Saturday, October 15, 2011

Bulbs, distracted


Tulip bulbs ready to go to bed. This heap is only for the camera, I thought they looked so delicious... in reality I left much more space between the bulbs.

Yesterday, I tried to get some bulbs into the ground and into some pots and containers, but got severely distracted by our puppy Milo. She thought it was a great game trying to steal them from me, or to tear up the paper bags up and then hunt after the pieces in the wind. She was on tether, but after a while the subsequent yelping made me release her against the advice from our personal puppy trainer (only in America! :-). I admit that I'm still far from being a professional, consequent dog owner who knows how to handle these situations.

Porcelain blue Muscari armeniacum 'Valerie Finnis', which I planted in an Italian terracotta pot. I love these tightly planted in low containers, ready to lifted to places where they can be enjoyed at close distance in early spring.

Milo really is a major distraction to about everything in my life for the moment. Totally cute and lovely, but so much hard work, and I must admit that I wasn't prepared enough for either. So, instead of some well composed bulb photos, I'm just reverting to a couple of pics from last year (bulbs in pots) and some stolen from the bulb sellers website (I hope Van Bloem takes this as marketing and not stealing).

Anyway, here is what I planted:

Three large containers in my backyard:
White, green-striped lily flowering Tulipa 'Green Star' in the first container
Black Tulipa 'Queen of Night' in the second (I wonder how this will go, might be too strong combination)
Tulipa Clusiana in the third (cheery, hopefully only not too... but then I'll just lift it somewhere else)
all combined with Anemone blanda 'White Splendour'

Two smaller containers for the entrance:
Porcelain blue Muscari armeniacum 'Valerie Finnis' with Narcissus cyclamineus 'Jenny' in the first
Fritillaria meleagris mix in the second

For the front yard, amongst creeping Prunus laurocerasus:
Allium Schubertii (9 bulbs in total, just to see if it works - I don't want them to be too showy, but I've always wanted to grow this bulb and it never came up in Sweden, is was too cold)

I just love planting bulbs in containers, so I'm still hungry for planting more, there were so many temptations at the local nursery. We'll see, maybe in a week or two, if Milo allows me...

Tulipa 'Green Star'

4 comments:

Gardener in the Distance said...

Liisa, your grape hyacinths are sensational. I have a hard time trying to get good results from bulbs like tulips, with our heat and dryness, but want to persist.
I know these dog trainers tell you to be your dog's boss, but I've never taken to that idea, and prefer to be my dog's friend.

Ruben said...

Har du verkligen så många tulpanlökar i samma kruka? Trodde man skulle ha ett litet mellanrum mellan dem.

Ha det gott!
/Ruben

The Intercontinental Gardener said...

Faisal, I agree with you, I don't like military training in any forms, not for kids and not for dogs. I think we are going to understand each other, Milo already listens and does many things, and I can see she is working things out in her head.

Ruben, den bilden blev så bara för kameran, jag tyckte att lökarna såg så läckra ut... jag ska nog sätta en liten förklaring under bilden, annars ser det ju lite tokigt ut egentligen! Vilken trängsel av tulpaner det skulle bli!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I bought the 'Green Star' tulip to plant in my garden and am so excited I can't for spring! Such a beautiful form and flowers with green just charm me.