Critical mass approaches

Maybe 10 years from now I’ll finally be satisfied that I’ve planted enough species tulips to make a decent show, but they’re getting there. It does take a lot of these dainty flowers to create any kind of presence. It’s all very well to take macro shots of them, but I’d like them to have more drama to the naked eye. Not to complain: like almost everyone else that is posting today for GBBD, I have more flowers than I would expect for this time of year: bulbs, early perennials, and shrubs alike.


And it seems to be universal: on a drive today, I saw many trees in bloom, including magnolias and cherries (though it seems early for them), as well as forsythia blazing everywhere. I went on an abbreviated wildflower hunt through a local preserve, but didn’t see much other than some mayapples, ferns and shrubs just beginning to leaf out.


It finally occurred to me that I could get the same drama from big hybrid daffodils that I do from hybrid tulips later in the season, so after having rejected them for years, last fall I planted 25 Eudora doubles to join the (what I assume to be) Ice Follies that have been hanging on in the garden since before I moved here. Clearly, daffs will perennialize easily even in my conditions, so it’s about time I gave in to that. Though the Eudoras are likely fussier. It is interesting how they mature from yellow to apricot.



There is also interesting color variation in the hellebores this year. Where once I thought I had two white varieties in the back, this year one clump is distinctly light mauve.


And I’d love to know for sure what these red species types are; I’ve had them for a while and the ordering information is long gone. But that’s what species tulips are for—to have them so long you forget what they are.