What are you planting this fall?

I have a ton of stuff waiting to be planted, and more on the way. I have 15 irises, 5 lily-of-the-valley, 2 peonies, and a bleeding heart already in the ground. On hand I have 60 crocus bulbs, another 15 irises, 15 tulip bulbs, and 3 daffodils to plant. And my planting garlic arrived today from the Garlic Store. Ten bulbs of different varieties of garlic to plant. One of the types (cultivars?) of garlic is called Transylvanian, a little ironic, I think.

I have more crocuses, daffodils, tulips, and irises on the way. I have some beds weeded and raked. Now I have to till them and amend them. I know what I'm doing this next weekend.

At least you'll know which garlic to grab when Drac comes to visit! LOL!

The bulbs sound beautiful. It will make for a vibrant spring.

I suppose the Transylvanians HAD to cultivate the strongest garlic. LOL!

Yes, they do seem to have had quite an incentive! Wonder if Bela Lugosi ever ate any.

I have already planted 300 tulips, 10 rose bushes, 20 iris, iceland poppies, uncounted daylilies, divisions of iberis.

I have a kerria and $50 worth of seeds on the way. Much of the seed will be direct seeded this fall or winter sown. I still have about 25 baby roses to put to bed as soon as I can get them heeled in, and 2 snowball viburnum that may also have to be heeled in pending a board decision. Oh and I have several hundred daffodils & hyacinth to put int the ground before December.

Oh, I love the snowball viburnum! Once I get my front yard sorted out and landscaped, at least minimally, I want to plant a viburnum or a hydrangea. Or both!

And I forgot to list my lilacs. I have two lilac bushes yet to plant. I was waiting for it to get a little cooler.

I do want to get roses, too, but that can wait until next year. I barely know where I'm going to plant all the stuff I have or am waiting for.

I will root you a cutting next year if they make it through. They supposedly grow very fast!

I would really appreciate that. Thank you!

40 irises in the ground as of two weeks ago, a row of edible pod peas 2 inches high and new rows being planted every few days; garlic from the garlic store and 1000+ van Engelen bulbs going in the sand this weekend (sand IS better than adobe for this one!). Tulip world bulbs expected any day, also. Some presents from DGers heading this way in the mail. Going tree hunting this weekend at the Moana Nursery in Reno (expensive, but they are ooooh soooo healthy). And fence posts - starting the fence post planting that will hopefully keep canine critters out of the greenery (hey, but the new 60 lb puppy has solved the rabbit issue!). Winter rye to be sown again this year in the future "pasture". I was hoping to seed for pasture this year, but too many things on the plate as usual. Well, anyway, another year of green manure can't hurt :-)

I just today got my order from Bluestone Perennials: tulips and daffodils for my "pink" bed.

And I still have orders from Sutton's and Dutch Gardens coming, as well as my mushroom farm, and plant markers from Lee Valley so I can tell what's what. Hmm. Maybe 50 plant markers won't be enough. I'll just have to eat more ice cream bars!

(Edited to correct stupid typos. NOW maybe it makes sense.)

This message was edited Sep 27, 2006 10:36 PM

I just got back from Seattle with a car full. The most interesting are a Cornus Kousa 'Happy Summer', and a Acer Shirasawanum 'Palmatifolium'. Both should survive the zone 4b with protection. I can't wait till they are grown up.
You guys are all bulb crazy. I got a million Iris from a garden swap of DGers in Seattle last week. And a couple of Rose of sharons, I bought 3 Sambucus Nigrans, and got 2 Sambucus 'Madonna' to plant together to highlight the dark nigran against the chartreuse Madonna. I didn't have enough room in the car for my Persian Parrotia tree but I NEED one.

I just put in several orders for foundation shrubs & seeds such for the new flower beds (breaking dirt next weekend!):

sambucus nigra lacinatus, 2 snowball viburnum, japanese quince, lilies and more lilies, daffodils, 15 varieties of wildflowers & rose companions, and few tulips. This is merely complementary to the 8 rose bushes and 20 rooted rose cuttings that need to get into the ground. Yeah!

