We were so surprised in our first Spring here at Home Hill that very few bulbs showed their faces. Wouldn't you think that this 1935 farm cottage would have had some owners in all these years who would have planted bulbs in Autumn?
Other than a clump of yellow daffodils around a stump and a few more clumps behind the barn, not a single Spring flower appeared. Our first fall here RH and I were mourning the loss of our beloved dachshunds Otis and Milo and last fall I was sick for six weeks so not a bulb got planted.
This Summer I was determined that next Spring will be different so I placed an early order with John Scheepers. (Good thing I did it early because most of these bulbs have been sold out for this year.) Next Spring I want to look out my kitchen window and see tiny little bulbs blooming around our cupola perennial beds.
I have a thing for the tiny bulbs. RH planted 25 Galanthus Nivalis Flore Pleno...
And 25 Scilla Bifolia Rosea in these beds, tucked around the larger perennials. Aren't they sweet?
Even though it's a long time until Spring and I am completely in love with Autumn, and even Winter, I can't help getting excited about the possibility of looking out this window next Spring and seeing beautiful flowers around the crab apple trees.
And to open our front door and see clumps of flowers surrounding the pretty Japanese maple and in a bed surrounding the old park bench.
In the nearer beds will be what I hope will eventually be many little Muscari Armeniacum. Maybe not as many as in the catalogue, not in my lifetime...
But at least as many as we had around our big Kousa dogwood at Valley View...
Also in the nearer beds are "RH's bulbs." These are sacks of bulbs he bought at Costco. "My bulbs," more special bulbs from John Scheepers, are planted in the park bench bed, which stretches much further than shown in the picture.
Here will be some of my favorite Narcissus like we planted at Valley View, Cassata...
and Mount Hood...
and Starlight Sensation, a new one to me...
And behind them will be purple Allium Ambassador, only six of these pricey babies at first, but Poppy, it's a start anyway, even if not in the great swaths surrounding your house in Crete, of which you know I love...
RH got these in the ground before our big cold front comes in this weekend so I pray they'll sleep well over the Winter and reward his hard work next Spring with beautiful blooms.
Maybe eventually we'll have a Spring garden like our sweet one at Valley View.
A garden that will be handed down and many years from now a woman will look out her windows here and be grateful to the owners who cared enough to plant Spring bulbs in Autumn.
Someday our Kousa dogwood will be as large as the one at Valley View, it really will.
A Spring bouquet dedicated to you in November, my dear friends and family!
such beauty sleeping cozily under rich soil... waiting for Spring!
ReplyDeleteyou have already made Home Hill more beautiful than it ever thought it could be.
the pictures are amazing! Spring will be a celebration of blooms! it reminds me of Tasha Tudor's plantings. xo
To be even mentioned in the same breath with Tasha Tudor!!!!
DeleteTammy, I do love to think of them just as you wrote, "sleeping cozily under rich soil...waiting for Spring!" It's like little hidden miracles. Thank you so much!
Oh, Dewena, I LOVED the story behind every flower, tree and setting, and especially about the pretties that you are expecting this coming spring. Of course, I smiled just a little wider when I came to the allium, as you said you would plant them and you did, and those will be so precious since they are completely new to you - I am so excited! And I'm curious: we have a narcissus variety here that has the most heavenly scent; I've done a few posts on them on the blog. Are the narcissus that you grow, scented?
ReplyDeleteThe gardens at Valley View were/are so beautiful, indeed. You and RH did such a fabulous job and I'm sure Courtney appreciates all the hard work that led to all the splendour that she and Zack are surrounded with, now, just as the future residents of Home Hill will be, when all the sweet flowers pop up on their property every spring!
But for now, their debut is greatly anticipated by their green thumbed gardeners, who will cherish them for many, many years to come.
Happy Sunday, sweet lady!
Poppy xoxo
Poppy, when you wrote about scented narcissus I immediately remembered the Sir Winston Churchill bulbs that we had a small clump of at Valley View. Heavenly scent. I was not even thinking of scent when I placed this order so don't know if any of them are. But you can bet the Sir Winstons will go on next year's order. I know we had other scented ones there too, a small one and also the Poet's bulb, I think. Will have to concentrate on scent next year, God willing.
DeleteI would have linked in my post to your Instagram reading of the allium poem if I could have figured out how. Oh, and RH told me this morning that one of the bags of bulbs he bought also had alliums in them so I'll be excited about seeing which color they are.
Do you remember the name of your scented variety?
Valley View was such a gorgeous property and Home Hill in the Spring will be worth all RH’s hard work. I will be looking forward to seeing Spring pictures.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Peggy! I am looking forward to it too but won't be trying to rush the winter months away. I've learned that life is too short to wish any month away!
DeleteYour property is so beautiful, Dewena. I can only imagine how extra lovely it will be next spring! Can you believe the one thing I've/we've never planted are any bulbs? I don't know why...it's just something we've never really thought about or got around to doing. I have purchased tiny daffodil plants at Trader Joe's and when they started wilting indoors, I transplanted them outdoors. Those do come back every year and I enjoy them so much. I really, really need to remember to buy some bulbs next year and plant them in the fall!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Melanie! But girl, you should plant bulbs next fall! They are the first to announce that spring is coming. We planted hundreds at our old house and I was delirious with joy each year when they came up. You would love seeing them after your long winter.
DeleteYour gardens are lovely, Dewena! I haven't planted a single bulb for Spring -- in fact, I have so much going on that I'd forgotten all about it! I'm glad you've reminded me. Our climate is such that I can still sneak some in, I'll bet. Perhaps that would be a project I could do with my granddaughter when she's here next week? Hope your week is going well, my friend:)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Karen! And as I'm late getting back here, I'm guessing that your granddaughter might now be visiting you. Hope you did get a few bulbs in the ground but I'm sure you're both having lots of fun together.
DeleteYour gardens look so lovely … it is always exciting to plant more bulbs and then see them come though in the Spring … hard work but so rewarding.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Thank you, Jan, and yes, bulb planting in fall reaps so many rewards in Spring. I visited a blogger yesterday who said she had just finished planting thousands of bulbs and I thought what a job that must have been but can you imagine the beauty come Spring!
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