Tagged With: Bulbs

Lilium lancifolium (Tiger Lily)

Lilium lancifolium (Tiger Lily)

Lilium lancifolium (Tiger Lily)

The tiger lilies are blooming and they are really spectacular this year. My dad had these growing in his garden and from time to time we would take the little bulbils that form in the angle between the leaves and stem on these plants and we’d put them in our garden. We continued that process, with bulbils from our own plants and now we have a pretty good number of them around the yard. These are growing in the small bed where an oak tree once grew. That tree was dying when we bought the house and has since been removed. There are daffodils there and Cathy often puts annuals in the center of the bed, but these lilies are growing towards the back (the house side). They are over six feet tall and quite striking, with racimes of large, orange, downward-facing flowers.

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Ranunculus asiaticus

Ranunculus asiaticus, Persian Buttercup

Ranunculus asiaticus, Persian Buttercup

While she was in Alaska from July to December, Dorothy got a job at a florist shop. She’s been exposed to flowers and plants to one degree or another all her life, having been dragged to various botanical gardens and arboreta. More recently she has come to appreciate them more than she did as a child. Nevertheless, her time at the florist has served to increase her love of flowers. This is a Ranunculus asiaticus, the Persian buttercup, and Dorothy brought home a bouquet of them for the dining room table. They are quite beautiful and I love the many overlapping petals of the deep crimson blooms.

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Ranunculus

Ranunculus

Ranunculus

The Ranunculus that I photographed on January 17 continues to deliver. The flowers have opened up and are bright orangy-red with interesting centers. In another day or two they’ll be finished, I think, but we’ll get a little more enjoyment out of them. This time of year, flowers on the table are a nice extravagance. It’s actually getting a bit warm for this time of year and the forecast is for warmer still for a little while. I have no doubt that winter will return before long, though, and we’ll want to stay indoors.

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Daffodil Leaves

Daffodil Leaves

Daffodil Leaves

February is generally the middle of winter but it’s been quite warm lately, with highs in the 60s. The daffodils are coming up in our yard. That’s not all that unusual, as they generally start coming up during a warm spell in the winter. They are remarkably cold hardy and will be just fine, even after winter returns as it’s bound to do. I don’t mind a little green in the garden, as it reminds me that spring is not too far away. We actually have Lenten rose (Helleborus species) blooming and the snow drops are coming up (meaning they are probably already out in the woods near my office!). I’m a big fan of witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) which is a small tree that generally blooms in mid February in our area. We don’t have one but it’s something I’ve considered getting to give us a bit of color this time of year.

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Snow Drops (Galanthus nivalis)

Snow Drops (Galanthus nivalis)

Snow Drops (Galanthus nivalis)

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the snow drops (Galanthus nivalis) are coming up in our yard. I remembered that the snow drops in the woods around my office are generally two or three weeks ahead of those in our yard. I went out with my camera this afternoon and sure enough, they are in bloom. There are two large areas, one in the back amidst fallen logs and the other on a steep bank leading down to a stream on the front side of the building. They really are lovely flowers, so simple and yet elegant, especially at a time of year when the ground and most of the things on it are brown.

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‘Tete-A-Tete’ Daffodils

‘Tete-A-Tete’ Daffodils

‘Tete-A-Tete’ Daffodils

Daffodils are starting to bloom all over. The early varieties, particularly in warm locations, have been in bloom for a week or so. These are our first to get fully out. They are called ‘Tete-A-Tete’ and they are a nice, little, clump-forming variety that I really like. We have them in a few places and they are very happy, blooming as the others are still forming buds. They are only about 8 to 10 inches tall, so not suited for growing in with too much ground cover. So, in the pachysandra we have taller varieties, like ‘Arkle’ which is big and bold but blooms a little later.

