slideshow: my garden’s bulbs, updated
CALL ME IMPATIENT, but I start thinking about bulbs early, as in: Would the snow please melt and let me see some? Most bulbs take up little room, and I have a particular fondness for animal-proof ones, various of which are included in this updated version of my popular bulb slideshow.
Click the thumbnails to navigate the gallery, or hover your cursor over the left or right edge of the bigger photo then use the arrows that pop up to toggle between slides.
And afterward, be sure to check the links to fuller stories on those that I have profiled, below. Enjoy!
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- I have layered in a lot of flower bulbs over the decades here, mostly ones of no interest to animals. Narcissus are all poisonous and therefore pest-proof…
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- …whether medium and large-cup ones, or the little guys…
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- …like ‘Hawera,’ a pale yellow and highly fragrant. Wonderful.
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- The minor bulbs come first, breaking through the leaf litter. Snowdrops, or Galanthus, can come in March if winter has begun to relent.
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- Winter aconites, Eranthis hyemalis, are a favorite, and I am finally getting quite a colony going. Late March or early April into May.
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- The glory of the snow, Chionodoxa (this one’s the species luciliae, with paler blue, white-center flowers) is a self-sower here.
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- I like the darker blue one, Chionodoxa sardensis, much better, but it can be hard to track down some years in catalogs.
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- I am always fascinated by the odd shapes and color of fritillarias, including this little one called F. uva-vulpis.
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- The crown imperial, Fritillaria imperialis, is a proud, regal thing and smells like a skunk from hundreds of feet away. Love it. Nobody seems to nibble on this guy.
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- Wonderful, and curious, aren’t they?
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- The poeticus types of Narcissus, like this ‘Recurvus’ style with reflexed petals, are super-fragrant and late to bloom.
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- I added another animal-proof bulb that’s great for naturalizing, Hyacinthoides hispanica ‘Excelsior’ (also known as Scilla) in 2009. Off to a good start!
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- One of the easiest alliums, or ornamental onions, A. aflatunense, soars above the hostas out front in May. More seem to self-sow each year. No pests pester alliums.
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- Instead of a tight head, Allium christophii’s is large and loose, and silvery-lavender. Lovely.
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- I don’t even know what to say about Allium ‘Hair,’ a drumstick type gone madcap.
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- Allium rosenbachium (purple) and its white form ‘Album’ in a row for cutting. Yes, the bouquets will smell onion-y; a few drops of bleach in the vase is supposed to help. I use them in a display by my door.
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- Allium moly is vivid gold, with nice pleated foliage…and an inclination to be quite prolific, which some gardeners say means not well-behaved in their zones..but fine here.
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- Cut in a little vase on the windowsill, Allium moly is pure sunshine.
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- Allium caeruleum (or azureum, both of which mean blue) is a real beauty.
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- An allium cousin, Nectaroscordum siculum, is perhaps my favorite bulb of all, a self-sower with mauve-and-green dangling bells in June.
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- Closer in, for a look at its intricate coloration.
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- I even like the buds, before the flower’s little bells are set free to dangle.
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- I grow tulips only for cutting; never in the garden beds. They’re planted deep in my raised vegetable garden beds, and dug up when they start topeter out every three to five years. I plant crops right over them. Yup.
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- I have no interest in timid shades. High color tolerance=me. tulips are animal magnets; fence accordingly or be prepared to do battle.
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- There is no lily more compelling than the martagon called ‘Claude Shride.’ The picture tells the whole story. Lilies are delicious to critters, too, and to lily beetles, which I hand pick and squash or drown.
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- A less-wild-colored martagon, shared by a friend from unnamed stock. Lovely in the open woodland in dappled light.
bulb profiles and more
Thank you for you articles on the flowers. I am a beginner on these flowers. You mentioned lime. How does one know how much lime. Do you put it on top of the soil or mix it in the soil?
Starving for spring color, your slide show hits the spot for me.
I am curious about your 12th slide picture, Hyacinthoides hispanica. Are these also known as Spanish Bluebells? I don’t recognize them as Scilla’s. The Scilla I grow are very short and compact here in Pennsylvania, intensely blue, but I have some taller “Bluebells” that look very much like your slide picture.
