I took the day off work today, because I have some planting to do. Not my usual trees and berry bushes, though; today, it’s bulbs. Several hundred of them, as a matter of fact.
When the brightly-colored fall bulb catalogs came a couple of months ago, I was entranced, as usual, with all the bright colors and pretty flowers. I made up a wish list, and I had a lot of wishes! I hemmed and hawed for a long time, since I thought maybe that money would be better spent on more practical things, like hedging trees to replace the ones that came down in last year’s storm. When I added up all my wishes, though, it wasn’t really that expensive, and they had a really good sale on bulk orders, so I could actually afford to get most of what I wanted. In the end, I decided that if I was that enticed by the catalog pictures, maybe beauty really did matter, too.
In the end, I ordered bulk quantities of a few types of bulb – mixed-color snow crocuses, primarily, but also a bunch of little purple muscari, some daffodils and lilies of the valley, a few English bluebells, and assortments of daylilies and irises. Plus, a few other odds and ends, because…well, you know. Of course, after I made my order, several friends decided to divide daylilies, someone dug up a bucket of lily bulbs to give away, and my mother in law showed up for a visit with a collection of plants, as well. The acreage will be a riot of color next summer!
I can actually even justify what (in my mind) could be seen as a frivolous expense. Bees and butterflies need to eat, too, and feeding the pollenators brings a net advantage to our garden. I’ve ordered mostly spring bulbs, for now, but some of the new plants will flower all summer, and will feed birds, bees, and butterflies, all of which we are happy to have around here. In the end, it didn’t take much justifying, and, of course, Hubby was happy enough to support the project, as long as it wouldn’t break the bank. Five hundred bulbs makes for a lot of digging, though.
I am excited to see what comes up next spring!
Ooo…those are gonna be so pretty!!!
I’m sure hoping so!
Wow, 500 bulbs??! Want to come plant in my yard when you are done?! 😉
lol, I may not be able to walk tomorrow…
That’s going to be beautiful! I can understand the hesitation over spending money on decorative flowers, but I also find that the first few blooms in the spring have enough psychological impact to be worth it!
Yes, it should be very pretty, especially with the snow crocuses, which are super-early. It’s kind of neat – they can be planted in the lawn and mowed through the summer, as they are done blooming before the grass grows. I am hoping they do well here, as that will be a nice treat at a dreary time of year 🙂
Sounds like you will be in paradise next spring and summer! Beauty and butterflies and bees…doesn’t get much better than that on a lazy summer afternoon 🙂
Heh, I suppose! I like the picture that puts in my head, though I don’t forsee many lazy summer afternoons in the next few years…too much to do yet…