All the Dirt on Gardening

Spring almost requires that gardeners have a few blooming bulbs in front door flower beds, in outdoor pots and on windowsills. Now that cooler weather and soil are settling in, it is a perfect time to get started on bulb projects. In our area we can plant garlic, allium, tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, fritillaria, crocus, squill, snowdrops and others, as late as December and January, as long as the ground is not frozen by then. The prettiest displays are planted in groups rather than in rows. To plant an entire bed, the bulbs can be tossed and planted where they land so there will be clusters of flowers with spaces in between. Plant bulbs twice their length. For example a 1.5-inch tall bulb is planted in a 3-inch deep hole. Plant Oriental and Asiatic lilies 3-times their depth because they root along the stems. Madonna lily is planted with the top of the bulb at the top of the hole. Be sure that the fat end of the bulb is actually sitting on soil. A planting hole dug with a trowel or...

Lilac (Syringa) Last winter's Paperwhite Narcissus planted into the beds Snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum) Great information about snowflakes at this link  Purple Iris - this one smells like grapes     Hyacinths with pink tulip Love the curve of the lower petals on this tulip What a great season - the garden is beautiful every day now.

The beauty we find in the blooms of spring bulbs is partially because the winter look of the landscape is open, clear and softly colored in tans and greys. Even when the slim green leaves of the bulbs emerge most of our time is still being spent indoors, braced against the wind and cold. Then, in March, all this color emerges. Not so much the reds and purples that the heat of summer demands to capture our attention, but soft yellows, whites, and pinks are the colors of spring. Even the red of tulips is tempered by the delicacy of their translucent petals. The scent of spring is the soft scent of daffodils and the sweet scent of hyacinths. Bright colors contrasting with ground that is mostly shades of brown. It's no wonder that so many poems and songs have been written about spring. It has its own divinity, don't you think?