Channeling My First Post

Tags

bulbs, flowers, grape hyacinths, hyacinths, landscaping, Spring

A few weeks later than usual, it’s finally Spring here in central Pennsylvania!

Grape Hyacinths

Five years (and four days) later, I’m channeling my first post (Hello World) as I transplant grape hyacinths. Up on our back hill and in the middle of the front yard, we have tons of grape hyacinths blooming. I love that once upon a time someone planted these, and then they began to naturalize. However, I know that Hubster will mow over the delicate blooms if I don’t rescue them and relocate them to a protected landscaped area. Knowing I wanted them spared, Pumpkin surprised me by digging them up while I was making breakfast inside. ❤ And the bluebirds are still watching…

XOXO,
Young Wifey

This Week in My Garden

Tags

blooms, bulbs, cyclamen, daffodils, flowers, gardening, landscaping, pink flowers

The cyclamen have begun to bloom in my shade garden, providing a sudden pop of pale pink and tinges of magenta.

Cyclamen

Cyclamen Close-Up

My minnow daffodils seem to be confused, the bulbs sent up new leaves thinking it was already Spring. I will be curious to see if they bloom…

Confused Daffodils

What’s going on in your garden now?

Tulip Seed Pod

Tags

bulbs, gardening, landscaping, propagation, seeds, spring bulbs, tulips

Tulip Propagation
I recently mentioned to someone, I had produced a large tulip seed pod.

Her: “You mean bulb!”

Me: “No, I mean seed pod.”

Her: “No honey, tulips grow from bulbs.”

Me: “And they also can grow bulbs from seeds.”

The conversation went around a little as she still seems to think she’s right. She encouraged me to do a little reading. Unfortunately for her, I already had. In fact, I’ve tried to allow some of my tulips to seed over for 4 years now. I know the plant uses all its energy to generate the seed pod and the bulb is spent for the next year or two, until it regenerates its own energy again.

Tulip Seed Pod

Propagation #1
Tulip bulbs (like most bulbous plants) naturally split from year to year, creating smaller bulbs which will take a few years to produce blooms. These new bulbs will produce blooms the same color as the parent tulip.

Propagation #2
By not trimming the dead tulips bloom, the seed pod will begin to form, if it was properly pollinated. The foliage needs to be completely brown, before the seeds are ready. When the seed pod is ready, it’ll brown and begin to crack open. This is the time to collect the seeds from the tulips. Once the seeds are sown, you’ll have to wait to see what they will look like.

There are many reasons the second method had not yet worked for me. I’ve cut all my pollinated tulip blooms for centerpieces. Animals each the flowers. Thunderstorms snap the stem of the flower before the seed pod is ready, it all depends on what other tulips were used to pollinate this.

Growing little bulbs from the seeds can be less or more work depending on what method you plan to use and what outcome you want.
Method #1
Sow seeds in loose soil, several inches down. Cover and allow mother nature to do the rest. Weed if necessary. You may lose some to ants, grubs and other garden pests.

Method #2
Put seeds in a plastic bag with a little peat moss. Keep seeds in the crisper drawer for just over three months. Plant each seed in a soil tray and water. Keep the soil moist, not dry and you’ll begin to see growth. After two leaves have grown, plants may start to brown and die back. Continue to water until all foliage is brown and dried up. At this point you should have tiny bulbs. You may lose some due to lack of watering or over-watering, so carefully monitor your soil. You can transplant them into separate pots and maintain them until your fall planting season.

Lovely Ladies: the Lilies

Tags

asiatic lily, bulbs, day lilies, gardening, landscaping, lilium, lily, tuber roots

I love the end of May when my lilies begin to bloom…

The first to bloom are my Asiatic lilies, bursts of red, yellow, orange, cream appear day after day. A few years ago I planted over 100 bulbs, each producing a stem with over a dozen blooms each! Just above knee height, they’re a carpet of heaven. They will bloom until mid-July.

Asiatic Lilies

Asiatic Lily Close-Up

My smaller day lilies bloom though the beginning of October. Growing in grassy clumps, the color continues. Last year I planted a few new roots, I can’t wait to see what colors await me.

Stella d'Oro Day Lily

Day Lily

Hubster and I discovered the taller day lilies our second summer here (there were none the first year). I dug them up and relocated them in another corner of my garden, next to my patio. People here often call them “natives” (which explain why I at first mistook them for tiger lilies) or roadside lilies.

"Native" Lily

What type of lilies are your favorite?

Weekend Work = Gorgeous Garden

Tags

bulbs, chicks and hens, crocus, crocuses, daffodils, gardening, iris, perennial gardening, Spring, spring bulbs, Tête-à-Tête daffodils

Today was vernal equinox, the day and night are the same length… Spring started today at 1:32p.m. (I think…). Flowers are blooming, peepers are out and it’s the second gorgeous weekend in March. It’s the first weekend we’ve been able to get out into the garden and do some work. What better way to welcome the Spring?

After pulling a few early weeds and removing dead leaves and dried brush, my gardens were beginning to come back to life. In my front perennial garden, the small clusters of purple, golden-yellow, and pale yellow crocuses playfully beckoned me to stay and enjoy, their open smiles showing their orange tongues. I need to cut back the weed barrier a little more to make more room for them as they continue naturalize.

Crocus Cluster

My island garden and my side garden didn’t show me much color or new growth, I’ll have to be sure to add earlier color next year. Hubster was busy raking the sticks up from the yard, he returned the falling rocks to the rock wall and dug around the rock border to my perennial gardens. I need to re-mulch the gardens this year, but that task is left for another gorgeous Spring day.

I’m extremely anxious to see my new Spring bulbs fill my shade garden this year. The first of my tête-à-tête daffodils are blooming! They are only a finger high and so beautiful. Many green peaks are showing great promise for this Spring.

Tete-a-tete Daffodils

I trimmed up my urn planters, the midnight Salvia, boxwood and ivy all made it through the winter and show new growth. First year I successfully winterized these planters!

My gardening today gave me a fruitful collection of plants to spread to other new gardens. Look at all the iris seeds, iris rhizomes, and chicks and hens I get to plant. The dreams and plans I have for this planting season…

A great day!.. except when my curious border collie got bit by a garter snake who was protecting my garden. She didn’t like that too much, she is fine, just a little startled. I think she’ll think twice before entering my garden again.

Seeds to Sow

Rhizone Roots

Chicks and Hens