Tons! about 25 Iris -- way too many. A hydrangea, Penny Mac, both pink and white lilies of the valley, chrysanthemums, perennial alyssum of various varieties, echinecea, both red and yellow-orange, day lilies, more creeping thyme, veronica( speedwell), creeping phlox, ornamental oregano, orange agastache, garlic, blue-eyed grass, and more that I can't even remember. Also I have a grape vine and a crabapple tree that have been surviving in pots all summer that must go in. I have already planted two clematis, Jackmani superba, and Nelly Moser, and none of that counts the stuff I am dividing and replanting. And then there are others that I can't remember the names of and the, heaven help me, the stuff I buy in Denver -- quite a few bulbs I have already purchased locally. I am going to need all winter to recover.

Make that *14* iris in the ground. :-( I came home today to find one of my Schreiners irises dug up, chewed on, and then abandoned among the shreds of my container plants. I HATE tree rats!

It was pretty badly shredded. I planted it again, but I know it's a futile gesture.

And now I wonder if I'll have ANY plants left come spring! I've tried EVERYTHING! Hot pepper wax, crushed oyster shells, Shake-Away, diatomaceous earth....nothing works!

I'm really depressed. Maybe this gardening thing just isn't going to work out. I planted about six times more than ever sprouted. And now it's too late to buy another iris of that variety (or any variety, I think.)

To cheer myself up I dug for some potatoes. I dug up another potato plant....

NO POTATOES! Not even any sign of potatoes. Just a potato plant with some roots.

I can't even grow a potato.

And now you see why I don't want to buy $50 snacks for the local vermin.

And where was my patrol cat??!?

I'm going to go eat some chocolate ice cream for supper.

Alas, WH, critters are part of it, too. We all have them. Gardeners have to plot and scheme to outsmart them. Makes you wonder why they are called dumb animals! I think squirrels hybernate in the winter -- or at least I hope so for your sake.
As things grow animals spread their munching among many plants so everything gets to grow a little. Probably your patrol cat is plotting to get the squirrels, but my experience is that squirrels can outsmart most cats.
Can you put something over your bulbs to keep the squirrels out. Those spiky things that discourage cats and dogs perhaps. Or you can do like me and study up on squirrel trapping. Is there a local raptor rehab center where you could donate your catch for raptor food?

White, there's a raptor center at Lowry! LOL

I just ordered some tulips from Colorblends and have done the past three years! My favorite tulip blend that they offer is Sultans of Spring. They have yellows, peaches, and pinks all blended for you so you don't have to do all the work in putting colors together. This blend is really tall and I think that is what makes them so beautiful. I have had so many complements on my garden since I started to plant them. Each year I take the bulbs out of the ground and replace them with new ones. I noticed that they don't get as tall the second year. More work and more money, but hey, they look great!!

I wish I had some pictures to show you. I will have to remember to take some next spring.

Lissy

How did you know I was going to ask for pics?? I always sweat and pore over the catalogs trying to find just the right colors. I've never tried a mix. I can't imagine planting as many tulips as you must plant every year! I only have a few dozen in my pots.

Just got my Scheepers box, Hyger. These were nice bulbs, too. Their frits can leave some little something ot be disired, but I knew that when I ordered them... Nevertheless, these will be fun. One species has the queerest hand-like protuberances from the bulb scales, quite interesting... I'll post pictures.
The realization also arived that there will be one heck of a lot of tulips to plant soon!

Lissy, that is probably the way to treat a lot of tulips- but perhaps you could trade them off instread of composting them?

My goodness! I just realized- the "Sultans of Spring" are Lefaber hybrids and sports- among the finest of all tulips! (But measurably the largest) They return better then many other tulips. They will not be as big as they were after their time in a dutch field- but they are more than pampered in those fields just to make them larger.
You'd better get photos, Lissy!
Kenton

re: "More than pampered?"

Can you be more specific. Are we talking traditional folk dance music, hot tea in the morning, or what?

I'm imagining root massages, mud facials, and spritzes of pure spring water. That and warm sunlight by the sea....

Hey, I'd go for it!

Oh and don't forget the fancy mints!

Daily Hot tea is what I do for my tulips, and lots of NPR.
No, In the dutch feilds, they are given optimum growth space, optimum fertility balace. The most bulb-size-sapping thing: flowers, are cut off just as they open so as to enlarge the bulb more rapidly. Then there is the fact that the climate there allows the leaves to sit like myriad solar panels (without sunurn liek they can get here) all spring, all the while getting fatter and fatter underground.