Progressive Spring Bulbs

Last fall I planted a couple thousand bulbs in my front yard perennial flower beds. This past spring was the first season for them to show their stuff, and I recorded the show in a series of photos taken every few days. Toward the end of the movie clips, the spacing was every week or two, because the allium just hung around forever.

Allium are more impressive in person. They remind me of purple fireworks in the garden...and I wish I'd thought to take a close-up photo when they were still purple! I've even discovered a fun, permanent use for them in my home decor! (I'll send a link when I've finished redecorating my bedroom.)

I bought all the bulbs online from a company called Colorblends. I highly recommend them if you want an impressive bulb bed. Their prices are great and the flowers are stunning. See for yourself in these little films. (Each clip is less than two minutes long.)





Pretty nice, eh? And I didn't even plant the real stunners. All of these bulbs are perennial, meaning they will return each year, and some of the bulbs will even reproduce. Each year the bulbs and non-bulb perennials will fill in a little more. I'm already looking forward to an improved show in years to come!

Mutant Vegetables

The harvest has begun! #5 and I picked 27 pounds of Roma tomatoes Monday morning, and by that evening, they had been transformed into quarts of spaghetti sauce sitting on my kitchen counter. All except for one tomato.

Kent called it Devil Tomato. I called it Wilbur.

See? Just put another little deformed tomato--notice the "pony tail"--on top and you have a cute little thing. Wilbur was "some tomato".

What can I say? We Whites, E.B. and me, like to save farm products from their natural fate.

Unfortunately, while my little Wilbur/devil tomato was saved from the sauce, the kids called dibs on eating its "arms" seconds after I took these photos. I didn't even get to put a little shirt on it. Sadly, s/he (or it?) is no longer with us. But my, homegrown tomatoes sure taste good!

A Few Peeks at My New Front Yard

My sister requested some tulip pictures. Last fall I planted 2,560 spring bulbs in my front beds. I know that sounds like overkill, but I really did come up with a plan beforehand. And I wanted to excavate, which meant everything had to be planted all at once...and now I'm done (that is, until I figure out what summer and fall-blooming perennials to throw in there). I mapped out the colors I wanted in certain spots, and then bought a variety of bulbs to give me those colors from early spring through June. I bought everything at Colorblends.com, and highly recommend them for their selection, service, and prices. I've been taking photos every day or two since mid-March, and I'll make a slideshow of the flower progression when the bulbs are all done in early summer. But in the meantime, here is a little peek at what we've been enjoying in our front yard...

April 5--Crocuses. The dark pinks in the background are called tulip crocuses. They look like miniature tulips, and bloom early with the crocuses. Love their color!


April 13--These white flowers are a wild tulip called Turkestanica, a fabulous flower whether it's open to the sunshine or closed during cooler temperatures.


April 18--Hyacinths. The fragrance and color from these flowers is AMAZING! The whole front yard smelled of sweet perfume for three weeks.


April 18--I also cut some daffodils today. I planted 200 mixed daffodils that blooms throughout the spring...and I love the surprise of what type of daffodil shows up each week.


April 30--We had 4" of snow overnight, and I love how the pinks looked wearing their white blanket.


May 3--The wind blew these flowers together. It looks like the tulip is wearing a daffodil corsage.


May 3--I just love to come home to this! I asked Kent if the $700 I spent on the bulbs was worth it. He asked if they made me happy, which of course they do, so his answer was that it was worth it. I should add that many of the varieties I chose will reproduce underground and fill in these beds more in years to come, so this show will only get better!