Last of the Bulbs 2024

The Brecks bulb order arrived a few days ago. Some for me, and some for Emma's garden.

Today I put the crocus in a semicircle around the pink monarda in the third raised bed. I did use cayenne pepper when I planted these, since they are shallow (3") and small.

The honey lily turns out to get 3 to 4 feet tall, so that went in the back of the NW triangle garden.

Then I took a break :-) But the weather was so nice, I went back out. I dug up the great daffodils from the abandoned garden where Emma had marked them for me, and put most of them along the curve of the northeast garden, with a few extras near the entrance walk to the porch. 

Then I had two sets of daffodils from the Breck's order. 

The Original Poet's Daffodil (5 bulbs) went in front of the big pot by the mudroom porch. These are white with orange tipped cups.

The Golden Dawn daffodils I dug into the dragon head garden, around some other perennials that should help to hide the foliage after they bloom. They're near the carex, the plant with the very soft whitish foliage (whose name escapes me at the moment), and the dianthus. These are the same that I have already in the NW triangle bed with multiple flowers per stem.

Planting Bulbs and More

 

I got a set of bulbs from Longfield Gardens: 5 of an orange and dark red Asian lily, 5 of a white allium (Mt. Everest), 6 of the Purple Sensation allium, and about 25 of the little iris. 

I planted one white and three purple alliums to the left of the big pot off the mudroom porch. That is the location where I removed the extremely tall pink and white Asian lilies. Before I planted the bulbs, I added a bunch of compost, and moved the short garden phlox to the area. Then the alliums went in behind it. 

I put the Asian lilies in the NW area around the dragon head. So behind the hoary vervain there, and left of the clematis. I did slice and dig up one of the species tulip bulbs in that area unfortunately, but those are mostly farther to the left. 

I scattered the remaining allium bulbs in the dragon head bed, around other perennials that will hide the foliage of the allium as it dies back. Then the last set of bulbs, the little iris, went around the base of the clethra, where we'll be able to see them from the kitchen window in early spring.

The photo at the top is of the dragon bed, with all the pavers and bird scare tape trying to stop the wild turkeys. I added more scary tape today because it does seem to make a difference, even if it looks ridiculous. (Rob is in the background, cleaning his bike.)

Turkeys, Grrr.

 

The wild turkeys have spent a lot of time digging up the young plants I put in. It has been incredibly frustrating. I have covered most of the ground around the plants with pavers and boards, and finally put up bird-scare ribbon. I actually don't know if the ribbon is working because I haven't seen any turkeys in the yard since I put it up. Replanting and raking out all the mulch was getting very tiring. 

My order of agastache was canceled, along with one of the two groundcover sedums. I did receive one of the groundcover sedums, although I haven't put it in the ground yet. I'm still waiting on Tyler to finish the decking --I really am beginning to wonder if he's going to do the job. 

I did move some of the solidago fireworks from the east bed to the area in front of the hollyhocks and prairie dropseed grass. I also added one to the dragon bed, along the back. 

I am really looking forward to seeing this new bed next summer.

We also had a fiery skipper in the yard for the first time (unfortunately being killed by an ambush bug) --I think they're more common south of here. That's the photo above.