Your blog is wholly inspirational on many levels. Andre’s sketches boil down the gardener’s struggles to their basics in such an entertaining way. I try to digest at least one new fact, new plant or new strategy every time your email arrives and it always satisfies. Thanks for all the time and energy you dedicate to your blog.
Welcome, Waking Dream. Hyacinthoides were formerly called Scilla and also Endymion I guess, and yes, the hispanica ones are Spanish bluebells or wood hyacinth. Too many names, right?
Thanks for the very nice words of encouragement, and for Andre, too. He’s an inspiration to be sure!
Hi Margaret! I love your bulb slideshow, but I guess the joke’s on me — I planted my first fritillaria bulb last fall (not knowing that it smells like a skunk) right beside the main entrance to our house. D’oh!! Is it really that stinky?? If so, looks like I’ll be doing some transplanting soon, whenever winter releases its death-grip up here in Ontario.
Anyway, I love your photos and articles — so glad I “found” you. ;-)
I’ve also ordered your book and can’t wait to read it.
Welcome, Donna, and thanks re: the book support! Yes, the big ones (the crown imperial) are VERY VERY odorous. Oh, my, like across-the-yard skunk! So glad you found me, too. And I hear you re: winter’s grip…when will it quit? Was iced in here yesterday again and had to call for a sanding truck to get me out (even at that, the place is barely passable). Oy!
Beautiful. Thank you for the inspiration.
I too have alliums planted with hostats. I love how the purple globes look above the foilage. The Allium moly is stunning. I nned to check into that one for my garden. Already starting the bulb list to plant next fall as spring brings bulbs to life.
Hello Margaret,
I was finally tempted by your Allium azureum photos to say ‘hi’. I love the premise of your garden and your approach to gardening. Last fall I planted 400 Allium azureum with (native for me) 400 Camassia leichtlinii beneath Carex flacca. I am looking forward to my blue meadow this spring. I, too, am a new book author (Understanding Garden Design). I look forward to reading your new book!
Welcome, Vanessa. Camassia are so beautiful — and your combination sounds superb. Will go look for your book now; I see it’s from Timber Press…which my very dear old friend Andrew became editor in chief of this fall! Miss him so since he moved to Portland.
Hi, Steve. Which browser (and Mac/PC)? Works on FF3 and Safari and so on that I can tell, but hmmm…always something! Thank you!
great slideshow pictures of bulbs
(two of the slides did not go to next side, on my browser at least. For 4 to 5 and 22 to 23 I think . I just clicked on the next picture.)
Margaret –
I just read your memoir in More and it truly captured all my emotions and moved me. Thanks for sharing!
Welcome, Janelle. So glad you enjoyed it! Hope to see you again soon.
Margaret, your slide show of plants blooming in the middle-end of April is JUST what the doctor ordered, on this cold winter’s day!
No matter how perfectly arranged, the elements that make up the WINTER GARDEN are, it is time for the snow to exit Stage Right “soon”, in the Upper Hudson Valley, where we both live ,and for SPRING to begin.
I look forward to the middle-end of March to be outdoors cleaning up the debris left over from last year. There is nothing like seeing spring bulbs emerging, because soon after that, days will be warm AGAIN, and flowers will appear.
This year the daffodils will be blooming at the time of a “late” Easter. The daffodils and my Easter Egg bushes will be TOGETHER a colorful sight. CAN’T WAIT!.
Thanks for the slideshow – beautiful bulbs – sometimes just cannot have enough. I noticed this last weekend that our crocus are up and blooming.
Dakota winters are so long and this year has been severe but we know that we will
“make it to green grass”. My sister from Montana was here and on her departure said I may not be back until your bulbs are blooming..Indeed, I am blessed to have much to look forward to even if there is much behind me..
Loved your slideshow. Every time I ordered Chionodoxa sardensis they ended up being plain old C. luciliae. I kept trying and trying every year. At least the yard has thousands of Chionodoxa now even if they are the wrong ones.
Thank you so much for this delightful slideshow. Here in Zone 9, we don’t get nearly enough naturalizing bulbs. How I love them!
Welcome, Barbara, and thanks for the “hello”. You get so many other goodies, this is one we northerners like to have on our paltry side of the ledger. Tee hee. See you soon.