Bulbs - What are you ordering this year?

Kenton, I saw your photo of Red Hot Oriental lily over at Plant Files. The color on my monitor shows a light red with a pale yellow vein and the same color around the petals. The others in Plant Files shows it to be more pink. Is yours really more red? I'd like to get some of those, but they're pricey, so I want to be sure. I've also read that they're differently colored depending on the amount of sun they get.

I just ordered a passle of bulbs from John Scheepers. I have three large pots, and they get layered every year beginning with tulips, iris reticulata, muscari, daffs, Asiatics and either Orienpets or Orientals. I had rotten luck with my Orientals this year, but I think it had more to do with the extreme cold snap here in December. The Asiatics came up just fine. I try to get different varieties of everything but the iris and muscari every year -- life is so short and there are thousands of varieties of things to plant! LOL

Here's one of my Asiatics this year. Scheepers sent me Grand Paridiso instead of the Stones I ordered, so they'll send me the Stones at their expense this year. I loved the GP, but I had Salsa last year which was in the same color range.

Beautiful lilies! I still have a few star gazers in bloom, but my big lily bloom was a while back. I have so far grown Orientals and Asiatics. My orientals are only nice the first year. After that they decline. My asiatics seem to bloom, perhaps more each year. A good friend of mine has the same experience. Perhaps it is that way out here in the Rockies.
I was exceedingly lucky to get crates of both from a commercial lily grower. They cut the flowers and sell them but the bulbs are still good. But the Asiatics are far better.
This year I purchased a couple of Asiatics -- yellow and red Pixies, potted and blooming at Lowes. And I still have 2 crates of red ones to plant. that have been sitting in crates for almost a year. They are asiatics and they even bloom in the crate.
In fact, what I am doing now more than anything is planting.

Oops, the picture of this years lilies. This is the same bed where all the Oriental Garlic Chives live and bloom. Just a different time of the year.

You were wondering what I was ordering? Well I shouldn't have ordered anything but in addition to 2 crates of red Asiatics and 2 pots of Yellow and Red Pixie Asiatics, I have ordered and mostly received about 35 irises (I know, I know. I have no business ordering anything.) and 5 daylilies.
I have 6 chrysanthemum plants, 2 red gailardia, and 3 ornamental oregano plants to plant. I will soon order some lilies of the valley and I am praying for the strength not to order anything else. ( Probably hopeless.)
What I am hoping is to plant all of this before the ground freezes in November or December. So please, stop me before I order again!!!!

Sorry, I'm not going to be any help stopping anyone from ordering anything... since we are bare sand and Sept is our one year anaversary on this plot of earth, and I have some overtime moneis to spend... I've kind of gone off the deep end. My 75 lovely daffodil blooms last spring looked like a tiny yellow DOT on our sandscape of 4.77 acres... so this year I had to order 500 more daffodil bulbs, so maybe I'll have SIX little dots on the property... then I had to order some dutch iris to contrast with them... and since I finally live where it gets cold enough for tulips, I had to order a few hundred of those for some large containers... please, I hope no one else sends me any more catalogs because I think I might have to order some more raspberries, too! and we haven't even begun fall tree planting. and the garlic sampler is supposed to arrive soon - and, of course, the bed isn't even dug... and then, and THEN, you all show me loverly photos of LILIES! Is this what it is like to be a drug addict?

Revie -- please tell me more about the layering you do -- I have a half-whiskey barrel and that's what I want to do so that it's full of blooms throughout the year; maybe augmented with annuals for fill (making adjustments for budget) but haven't done my research :( I want tulips, iris r., lilies, dahlias, and ?? TIA! jo/nm

(Judith, I think your monitor is on the blink. Or my eyes. 'Red hot' is a peachy color with yellowish edges. Darker color on overcast days and cooler weather, so mine has usually been bleached, but whenever it is dark or just-opened, I'm on it with a camera like a journalist at a horribly greusome incedent. I am beginning to doubt the perennialization of 'Red Hot,' next year will tell. )

Fall bulbs?
Everything I want!
Finances be hanged!
(and they will, you watch...)

All of the Tulipa 'Temple of Beauty' sports. Yes, all. Virtually no Narcissus, They perform but I don't like them this year. Any and Every Fritillaria I can get. Variegated leaf-bulbs. New Tulip hybrids. More Dracunculus, by all means. Some specialties from Britain. Other things I forget now...

Oriental Lilies do have that reputaion of problems in our climate. Some say it's heat. I have no idea. I'm trying one and want to try 'Arena' if this test is any good. Mind you, a friend of mine has some marvellous years-old 'Stargazer' in a big pot.

