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Sunday, January 29, 2012

The Lucky 260

Do you believe in luck? I don't but perhaps what I do believe in - fate, karma, Divine intervention - is simply luck under a different name. Earlier this week a farm and garden catalog from a company on the west coast arrived advertising Fall Bulbs   Plant these bulbs NOW ! Plant bulbs in January?? In Virginia? No way!  I dialed our local garden center to determine the insanity of the claim as I mentally stuffed my front garden with daffodils. I knew their bulbs were 50% off but had assumed it was simply a ruse to get rid of inventory.

I ws quickly informed that while it was too late to plant tulips, daffodils and several other bulbs that don't require extended winter chill periods were guaranteed to grow even if planted this close to February. It was all the encouragement I needed. I raced home from a dentist appt, accidentally ran a stop sign (behind a grocery store in an empty parking lot so I don't think it counts), and according to my daughter, although I dispute this claim, nearly ran over a five year old in the grocery store. By the time I was on the road she was yelling, "Quit thinking about daffodils! Mom, you're crazy!" That part is undisputable.

200 daffodils and 72 purple Dutch iris were waiting in a bag in the garage. 125+ science projects, 30 tests, and files bursting with student work lay slumped across the kitchen table. In the house, up the stairs, and out of my work clothes I raced. Clad in a hoodie and holey jeans held up with an old belt, I charged into the garage, grabbed the bulbs, and was off. Dinner and grading could wait. It's January and I had bulbs to plant!! Thank you, Unwinter!!


I exended this narrow bed by three feet and filled it with daffodils and Dutch iris. The area around the black light pole is filled with pink and white naked lady lilies. I bought 272 bulbs but by the time I took out a few duds, I had 260 left. I need to finish extending the rest of this bed, but that will have to wait.


These iris will grow to about 22 inches tall and are planted in drifts in the middle of the bed.


The front garden already has about a 100 daffodils and possibly a few tulips mixed in with the daylilies and near the dormant lespedeza. I love the surprise factor of buying bags of mixed varieties. I can hardly wait to see what grows!  I bought one bag of the variety below because that's all they had and six bags of the rock garden mix.


Disclaimer: No five year olds were harmed during these exploits. They simply don't jog as fast as I do requiring me to maneuver around them and their sparkly yellow purses.

22 comments:

  1. I love all those spring bulbs as well. I feel such joy for you! I know it will look great! Please post photos come spring.

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  2. Just a quick tip for you along those lines: most bulbs won't grow in the deeper South (like where I am) because of exactly that issue: not enough of a cold period. However, those that do are the ones that you can plant late: daffodils, summer snowflakes, grape hyacinth, all come back reliably each year with no winter to speak of. I am trying ranuculous this year to see how it does... anyhow: a quick test is to look up its zone reliability...if its above zone 8a you are in the clear. Tulips, for one definitely don't grow here.

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  3. Now I'm kicking myself that I didn't pick up those bulbs I saw on sale a couple weeks ago. I'm glad the 5 year old dodged your speeding bullet of a car! I hope they all come up - it will look beautiful!

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  4. That's going to be one gorgeous garden! It's time isn't it?:) I have to get my butt outside and start working again. Can't wait to see the follow ups.

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  5. You can count on spring pix of these beauties! :o)

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  6. Can't wait to see what your daffodils will look like, do you have just as strange winter as we have here in London? My daffodils AND tulips are well on their way up, I think I might be just a week or two away from the first daffodil flowering!
    Good luck :-)

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  7. Karma is a wonderful thing isn't it? Love the irises, what a pretty color. The only downside with the multipacks of daffodils, I would want to know the names of those I really liked so I could add more. Can't wait to see your spring show!!

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  8. Oh my....i could feel your excitement! I can't wait to see them all blooming. It is going to be lovely!!

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  9. They're going to be pretty. Good for you for going for it. I planted tulips in February once. They bloomed in late June and were rather funky looking.

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  10. There's nothing like a sale, even in mid-winter, to get a gardener up and running. Looking forward to seeing the many varieties of daffodils. I bought a similar package once and was delighted with all the amazing flowers.

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  11. Great post, as always! I’ve awarded you the Versatile Blogger Award: http://bit.ly/yhCUbI. Congrats!

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  12. Haha, some people just don't understand the excitement a gardener gets when they see plants on sale! I always comb the stores looking for deals on bulbs in January - I've had good luck with daffodils coming up. Enjoy!

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  13. Planting in January? Can it be? We have had unseasonably warm winter days here, but the ground is soggy wet, and then it does freeze up hard at night. No good for slopping around in it much less planting. How I envy you. Of course we will want to see pictures of your bulbapalooza show in spring!

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  14. It will be so nice to see the spring show. I have planted bulbs in winter (January) too. Not this year, but it would have been a great year to do it.

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  15. You're going to have a great flower patch! I'm not planting bulbs this year so I'll have to live through your photos.

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  16. How thrilling! I have yet to take the bulb plunge but tell myself that this is the year. Can't wait to see pics of this in the spring. :)

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  17. Hooray! Your border looks wonderful. I look forward to seeing the full regalia in a few months.

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  18. Hope these bulbs make it, if not rotten I'd guess they would. We are in zone 7 and daffodils have started blooming, the irises are up out of the ground too.

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  19. Hi Tammy, Wow, so many bulbs! What a spring display you are going to have. And I thought I was late planting bulbs well into November.
    Dare I confess that I ended up with a package of tulip bulbs that never made it into the ground before it get really cold. Maybe if we get a warm spell, I might be able to plant them yet. You have given me new hope!

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  20. can't wait to see what happens to so much karmic energy come spring!

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