I took my trusty bulb planter, gloves, and the box of bulbs out to the front fence to figure out how I was going to design this garden. My goal for the front is to have perennial flowers that I would plant this one time and then they would come back every year. This is actually a goal of much of the planting we have done or will be doing – some long term perennials that we can use as a foundation, and then the annual crops that would need to be planted each year. With a mixture of plants for beauty, herbs, medicinal and food.
When I read the packages of each of the types of flowers, I realized that this wasn’t exactly an easy bed to plant. The depths ranged from 3 – 6 inches deep – depending on the bulb. So I took off the landscaping cloth and uncovered the bed, and bag by bag – laid out the bulbs in a pattern based on size and if they should be grouped together, etc.
It took about an hour to lay them out – and then a couple more hours to dig each individually. I wanted to be sure they were carefully and deliberately placed where they would look best. I also tried to visualize the heights of each of the flowers and the times they would be in bloom.
Many of them are early spring bloomers – so they will be the first color of the new season of growth. Some will not bloom until late Spring / early Summer.
The result? The bed doesn’t look any different at all from when I started. But, I know it’s different. We did put a nice fence along the bed to keep Pippin out and define the area for mowing, etc. in the Spring.
With that bed done – I was still looking at 50 blubs in a “Mountain Bells Mix”. I decided – with the size of the bulbs being fairly small, I would make a second bed on the other side of the front walk. This went quicker because I could dig down 3 inches, lay out the bulbs and then cover them with dirt.
Lastly, I had a bag of 50 Golden Bell Daffodils. I planted 10 of them in the larger bed and decided to plant the rest around the Mums on each side of the front stairs and then along the bushes in front of the house.
I saved 10 to plant in a container next weekend.
So all in all – it’s a very strange feeling to know that 190 flowers are planted and waiting to grow in the Spring.
As I grabbed the shovel, gloves, etc . to bring into the shed, the snow started.
Close call. The snow didn’t stop until we had a foot! In October!
I am so happy to have finished this project and the Jerusalem Artichokes before this snow!!
A list of what I planted:
(late Spring to Early Summer)
Breck’s Dutch Treat Collection
10 Giant Crocus
12 Dutch Iris Mix
10 Tulips
20 hyacinth Blue Grape
10 Early Stardrift
8 Giant Daffodils
20 Alpine Rosy Bells
10 King Edward Tulip
pink, gold, white mix