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Amaryllis

Amaryllis

Amaryllis

We have two amaryllis bulbs from last year that we pretty much neglected after they finished blooming. They had leaves for a while but we stopped watering them and they just sat on shelves in the kitchen after that. They normally bloom around Christmas time, which is lovely, of course, but we weren’t paying them any attention. A week ago I notice this one had sent up a shoot with a bud on top so it got a little water. It has rewarded our neglect with two lovely blooms. It now has a spot on the kitchen counter. I had to add two stakes to hold it up because the flowers are pretty heavy and the pot it’s in is not.

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Daffodil ‘Arkle’

Daffodil ‘Arkle’

Daffodil ‘Arkle’

As mentioned yesterday, the daffodils are really starting to come out in great numbers. This is one called ‘Arkle’ and it’s a big, bold, beautiful yellow flowered variety. I planted these back in 2014 and they are very well established. Daffodils are long lived and form nice clumps. Where you put one bulb, you will eventually have a group of them, each putting up flowers, so the longer they are in the ground, the better. Others that were planted more recently, a variety called ‘Marieke’ that has similar but slightly larger flowers is still putting up only 3 or 4 blooms per clump. But they should continue to get better each year.

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Daffodil ‘Falconet’

Daffodil ‘Falconet’

Daffodil ‘Falconet’

One nice thing about being home as we all are is that it means I can get out into the yard during the day. That’s offset by the fact that we can’t go a lot of other places, of course, but we are fortunate to have a pretty nice yard. There’s a huge amount that needs to be done but right now, with the daffodils blooming, it’s quite nice. This little daffodil, one of the Tazetta types, has multiple fragrant flowers on each stem. They were planted in 2014 and are on the edge of the bed that used to surround the spruce tree, which is gone, so they will get a lot more sun now.

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Scilla siberica

Scilla siberica (Siberian squill)

Scilla siberica (Siberian squill)

Blooming shortly after the beautiful, blue Chionodoxa forbesii (glory of the snow), the Scilla siberica (Siberian squill) are starting to come out. They are a darker blue with down-turned flowers but quite similar. In fact, “some experts have merged Chionodoxa into the genus Scilla under the belief that the differences are not significant enough to warrant separate genus status.” (Missouri Botanical Garden, Plant Finder). I don’t really care one way or the other and just enjoy them both as spring ephemerals. I look forward to their bloom every year and don’t think I could have too many of either.

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Daffodil ‘Actaea’

Daffodil ‘Actaea’

Daffodil ‘Actaea’

This is a daffodil called ‘Actaea’, which is in the poeticus division (division 9), which are distinguished by their large white petals and small, dainty cups in contrasting colors. I think they are fairly posh, compared to their more boisterous cousins but they are similar in their hardiness. They are a bit slower to produce large clumps, though, so if you want a lot of them in a hurry, you’ll want to plant more of them up front. The stems on these are a little less rigid than the others, as well, and they have a tendency to droop even more when it rains but in the sun, they are hard to beat.

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Tulipa acuminata

Tulipa acuminata (Fireflame Tulip)

Tulipa acuminata (Fireflame Tulip)

Where there used to be a large oak tree in our front yard (technically in the road right-of-way) there is now a small garden bed. Around the tree was Pachysandra terminalis and that’s still there. Where the tree was Cathy plants annuals and there are some tiger lilies there now, as well, which seem to enjoy the spot. Around the permimeter are daffodils of various types, all different shades of yellow. They look bright yellow until these fireflame tulips (Tulipa acuminata) start to bloom with their really intense yellow flowers.

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Cathy and Tiger Lilies

Cathy and Tiger Lilies

Cathy and Tiger Lilies

When I posted the close up of the tiger lily a couple days ago, I knew it wouldn’t be the only tiger lily photo I’d post this summer. They’re simply too nice to get just one mention. Dad had these growing in the garden along the driveway. Quite a few years ago we took some of the bulbils that form in the leaf axils on young stems. I find it interesting that they seem to form on young stems and not on the more mature stems. Generally you think of a more mature plant yielding more of this sort of thing. But I suppose the more mature stems produce a lot more seeds, so they don’t need to do this.

