Miscellaneous spring bulbs 2012

[WimB]

...the Trilliums are showing up now

They are over here too, Trond!

[WimB]

The proof that Eranthis hyemalis can be quite weedy when it likes the place where it grows

[RickR]

The proof is undeniable, Wim.

And most evious, too!

[cohan]

I sowed some Eranthis last year or the year before (my solution to impatience is to not pay too much attention!).. hope I may be able to achieve weedy some day!

[WimB]

(my solution to impatience is to not pay too much attention!)

 

hope I may be able to achieve weedy some day!

It takes some time, but it will happen...

[McDonough]

My goodness Wim, that's a bounty of Eranthis hyemalis, soon you'll have no grass left

The last two years, no seed produced on my clump of Crocus kosaninii, yet today I find a couple young flowering seedlings of C. kosaninii about 1-2 meters away growing in the lawn; probably 3-year old self-sown plants (typically I've found first flowering on crocus happens in 3-4 years).

In bloom for nearly 2 weeks, is Colchicum doerfleri, shown are two different forms, one with more hirsute leaves and deeper pink flowers.

[Hoy]

Last fall I planted some winter aconites. Hope I'll get a large patch!
Scilla rosenii and daffodils are slowly spreading though

[WimB]

My goodness Wim, that's a bounty of Eranthis hyemalis, soon you'll have no grass left

I wouldn't mind that, Mark. Less grass to cut! 

[Hoy]

More sun today.
Some of the late crocuses are these sieberi-forms

   


and the last snowdrop

[WimB]

Wonderful plants, Trond...your G. elwesii will get lonely 

[Tim Ingram]

A nice wild-type form of Hyacinthus orientalis, which retains an elegance that many of the hybrid selections lack.

[RickR]

 The dark blue backs with the lighter blue petal top surface makes a very nice contrast, too.

[Tim Ingram]

We have a bed in the middle of the lawn that has gradually developed into one dominated by bulbs. The idea came from visiting Sissinghurst where there is a stunning bulb walk, under pleached limes, which has to be one of the most beautiful plantings ever in April. Ours is more modest!

It is good fun though and is just beginning to show a lot more colour (next year I will plant a lot more crocus which will extend the flowering considerably). Muscari azureum self-seeds strongly and makes nice contrast with the earliest tulip T. neustruevae. It also mixes well with Iris unguicularis 'Cretensis' and Anemone blanda. The iris is a lovely dwarf form but doesn't often flower freely. The bed has a few alpines in it too which have something of the same habit of bulbs, such as Pulsatilla halleri. Later on interest comes from small sun-loving herbaceous plants like Eryngium bourgatii, Acanthus dioscoridis and many sedums. The bed is in the middle of the lawn so could easily be extended...!

[Hoy]

Tim, your bulb bed seems very exiting! How do you keep grass from spreading into it?

[McDonough]

I'll second that motion, what a nice idea to have a naturalized bulb bed with other plants included.  But I too wonder about maintenance of such a bed.

In the last couple years 3 different types of invasive grasses have taken a foothold in the garden.  Last year, with the new job that I have, and needing to work most weekends, parts of the garden, particularly my "Allium garden" are a disaster, the grasses with aggressive underground rhizomes romping far and wide in every direction, that I fear the only solution is to dig up the whole thing, extract the good plants from amongst the invading network of rhizomes, and rebuild the garden.  But given no change in my current utterly crazy job, and so far the inability to find a different more normal job, it looks like this year will be even more disasterous for parts of the garden.