Spring flowers in my garden do something important: they lift my spirits, alleviating moments of anxiousness or depression. Spring flowers offer hope. Enjoy these images from my garden.
I’ve been planting bulbs every Fall for the past two years, and trust me: once you begin planting bulbs you won’t ever stop!
At least I won’t!
Planting bulbs in the Fall, when it’s cold outside, feels invigorating. You know this effort will pay off next Spring.
But the anticipation is also there, especially in mid-Winter.
When you spot the first leaves coming up, it is wonderful. There’s hope in those leaves and stems.
Something you planted will shortly turn into Spring flowers that will fill your heart up with peace, maybe even with joy.
For me, any moments of anxiety and depression melt away when I look at these flowers. They are so pretty, so intricate, and I planted them.
Now they are part of my garden for hopefully years to come. I did that.
And that makes me smile.
Spring Flowers last year . . .
In 2018, I planted 200 Tete-a-Tete Daffodils and 100 Blue Pearl Crocus bulbs. I had high hopes.
While the Daffodils bloomed their hearts out, the Blue Pearl Crocuses were promptly devoured by critters.
This was the only one I saw. Before it bloomed.
And the sad part?
I planted these Blue Pearls around our Crepe Myrtle tree in the front yard.
My idea was a gorgeous ring of blue-lavender Spring color.
It was a bust.
Fall 2019: planning for this Spring
Last Fall, feeling confident in my ability to not kill Daffodil bulbs, I decided to order more as well as venture into Muscari bulbs too. I planted 100 Red Devon Daffodils — a much taller variety than Tete-a-Tete — plus 30 white muscari and 24 blue muscari.
I also gave my idea of crocus-flowers-surrounding-the-crepe-myrtle-tree another try. This time I ordered “Crocus tommasinianus” — also called “Tommies” because I read countless stories and reviews how squirrels didn’t really like these. OK, I’ll take 100 of those please.
Spring Flowers this year!
The diminutive size of grape hyacinths (muscari) is amazing to me.
They are so petite!
I love how they look among the miniature Daffodils.
But wait. Look closer in the image above. Notice the front stems are chewed off. Dammit!
I need to set up ground-level cameras everywhere in the garden.
Moving on, the white muscari are a bit taller, but came up later.
My idea of planting them among the Tete-a-Tete Daffodils to bloom at the same time — like the blue muscari — didn’t work. I still love how they glow.
Here’s one of our Kramer’s Red Winter Heath shrubs — more like a tiny shrublet — still blooming in early May. This shrub has been blooming since early January. And the buds were already looking pretty in December.
The “Tommies” that I planted?
Another bust. One bloom. The flowers were eaten and the leaves were all chomped down.
I love crocuses, but I give up.
I’m working on ideas for something around the Crepe Myrtle for next Spring, especially because this tree starts to leaf out very late. I need something fabulous surrounding it.
Red and Yellow Twig Dogwoods plus Daffodils
I saw this fabulous display garden at the 2019 Philadelphia Flower show:
The mix of the red and yellow twig dogwoods was fresh and unique, and seeing the daffodils — complete with dried leaves on the ground — was perfect to me!
So, I am attempting to recreate it in our garden!
Last year, we moved our red twig dogwoods across the front yard and planted yellow twig dogwoods in between. I planted daffodils last Fall, so this is the first year for my recreation.
I love how it looks so far. (This daffodil is different from all the rest, but I’ll let her stay!)
The mix of twig colors is wonderful all Winter — even without the snow that would make them pop even more. Add the daffodils and Spring is here!
These Red Devon Daffodils, by the way, are super strong. We have had several torrential rainstorms this Spring, and not one of these daffodils has flopped over or even leaned a little bit. They remain upright, and gorgeous!
(You can buy some from Longfield Gardens, which is where I get mine. And yes, I’ve already got another 100 on order to plant this coming Fall.)
Spring flowers continue on . . .
Our Magnolia Jane trees look so pretty again this year . . .
And the Candytuft takes over once the daffodils are finished:
Last for some reason this year is the Leopard’s Bane. Usually this is one of the earliest flowers in Spring, but here it is in early May just waking up. I look forward to the pretty yellow daisy-like flowers.
Now I need to plan for the next round of bulb planting. While more Daffodils are already on order, I think I’ll try some Snowdrops too. Then again I also would love to plant some Winter Aconite, some Scilla and maybe some Glories of the Snow.
And then there are the 1 million varieties of Hellebores that I’d love to plant too.
In the meantime, I will continue enjoying these flowers, relaxing my shoulders, and letting any worries melt away for awhile.
Happy gardening!
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