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!
bulb profiles and more
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.
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.
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..
Thanks for the slideshow – beautiful bulbs – sometimes just cannot have enough. I noticed this last weekend that our crocus are up and blooming.
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!.
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.
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.)
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!
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.
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!
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!
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?