Wordless Wednesday : In-N-Out Cafe

Bulb Vingette

There's not much going on in my garden yet, but the bulbs provide new surprises about every other day. I'm so glad I planted them. They're the perfect antidote to the February garden itch. Anticipating their blooms reminds me of Christmas: I've received wrapped gifts, but not until the appointed day do I learn what's inside. It's always something delightful. Today it's narcissus (either avalanche or sugar cups; I don't remember which variety I planted where). They look great next to the grape hyacinth. Both have such distinct flower shapes and equally intense colors.

Good Morning Hyacinth

A day after Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, look what greeted me when I opened the door this morning.



I want to pick it and take it inside, but I'll wait until some of the other bulbs start blooming.

In the garden blog world, the 16th of the month is officially Foliage Follow up hosted by Pam at Digging. Check out her blog to see whose show this hyacinth is stealing.

Bloom Day: February 2011

Thank goodness I planted bulbs, otherwise, I'd have nothing to report this Garden Blogger Bloom Day.

Grape Hyacinth

I didn't realize how small grape hyacinth are. The flowers' size reminds me of liriope blooms, very tiny. Next year, I'd like to get the variety of grape hyacinth that is recommended for Texas and plant them in the sunnier spots in my liriope bed to mimic liriope's summer blooms.

Hyacinth

The blooms on the regular hyacinths are still pending, but until then, I can see their resemblance to their grape cousins.

Here's hoping spring comes quickly and I have something more to share for March's Bloom Day.

Hyancith

My hyacinth is blooming! I rescued this bulb after some nighttime varmint (probably a raccoon) dug it from my garden and chomped on it. The bulb was a little spongy and moldy when I found it a few days after the attack, but I gave it a second chance at life and it has responded.


The foliage and flowers on this plant are only about 2.5 inches tall and there isn't a defined stem (yet?). The flowers grow almost directly from the base of the bulb and are protected by the leaves. I was expecting this bulb to perform like the paperwhites that I forced last year. Paperwhites send up a long budded stem and additional foliage that grow almost 10 inches high before the buds break. Hyacinth are different I guess.

As a southern gardener, I don't have much experience with bulbs. (Can you tell?) I hope to change that however. For my birthday, MomMom sent me this book about growing bulbs in warm climates and I've been inspired. I'll keep you posted on my adventures.

Signs of Spring

San Antonio is bracing for a few days of temperatures in the low 20s, but spring is not far off.



This is my neighbor's tree. Isn't it beautiful. It's a shade tree, but I haven't been able to identify it. The leaves are maplelike. They turn red and orange briefly before they fall.


This is my own silver maple in the back yard. I can see buds on a lot of branches, but too many others lack the swollen tips- a reminder that this tree's days are numbered. When the time comes, we're going to replace it with a Mexican White Oak. But for now, it's providing good shade from the west sun.


My hyacinth bloom is turning purple. I'm very excited to watch the process since this is the first season I've planted bulbs.


One more sign of spring: the buds on this Autumn Mini Joy sedum are about to break. That is, if tomorrow's freeze tomorrow doesn't damage them. Today the temperatures are in the high 70s. Tomorrow, we will yo-yo to the 20s, but it won't last long. The plants know. We've passed the threshold; most of the cold days are behind us.

Bulbs

I'm branching into an area of gardening that I've never tried before: flowering bulbs. In the San Antonio, growing bulbs is and intermediate gardening skill. Here, the classic spring bulbs (tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinth) don't get enough chilling time to perennialize so if you want swaths of flowers year after year, you have to dig and refrigerate the bulbs (too much work) or buy varieties that don't need eight to sixteen weeks of cold.


There aren't many nurseries in town (even independent ones) that sell naturalizing bulbs. Shades of Green does, however, and that's where I picked up some huge narcissi -- sugar cups and avalanche. One bad thing about bulbs is that you need to plant at least twelve in a clump to make an impact, and at $2.25 a bulb, the cost adds up fast. But if they multiply each year, it will be a good investment.


Travis bought me these little grape hyacinths from a big box store as a thank you gift. (You know you're a garden nut when your husband buys you bulbs instead of flowers.) Muscari neglectum perennialize easily here, but I think these are muscari armeniacum so I'm probably just whetting my appetite for a big purchase of neglectums next year (neglect 'em, what a descriptive name). I planted the grape hyacinths along with the big narcissus near the driveway where they will be noticed but aren't so close to the sidewalk that neighbors will be tempted to help themselves to a bouquet.


The grape hyacinths came in a bag with some regular hyacinths that I'm certain won't naturalize here, but that's ok. I planted them in my backyard border garden where they will look exotic while I'm waiting for my other plants to fill in.


Another challenging thing about spring bulbs is that you need to buy them in late September when stores start stocking them, but you have to wait until almost November to plant them. (Very hard for an anxious gardener to do.) If you plant them too early, the bulbs misread our warm weather and think it's spring and time to grow (similar to the effect you create when you force bulbs indoors). If you wait to buy them, only the small ones will be left (if there are any at all), and small bulbs mean small flowers.

I waited until mid-October to look for bulbs at Rainbow Gardens and there were only six left. This was one of the best narcissi specimens they had. (The close crop makes it look much bigger than it is). Bummer. Of course I bought all six bulbs because I was afraid Shades of Green would be out too. Kudos to them for keeping a good stock.


This is a ranunculus tuber. It's an annual flower in San Antonio. Travis' special request was for 24 of these -- 12 white and 12 red. I planted them in the backyard between the foundation shrubs. It would be a treat if the ranunculus bloom during Valentine's season.


To get the bulbs off to the best start, I soaked them for a few minutes in a mix of seaweed and liquid fertilizer and then rolled them in dry organic fertilizer. Central Texas Gardener recommended a similar technique in this week's segment about bulbs. (Skip ahead 20 minutes in the episode. If you're interested in bulbs for South Texas, it's a very informative segment. This list of bulbs for San Antonio is also helpful.)


If everything goes as planned, I'll have beautiful flowers to show you in February and March.

In other news, this weekend we planted several veggies and herbs. We're a little late, but maybe they will work out. We planted swiss chard, spinach, leaf lettuce, parsley, cilantro and onions. I also put out the Larkspur seeds that we collected last year.