The other day I was driving through Edmond, a suburb of Oklahoma City. With kids, I’m always driving here, there and everywhere. I passed Ace Hardware on Broadway and 15th, and I casually glanced over. Out front, I caught a glimpse of bulb boxes on display. I didn’t have much hope there would be anything worth buying this late in the season, but what the heck, I thought as I pulled into the parking lot.
Surprise, surprise, there were all kinds of wonderful bulbs you usually don’t see in retail stands in Oklahoma. Not only that, but a sign showed they were half price. I stocked up and decided to do the lower garden in a mix of these.
Instead of the scatter method, I dug big holes and dropped the larger tulips and daffodils within. I tucked them in with a bit of soil and then added the smaller bulbs on top covering them with less soil because they are so tiny. Sometimes you can simply push them into the disturbed soil.
Here’s hoping it’s all very pretty. Remember that all of these bulbs bloom at various times so it won’t be as if a color wheel threw up in the garden. There will be subtle changes instead. Having written that, I admit my garden is really, never very subtle. It kind of screams “COLOR,” and that’s the way I like it, uh huh, uh huh.
Dance with me here.
Whoops! Got carried away there for a moment.
I must be rejoicing because the half-price bulbs were so cheap. I bought a lot. Here’s the bulb roundup:
- Thirty Tulipa fosteriana ‘Concerto,’ a white, very early tulip, short.
- Twenty-four T. ‘Juliette,’ a lovely Darwin tulip with flames of pinkish red, mid-spring.
- Six T. ‘Upstar,’ a pink double, blooms late–that was all they had of this one.
- Twenty-five T. ‘Van Eijk,’ a pinkish Darwin type with reddish flames.
- Fifty T. ‘Negrita,’ a mid-spring blooming Triumph tulip.
- Twelve T. ‘Pieter de Leur,’ a lily-flowering type, late spring.
- Twelve T. ‘Claudia,’ another lily-flowering type, late spring.
- One hundred Puschkinia scilloides ‘Alba,’ a small white heirloom good for rock gardens and up front where you can see it. blooms early spring.
- One hundred twenty-five Allium sphaerocephalon, drumstick alliums, my favorites because of their slender blue-gray foliage and swaying purple and white heads. If you can buy only one allium bulb, these are the best. They will return for at least two seasons if your soil is dry during winter, but they dislike wet feet. They are also small and can be tucked in everywhere.
- Eight A. aflatunense, a larger globe allium. I hope it punctuates the space. However, things don’t always work the way I envision them.
- Six A. christophii, another larger globe allium; late spring blooming.
- One hundred twenty-five Ixiolirion tartaricum, lavender mountain lily, a diminutive little blue flower hailing from central Asia and which probably likes its soil dry.
- Twenty-four, twelve each of Crocus tommasinianus ‘Ruby Giant’ and ‘Barr’s Purple.’ These are the Tommies, and I’ve planted some in this garden in previous years. They multiply.
- Twenty Narcissus ‘Ice Follies,’ an early spring daffodil, white with a light yellow cup;
- Five N. ‘Flower Record,’ a large-cupped, mid-spring-blooming, daffodil. I could only find five of this one.
- Seventy-five Chionodoxa luciliae, glory of the snow, blooms early spring. It’s originally from Turkey and likes dry soil.
I did add fifty bulbs of Narcissus ‘Fortissimo’ from Van Engelen I purchased earlier in the season to the mix so there will be a lot of yellow. Can I just say the bulbs from Van Engelen are huge with lots of doubles? A great value even if not half price.
Stay tuned. The next post in this series is about the front garden which has its own color scheme.
What fun! Now if those bulbs had been full price would you have bought half as many or would you have chosen just a few special bulbs. Of course that is a moot point since you hit the mother lode. I can’t imagine finding a place for that may bulbs here. The digging is simply too hard with so many stones.
Becky, I would have bought a lot of bulbs either way. All are special, don’t you know? I’m just kidding. The digging is hard here too with clay, but I usually plant the bulbs in raised beds. I can’t imagine how hard it would be with stones.
I can’t wait to see the photos of your bulb display. That’s a lot of bulbs and I love the mix!
You’re telling me . . . I’m so tired from the planting, but onward!
I just read your Bulb story from last year. Are we worried about moles, voles and squirrels this year?
Dollybelle, we are always worried about moles, voles and squirrels. You can outwit the squirrels by placing chicken wire over the spot where you planted. Weigh it down with rocks which are heavy for the little buggers to pull it up. As for the moles and voles, I plant daffodils around my tulips for the most part, and this helps since no critter wants to eat a narcissus. Otherwise, I just try not to worry.
Hey Dee! I finished planting my 500 tulips last weekend and a bunch of alliums. I can’t wait to see them bloom. I got the 4 different Colorblends mixes and a 100 of Maureen white ones and then mixed all those together. Those Maureen bulbs were huge! I still have room to plant more, but not so sure I want to do it in the cold. This is the first time I’ve planted in nice weather…loved it. Did you leave any at Ace for me? I could stop by after work tomorrow. 🙂 I love seeing all your boxes and bags of bulbs. Exciting!!!!!!
Alliums are also good for diverting moles and voles. That’s a lot of tulips. I would place some chicken wire on top since you live in squirrel land. Of course, your little foxes will take care of some of the vermin too.
Whoa, that’s a load of bulbs! Come spring, your garden will be even more stunning than it usually is.
MMD, we can surely hope so. :))
Wow, Dee, I can’t wait to see your garden next spring! Uh huh
I sure hope so Frances. We will keep our green fingers crossed.
You bought a whole garden full of bulbs. They will look outstanding next spring. WHOOO HOOOO.
I did and most of them are not critter magnets, well, except for the tulips.
Wow, that is going to be a beautiful display in the spring. I may need to do some cruising for some half price bulbs around here.
Carol
Half price is the best price. Cruise on.
Oh what a wonderful display you’ll have next spring. All that color! That’s the way I like it, too. I have to say I’ve never found the bulbs you’ve listed at any local hardware stores. Once upon a time, our local independent garden centers carried them, but not any longer! xogail PS Maytime is a pretty tulip.
Gail, I was shocked when they had them. It was wild. Not many people bought them because they didn’t know how special they were. All those drumstick alliums. Exciting!