Showing posts with label Daffodils. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daffodils. Show all posts

Monday, March 11, 2024

Daffodils

 I musn't ignore the daffodils!  They are blooming well.  It was a wet Winter and they seem happy!  Yeah, they want it dry during the Summer/Fall but late Winter rain seems to suit them...

Yesterday, I had the first good blooms.




OK, those last are getting ready to bloom, but they will open in a series of weeks as there are early to late bloomers in the bed.  I did that deliberately.  I wish I had just mixed them all up instead so that there would be blooms all through the bed.  Seeing the bed in quarters of blooms isn't as good as I imagined.  So I think I will start sneaking different-time bloomers among the earliest and latest ones.

There are a few empty spots where some died out so I will mark those spots and plant opposite-time bloomers there.  When you change your mind about some things, there are usually ways to adjust over a few years.


Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Tulips And Other Flowers

The tulips were generally at their best yesterday.   




I used to have a lot more, but there are 2 problems.  First, the voles love them!  They find them almost anywhere.  Second, the fancier ones have short lives.  They are hybridized within an inch of existence for color rather than length of life.  Even if I plant them in wire mesh cages  (small enough to keep voles out but large enough to allow the stems to grow through), they still die younger than standard red ones.

Years ago, I planted perhaps 100 tulips in 2 years.  The first were among the daffodils around the backyard woods.  And some near the deck.  The following Spring, all I found were holes where the voles dug down and ate the bulbs.  The last 2 pics are of the only survivors (and notice they are solid colors). 

You can see how many there used to be...




So, when I established the 25x25' daffodil bed around the birdfeeder, I put the hyacinths and tulips in wire mesh cages.  But even that didn't help much.  At  8 bulbs per cage, about 10 cages, 80 bulbs...  I have 8 left and a few that are just leaves this year but might bloom next year.

I plan to dig up the cages in June when the leaves die back and try again.  But this time with standard old red tulips in the Fall.  They will stand out among the daffodils better anyway.

I have no idea why the caged hyacinths all died out.  They are usually long-lived if not eaten by voles.  Maybe the hyacinth stems are too thick for the wire mesh.  Maybe I'll try putting them in slightly larger mesh and surround them with sharp gravel chips.  I've read that deters voles very well.  

I want more hyacinths.  The fragrance is wonderful!

Friday, April 7, 2023

Cut Daffodils

I learned a few years ago that cut daffodils keep their color when dried.  But they do fall apart eventually.  So I went and cut some from the largest patches where their absence won't be noticed much.  They are is glasses of water for now, but will be hung upside down to dry in a week...



 And some even have a nice fragrance!

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Daffodils

A series of how the blooms change in the bed...  The various daffs were planted to bloom in anti-clockwise rotation.  Well, it seemed a good idea at the time.  









 

Friday, March 24, 2023

Spring Blooms, Part 3

Catching up to yesterday...

The Saucer Magnolia tree flowers were fully opened.  But there was a hard freeze 25F lat night.  This will be the end of the flowers.  But no reason not to show them on their last day...



The Daffodils don't mind the freeze.  Someone should splice the Daffodil "antifreeze" into Saucer Magnolias!

But even Daffodils (and other Spring Bulbs) don't last forever, so I walked around the yard taking pictures.  It is always tricky as how to show them off best.  I planted most randomly over several years, so even I am surprised at what comes up and blooms.  This is just a part of the backyard.

I planted 100s of Hyacinths 25 years ago.  The voles love them!  One spot of 20 has 3 left.  I appreciate them.

This Fall, I will make wire cages to keep voles out and replant Hyacinths.  The fragrance is wonderful, so it is worth the effort.

Meanwhile, the Daffodils thrive.  So I took pictures...




 I love the various white/yellow/orange colors.  They really get me out into the yard (as do the cats, but both together is great)... 

Some Tulips will come later.  I see the leaves emerging.

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Spring Blooms, Part 2

 A week ago (still going with the recently found pics).  The Daff were still blooming well.  It is a joy to see them from the deck.


And the backyard Saucer Magnolia is still in full flower.  We had non-freezing nights for a week.

The frontyard one gets less sunlight, so it is also behind the other by about a week.  But it is looking good.  I sometimes notice neighborhood walkers stop and look at it carefully.  Well, it is pink, but it obviously isn't a cherry tree.  

The front Daffodil bed is in full bloom.  They last a couple of weeks in bloom.  But they seem to live forever.  These have been growing there happily for 30 years.  I do need to dig up the wild blackberries that are growing in there, though or they will take over.

There are an early and a late variety mixed there.  It extends the blooming season.  But the latter one actually has some fragrance (which is not common for Daffodils).  It is nice to smell flowers in Mid-Spring.

In May, the Hostas will emerge and show all Summer to Fall.  The Daffodils and Hostas get along together just fine.  I've also ordered some plants that are "deer-resistent" to deter them.

The deer won't eat the Daffodils, but they love Hostas.  Even then, though, they love some Hostas less than others (because of fuzzier leaves).  So those are in among the Daffodils now.  And I plan to place dark green vinyl cages around those Hostas (they are invisible from the street).

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Spring Blooms, Part 1

I found the pictures I thought I had lost.  Turned out I messed up my filing system.  I keep my processed (smaller) pics by subject (cats/yard/house/family/other), then by year and subfolders for each by month and day.  So the columns of folders (today) look like CATS - 2023 - 2303 -230321, with a dozen or so pics in the "23030321" last folder.  Well, it's the only way I can find stuff anyway...  I don't give pics names.

So, I managed to accidentally save my recent YARD processed pics to the wrong subfolder.  I found them today while processing the newest ones, LOL!  At least they were still "somewhere".

So the next few days are not "today" pics...  Couple weeks ago at first, but I will catch up quickly.

The earliest Daffodils were blooming nicely.  I planted them by blooming date, so the blooms rotate left.  If I had a "do-over" I would have mixed them all together so that there was some color all over the bed.  I mixed 2 in the front bed and I like that better.  But the back bed does make a nice slideshow as things change.

The earliest views from the deck...




The backyard Saucer Magnolia tree bloomed beautifully this year.  Some years a last frost kill the flowers early, sometimes they last a week.  

A closeup of the flowers.  

I became fascinated with Saucer Magnolias when I worked in central Washington DC.   There was a small park next to us.  The National Park Service had done a lot of limb-shaping work, so the trees were open but heavily-flowered.  I used to eat lunch out there in early Spring.

What I didn't know at the time was how much effort it takes to guide the direction of branches for that "open look" and how long it takes for them to mature to that "graceful old look"!

I planted my 2 about 25-30 years ago, and they are still barely mature and the "graceful old look" is at least another 25 years away.  I will never see it.  But I still love them (I think of them as in their "teenage years"; they are a promise to the future.  

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Spring Flowers- Last Week

The Crocuses were in full bloom in the lawn and beds.  The very earliest Daffodils were opening their flowers...





The Daffodils beds are almost ready...






It will be full-flower soon! 

  ---------------

Huh, I took a few dozen pics of The Mews, Flowers, and Yard the past few days and they are all gone.   I had expected to show closeups of the first large beds of this year's Daffodil flowers, some garden work and they are all gone!    No idea what happened.  I'll have to try again later today. 

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Crocuses And Daffodils

 Early for crocuses here, but climate change is happening.


Some daffodils seem ready to bloom soon, too.  Not yet, but here is a picture from last year...


I'm looking forward to that soon.

Looking Up

 While I was outside with The Mews, I laid back and looked up.  I thought the tree branches and the clouds were kind of nice. Nothing import...