Spring continues....

[jennlk]

although we're still way down on rain -- less than a quarter inch since Saturday. It sure looks like we'll get some today, but dunno how much. I tried to weed in the E garden on Monday, but the weeds were just breaking off at ground level, so I went to weed around the pond where it was more shaded. And then a toad started trilling a few feet away. I flinched. :)

The bleeding hearts in the front flowerbed survived the freeze - a few stems died, but the plants just sent up new stems, and now there's sprays of both red and white. The peonies in the E garden are about 18" tall and leafy, but no flowerbuds to be seen. (It's way early for them - they usually don't flower until Memorial Day or so.) The wild tulips have flowered and gone, but they were pretty while they lasted. They're spreading nicely, too. The crabapple in the front yard is covered with white blossoms. I hope we don't get a storm today, because they'll all get lost - that happened last year, and the birdies were dismayed when winter came and the tree only had about a tenth of the fruit it usually does.

DB got his second jab on Tuesday, and it seems to have whacked him with the tired stick, but he says that other than that he's fine. J got a late arriving headache & fatigue, but they went away with a couple of doses of ibuprofen.

The bathroom project is now done, which means that J has left tools all over, but the work is actually done (although the caulking at the top of the shower walls is a bit messy.

FCB rehearsals start next week. (I s'pose I should increase my practice time.) I have been asked to show up early for setup. We're not doing chairs, but marking the spacing for people to set up their own gear. Livingston doesn't start for another few weeks, but they're doing outdoor rehearsals.

Comments

[minnehaha]

Tell more about wild tulips.

K. [please]

[jennlk]

They're probably more correctly called "species" or "botanical" tulips, but they're much closer to the tulips native to Turkey, etc. They've not been hybridized for size/color as the "standard" tulips that everyone thinks of when they hear "tulip".

They're short with small, starry flowers, often multiple blooms per plant, and flower very early. The flowers only open in the daylight, and close up when it gets dark. The foliage is inconspicuous, so that when the flowers aren't open it's hard to see the plants in a full garden.

These red-purple ones are my favorite, unless I happen to be looking at the doorside garden that's full of the yellow and white dasystemons amd turkestanicas.

no recommendation implied by links; these may or may not be where I got the bulbs (it's been close to 20 years, I don't remember. I know I didn't get them from White Flower Farm).

[minnehaha]

You get TWENTY YEARS out of spring bulbs? Jeez. I have never heard of such a thing, except for scylla, which people are naturalizing all over the place now.

I recall species tulips exist; thanks for pointing them out to me again.

K.

[jennlk]

huh. Most of my spring bulbs were planted 15-20 years ago. I had to split the standard yellow daffodils about five years ago, but usually I just cut off the dead flowers and weed around them. I have three different varieties of daffodils, three or four varieties of species tulips, windflowers, blue-eyed grass, grape hyacinths (the little purple ones), and a bunch of 'assorted spring bulbs' -- things I could figure out what they were if I cared enough.

The fancy Darwin-style tulips and the big hyacinths and the crown imperial only lasted a few years before they stopped flowering, so I filled those spots with smaller bulbs that last much longer.