester who are also daffodil enthusiasts (like big time, LOL). They did some dividing this year and offered society members extra bulbs. Well, they had several I have never seen sold, and I had to take them up on the offer. So yeah, more bulb planting....LOL As long as weather holds out, that's great by me- the longer I get to play in the dirt before arctic temps arrive, the better!