Sugar and Ice

The late spring storm produced 2 inches (5 cm) of sleet and ice that accumulated into a heavy frozen sugary coating. Then the freezing rain solidified everything. The hyacinth showed the most damage by changing strange colors. The white blooms showed yellow, and the blue began showing purple (much like we do when we get too cold).

Hyacinths Sliced And Diced

The hyacinths (Hyacinth orientalis) are in bloom, even ones that were hacked to pieces last year. I was digging in the dirt to make room for some pepper plants in the front cottage garden. A few good-looking vegetables are now planted in this garden, and last year bell pepper plants were being set down. The trowel blasted into a few white hyacinth bulbs below the surface that forgot to tell me where they were hiding.

The pieces were cleaned off and planted with hope they would multiply like a starfish, each piece growing anew. It worked! This year, all pieces grew, and they all had blooms, more or less. These are not Fine Gardening Magazine materials, but blooms nonetheless. White blooms came up from the remnants, although some only have three or four flowers in the cluster.

My other mistake was to plant some of the chunks on top of previously established tulips as well as previous planted blue Sky Jacket hyacinths. Anyone read the book, "Now Where Did I Plant Those?"

In past years, hyacinths forced inside were later planted outdoors. The following spring will

bring small blooms, but great blooms the year after. (Being toxic, they make a lovely addition to my poison garden.) So, the blue Sky Jacket hyacinths finished their blooms, and were planted in the front cottage garden. (Note, when forced indoors, the color is a lighter blue.) A month later, when hyacinth leaves had died down, it was pepper planting time. Does my spring bulb arrangement announce, "Drunken gardener lives here?" For The Record:   • Rich well-drained soil   • Full sun   • No fertilizer   • No serious pests/disease Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: hyacinth, magnolia, rhododendron mucronulatum,     Ice follies daffodils

February 2011 Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month.

A second Strobilanthes on the window sill just flowered, but I caught the photo a day too late. The Christmas poinsettia is still impressive, and waiting patiently to be planted outdoors and to continue as a summer annual foliage plant. The hyacinths started indoors in early November are now blooming, about a month later than expected. This light blue one is 'Sky Jacket.' I can't believe the amount of roots they put out!

Find other garden bloggers' February bloom days at the blog May Dreams Gardens.

Strobilanthes dyerianus		Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima)
Hyacinth 'Sky Jacket'

Pearly Whites Just In Time

Trying to extend the growing season by bringing it indoors, and being inspired by the Indoor Garden(er), a companion to the Paper Whites was planted just before Thanksgiving. Pearly white Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis) bulbs were set in water, topped with green tumbled ocean glass, chilled, and brought out to be forced into an indoor winter bloom.

Now, I have never grown these type of hyacinths in the past because I never liked their form. They are too rigid and artificial looking for my taste - like little plastic toilet brushes. They never seem natural in the landscape. However, they were on sale at the local store late in the season, so a small packet was purchased to save them from the Christmas decorations muscling in on their shelf space. All but three bulbs were planted in the front garden.

The Paper Whites came and went, while the three Hyacinths took their sweet time. They began blooming last week, 2-1/2 months later. I found the indoor results different than the outdoor results will undoubtedly be:

1. The flowers appear natural - not formal and rigidly-formed
    as their outdoor brethren. I like that.
2. The flowers are blooming a few at a time. This will
    extend the blooming time.
3. The leaves are stunted - small so the blossoms are
    more visible.

All the effort is worth it for the fragrance. It hits you upon entering the house. And the best part - they are blooming now: right after our record-setting 25-inch (65 cm) snowstorm, and at a time when winter seems to drag on. One needs a reminder of spring in February.

First Bloom Day, April 2009

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of each month
This is my first garden blog bloom day submission. I only recently learned what it was all about.

Red Peony Tulips A free gift that came with my fall order	Orange Midseason Tulips Don't remember their name

Poet Daffodils Need dividing	Muscari Still going strong after a week

Fifer Daffodils Found growing around the house 25 years ago	Lemon Chiffon Daffodils Creamy yellow cups turn to light peach

Count The Hyachinths

Count the hyacinths in this photo. I did not purchase this many bulbs. Apparently the 12 originally planted found time to visit a fertility clinic.

In the depth of their second winter, the grape hyacinth (muscari armeniacum) leaves were green and seemed to have grown through the cold season. I wrote about my concern and questioned their fall-winter growth [2.13.2009]. Now, as they are spewing forth flower spikes, I wondered if they were too crowded. One look at a photo of the Keukenhof Gardens in Holland answers that.

Some info found around the www:
• They are not actually hyacinths, but members of the lily family
• They are native to the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor
• The name 'muscari' comes from the Greek word for musk, relating to the smell of some types
• The name 'armeniacum' relates to Armenia
• The bulb is supposedly poisonous (hello, squirrels)
• Each 'grape' flower in the cluster has six petals

For The Record:   • Well drained soil   • Full sun   • Bone meal fertilizer applied in the fall Garden Calendar:   • Daffodils blooming: Lemon chiffon, ice follies, & fifer   • Tulips blooming: red emperor, generic orange, yellow dover   • Seeds started: Amaranthus, snapdragons, cleome, lagurus planted 11 April

Seedling Progress Record:
bell pepper	red onion

Is this normal?

These photos were taken way back in December. Both the grape hyacinth and blue dutch iris bulbs were left in the ground after last year's blooming for the first time. Now, just as winter begins in December, they are undergoing a spurt of growth - poking their heads out of their beds. Not just sneeking a peek, - but judge for yourself!

Will these plants survive the winter after the massive bust of green growth at this time of year? Will they even bloom when spring comes along? They were not fertilized in the fall, so what gives? Is this normal?