K-mom, look into reseeding bulbs like Narcissus pseudonarcissus (odd name, that one), Scilla, Chionodoxa (especially Chionodoxa!!!) Ipheion... They fill in quite well when given space. They only need water in the winter and spring, too, not all summer.

Betty, you're in the wrong place to get help for not ordering more!
Did anyone else receive the "Lily Garden" catalogue? Get thee behind me...

Jo of NM, it can be done, but with more carefull planning than I am capable of!

Kenton the "Dizzy."

This is the time of year when my bank account gets very low and my credit card balance gets very high. I'm afraid we're all a bunch of plantaholics, unable to throw out even a single catalog. Yes, yes, yes! I got my Lily Garden catalog, which is what started this frenzy of ordering. But did you see the PRICES??? I ordered from Scheepers because their prices are so low. I can get all the Red Hots I want for a very low price.

Jo (NM), lilies, tulips, daffs at the bottom layer - 6-8" deep, then the smaller bulbs. I'll send you my spreadsheet from this year so you can get an idea of how I go about doing it. Then I mulch with about 6" of cedar wood chips.

Paja, you came to the wrong place for rehab. We're all enablers here. I'm feeling inspired by Kenton's words (and that gorgeous lily!), and groupthink.

Time to check out the Lily Nook site, and Brent & Becky's and BG and...........

Gee you guys,
Being enabled is lots of fun ( oh dear!). Yes I have visited the Lily Nook and Brent and Beckys, and many others, but what is BG! Have I missed something. I see more $ bills flying away and more digging headed my way. But what a way to go.
Betty

A SPREADSHEET - oh, my, you have it really bad!

... and, although I realize they aren't real bulbs, they looked so HEALTHY that I had to get them - 9 Supreme Sultan Bearded Irises and 9 Dover Beach. Of course, I did buy them from Wal-Mart, so no telling what they really are, but they were big, heavy with fleshy roots and perky fans. It's the end of summer and Anything that promises green at some time in the future is good in my book...I'm thinking I could go get more Dover Beach for my "Blue and White" "Some Day" garden tomorrow... but then that will start cutting into the tree budget - and pines of all sorts are beconing to me... but I digress...

Narcissus pseudonarcissus -- looked her up and she sounds right for this area - can take the cold, can take the heat, flowers in the snow - tough bugger - reseeds - I love it already. And I'm assuming that since she is a Narcissus, chipmunks rising from hibernation won't feel much inclined to consume them...(she says as she starts scrounging around in the sofa for pennies and contemplates holding up a bank for future pant funds...)

kmom,
I can *so* relate to your hundreds and hundreds of daffodils. I think this is kind of like being a drug addict -- only we don't consume the drug except through our eyes and brains.
Luckily, our drug of choice is completely legal -- unless you live in one of those places where water is rationed.
Groan. They are starting to talk about that where I live, even though we have plenty of water. Must keep up with the times, you know.
Betty

Yea- what is BG? It's "botanical gardens" in my lexicon.

And "beconing," Kmom. Ha-haaaa! I think JScheepers has pseduos. I've got a dozen or less from a trade and hope to naturalize with them...

Oh, I try not to think about th inevitable rationing future here. I've got mulch and we're water-rich for now...

I thought I'd ordered too many bulbs, but it's a tiny number compared to some hundred plus.

I can't remember the names of everything I ordered, but it included Batik iris, several other blues, Warrior King and Spartan, and a lovely cream colored iris. I also bought Spring Pride and Chromacolor daffodils, and several pink and some white tulips. I just ordered two peonies, Festiva Maxima and Bowl of Beauty, and some pink lily of the valley (okay, that's for spring).

I want to order Rosy Cloud daffodils, and Pink Fountain tulips.

Oh, and I ordered white crocus.

I'm looking at rose bushes, but that will have to wait till spring.

-

Uh-oh, this is a BAD thread. Too many pretty things to look at and I have already promised budgets to other beguiling things...

Luckily our aquifer is charged by a 17 mile lake that is filled by the Carson River... so unless the river runs dry...or the pump on the well dies, I'm water happy for now...although I haven't found my dream dump truck (not pickup truck, large dump truck) full of mulch yet...still mulching by the bag - and that gets expensive fast.

I'm bringing home soil and compost by the bag, and I don't have a car! I put it in my grocery cart and lug it home. My raised beds are going to require a lot. I wonder if Home Depot delivers soil....

