I have an obsession with collective nouns; murmurations of starlings, murders of crows etc and I think if ever there was a collective noun to apply to bulbs it should be an investment of bulbs, or perhaps in my case, a surprise of bulbs.
Bulbs just give so much, year after year, and they require little care and they will, with a little luck, self propagate, spreading over time to form the ranked armies of blooms so beloved of the landscape photographer and the gardener.
As I am trying to rebuild my garden here I am planting too many things to remember exactly what and where and so each morning inspection has lead to the discovery of new arrivals, boldly pushing up through my stony soil and doing their very best in less than perfect conditions.
From the earliest of arrivals, the blue and white of “glory of the snow” Chinodoxia to the wonder of tulips in their endless variety – this year I have the early flowering variety “Christmas” and the rather more glamorous double variety ‘Schoonoord’ – to the anemones that give such value for money flowering three times a year here in Pembrokeshire to the strangeness of Alliums, all of which are about to flower.
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- ‘Schoonoord’ double tulip
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- Double Tulip Schoonoord
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- Overblown tulip
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- “Christmas” early tulip
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- Snakeshead Fritillary
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- Spring Hyacinth
Bulbs really are the most optimistic of things, bringing such joy to spring mornings when winter seems to have lasted forever.
This year the fritillaries have managed to bloom, the bluebells I planted “in the green” last year look to have settled in around the base of the giant old sycamore in the front garden and I expect great things from them in a few weeks. The ever robust, ever spreading wild garlic is going to be spectacular, a sea of delicate white foamy heads, in just a few more days, although that’s nothing to do with me, it did it all on its own.
Next autumn I will add to the bulb plantings and like last year I will promise myself I will make a written note of what I planted where, or then again, maybe I won’t, because the daily surprises are wonderful.
Emperor Moth – female
An investment of bulbs. 🙂 What a perfect description of both the labour involved and the wonderful return we get on it. Your garden will look superb in years to come. I’m planning to make a similar investment in our new garden in Wales, where so far all I’ve found are a few clumps of daffodils.
Ha, found your comment in deepest, darkest reaches of cyberspace. Good luck with the new garden, bulbs reward the forgetful gardener, ideal for me, I love them! And lovely to speak to you again. Xxxx
Did you have any luck with bulbs in Turkey. Every year I plant with anticipation and am lucky to get a few sullen leaves. Last November I planted about 35 bulbs, ever hopeful that one year I will succeed and I got 5 glorious tulips in January and 6 daffs that were in bud for weeks until the buds rotted and fell off and that was it. Not a sign of the tulips planted over the years. My only success are white iris which I transplant from year to year and always appear and bloom wonderfully.
I never tried bulbs but tulips should flourish as they are originally from Turkey. All my gardener friends did really well with iris of all varieties and the crocosmias used to do well too. Every year I used to waste my time with sweet peas because I so wanted them but they flowered very poorly in the heat.
cultivated bulbs have generally failed here in Okçular, many native species from tulips to iris to half a dozen different orchids have all made themselves at home with no help from us. Not as spectacular as many of the hybridised plants but they more than make up for it the labour stakes.
I have to plant bulbs here, the house is built in what was originally an abandoned slate quarry, the only thing we grow naturally here is miners!