Anyway, we have them well established in a few places in the yard and they are magnificent. This is the biggest and most successful bunch, growing in a bed where a dead oak tree was removed a while back, out near the road. As you can see, they’re about eight feet tall and really happy in this sunny location. I recommend them pretty highly. The tiger swallowtails seem to like them, as well.

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Tulips

Tulips

Tulips

We’ve had a vase of tulips on our dining room table for a few days. Obviously they are a little past their prime, but I find them quite pretty even in this state. It’s more about color and form than about them as flowers qua flowers. I think I could have done a bit better to eliminate the background from this. Perhaps taking it with a black background would have been better. But, it’s what it’s, as we like to say.

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Daffodils

Daffodils

Daffodils

Cathy, Dorothy, and I went up to Pennsylvania today to do a bit of work in the front yard. There is a small garden bed along the front of the cabin and it had become very overgrown. At the work day on March 13 we cut the small trees that were growing in it but today I dug up the roots of some of them. It was hard work and made a little harder because I wanted to avoid killing the peonies, irises, and lilies that were starting to come up among them. I didn’t take many pictures on this visit but I did take a few of the daffodils growing on the dam.

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Paperwhites

Paperwhites (Narcissus tazetta)

Paperwhites (Narcissus tazetta)

I bought Cathy some paperwhites and planted them in mid-December. They started growing almost immediately and have given us a wonderful display. I’m not particularly fond of the smell, but it’s a small price to pay. They really are lovely and at a time when flowers of any kind are quite welcome. They are a variety of Narcissus tazetta, which is quite cosmopolitan, with sub-species found native to Europe, through the middle east and into southeast Asia. In contrast to many bulbs which require a period of cold in order for them to bloom, paperwhites don’t need any special treatment. Simply plant them, keep them properly watered, watch and enjoy.

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Amaryllis Forest

Amaryllis Forest

Amaryllis Forest

Even after giving a few away, we had a bunch of amaryllises this year. They really have put on a show and right now are just about as good as they are going to get. And they vary quite a bit in terms of color, too. I particularly like the white one in the back with a little green in the center. Of course the pure red blooms are pretty awesome, too, as well as the red and white in the upper left. Heck, they’re all really nice. Together they’re spectacular. Many of them have second blooming stems starting, so we’ll get even more flowers in a little while.

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Amaryllis ‘Lemon Star’

Amaryllis ‘Lemon Star’

Amaryllis ‘Lemon Star’

Amaryllis ‘Lemon Star’

We’re in our second flush of flowers from our ‘amaryllis forest’ and I have to say, while we’ve always had either red or red and white blooms before, I’m really happy with this white and green one. It’s called ‘Lemon Star’ and it’s a real show stopper. I’ve moved them from our dining room table onto a table by the window. This allowed me to use the leaves of the fiddle-leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) to provide support to the long stems and keep them from tipping over. A few of them were noticeably shorter, which is a real benefit, but for the tall stems, some external support is needed.

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Chionodoxa Species (Glory Of The Snow)

Chionodoxa forbesii (Glory Of The Snow)

Chionodoxa forbesii (Glory Of The Snow)

We went to the Agricultural History Farm Park briefly today. There are bulbs coming up and some Lenten rose in bloom. The photo I’m posting is of a spring ephemeral commonly called Glory of the Snow. The genus name, Chionodoxa, comes from the Greek words chion meaning snow and doxa meaning glory. It’s definitely one of my favorites and I have a fair number of these around the garden at home, including C. forbesii and C. luciliae (which I think this probably is, but I’m not sure).

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Snow Drops (Galanthus nivalis)

Snow Drops (Galanthus nivalis)

Snow Drops (Galanthus nivalis)

Cathy and I took a walk at lunch time today, going about half way around the block that our office is on. There’s a cut through to the parking lot of my building from the back, which is how we got back. We walked through some of the empty lot next to my building but didn’t see much in the way of bird life. That building lot has been empty and waiting to be built on since before Dorothy was born (and before I worked there), so, a long time. In the current market, I don’t see that changing any time soon. On a lighter note, the snow drops (Galanthus nivalis) are blooming.

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