Many landscaping companies will sell soil or compost by the cubic yard. It is much cheaper that way, but you will be amazed how fast you will find a home for it. They come with a dump truck and dump it in your yard. Great exercise distributing it. I have done this on several occasions. Pecan shells are $30 per truck load but you have to provide the truck. Know any body who will lend you one? They fill it up with a front-end loader -- one of the joys of creation -- and you drive home and shovel it out yourself -- one of the miseries of creation, but good exercise never the less.
Betty

I wonder if Lowes or Home Depot deliver soil? I need some big things from them, anyway, and both of them are within a mile of me.

Borrowing a truck won't do me any good, since I don't have a license to drive it.

Still need to find a good source for garlic bulbs. Besides the grocery store, I mean. :-)

A friend.

A friend with garlic bulbs?

I just ordered some planting garlic from The Garlic Store. Yum. I have to learn patience, though. It'll probably be a full year before I can enjoy it.

HD will deliver, but you have to order like a total of $5000 or something. They put all your stuff on one or more pallets and shrink wrap it. They charge you $15/pallet deposit, so unless you wanted to have expensive pallets, you'd have to find a way to return them.

Do you cook? If you did and you lived closer, I know my DH would bring his 5000 lb capacity trailer and his cummings turbo diesel over and haul for you. Unfortunately for our family, he married a woman who doesn't cook. So, he is not above hiring himself out for a family invite to BBQ - especially if there are some fermented hops involved (meaning I'd get to drive his truck back home - it's a fun truck to drive - and when he's under the influence is the only time he lets me!).

Our local construction company will deliver, but it is pricey to get them to come all the way out here. We recently had 12 tons of 3/4" base rock (for driveways) delivered (it sounds more impressive than it is - the pile is barely 5 ft tall). The rock was $75, but the delivery was $180 because we live far away from the nearest rock place. They will deliver top soil, too, but I need to inspect the topsoil first - last few places I looked at, it was sand mixed in with dried sage/tumbleweed pieces - not quite what I was looking for. They will haul compost for me, too, but I can't find someone who has good stuff in bulk any closer than Reno (60 miles away), and the delivery charge would be even more awful. DH's trailer is a car-hauler, so it has no sides, so it's good for bagged things, pallets of concrete, rocks, etc., but not for tons of loose material...shoot, he's always wanted to go to Colorado - I'll let you know if we're ever in the neighborhood. In theory, I have realtives there somewhere in Aurora.

Recently I ran across an old (like 1994) copy of Sunset Magazine with bulb-planting ideas in it -- copied them down and thought I'd share. These were specifically for containers but I can easily see them adapted to ground planting:

1. Plant bulbs in pot, cover with soil almost to brim, scatter annual seeds or grasses, press in place & water well.

2. For small bulbs (freesias, for example), put in bedding plants then plant the bulbs.

3. For larger bulbs (tulips), plant them first, then mark the spots with twigs or stakes and then put in bedding plants.

Their only advice for timing of all this was: if planting with the larger bulbs or annuals, wait til 2nd year.

jo/nm

I use an uncooked strand of speghetti noodle to mark where the bulbs are. Especially if I "layer" the bulbs - daffs on the bottom, tulips and dutch/reticulated irises next, crocus on the top layer... Then, after planting, the noodles get broken up and go in the compost bin. Never thought about planting grasses on top. I have a 1/2 wine barrel just waiting for my tulip world and van engelen orders to arrive. (DH had to restrain me in WalMart the other day, reminding me that I had better quality, more exotic, nicer bulbs coming "any day now"... almost had to get physical... I got 12 more tall bearded irises instead :-)

Wal-mart bulbs are pretty sad (forced to have low quality) and mostly mislabeled, you need to arm yourself for the next visit. Clever marker, Karla.

As long as it's not for my Iris Garden (which is getting it's start from Scheiner's this year), I've had success with WMart irises - of course, I don't expect them to be what they are labled, but if they bloom and go forth and multiply, then they are quite fit for hanging out in, say, the vegetable garden, where I can enjoy them for what they are and snack on green beans at the same time. I don't actually buy my bulbs at HD or WMart, etc. - but there is this inbred genetic defect that about this time of year will be seduced by anything that remotely resembles a spring bulb...I'm not sure what it is! (DH gets the same glazed-eyed look when the Snap-On Tool Man shows up :-)

I managed to drive past Wal-Mart this weekend when I was in Santa Fe twice. I have the same defect, kmom, but if I can stay out of the store, I can sometimes avoid it. Also, I have 21 irises from good mailorder houses, including Scheiners, sitting in pots waiting for their permanent home and about 6 more on the way!
Yesterday, I divided 3 clumps and have which really needed it and heed to divide some more as soon as I get a chance.
You DG folk have been an inspiration to get my beds all spiffy again. I also planted some garden mums and some hare bells and mixed in lots of compost and bone meal. It went pretty fast because this is one flower bed that has never had any gravel in it.