Fall Bulb Orders

Half an inch of needed rain fell on Wednesday night. Days are summery but not uncomfortable now.

The bulbs I want to plant this fall have been ordered:

More daffodils for naturalizing on the back hill. Last spring the 150 I planted looked cheerful, but were oddly clumped in a ring around the small Norway spruce. I need more to drift off to the left and right sides. I ordered The Works from Whiteflower Farm, another 100 bulbs.

I wanted drifts of daffodils! Not circles. Need more.

More globe alliums in a line weaving through the fragrant sumac. I got more of the same purples and whites that I originally planted: Stratos, Gladiator, and Mt. Everest, all from Whiteflower Farm as a collection. My strategy worked well last spring -- the bulbs were tall and dramatic, and then the decaying foliage disappeared under the late emerging sumacs.

These tall stalks of flowers look best when there are lots of them massed.

Stars of Bethlehem. I ordered 50 Ornithogalum magnum bulbs to spread around all of the gardens for early summer white frilliness. I liked the look very much when I saw the white spikes repeated all over Katherine & Chip's garden early this summer. I ordered them from John Scheepers. Katherine says they spread and move about on their own.

These white spikes were scattered all around
Katherine's garden, and very pretty.

More little irises. I got a few more (25) tiny iris reticulata bulbs, this time a clear medium blue called 'Gordon' to add to the small field of early April blooming tiny irises by the front door. Also from John Scheepers.

'Gordon' has some interesting tiger striping on its little blooms.

Re-establish drumstick alliums. I posted about the complete loss of all the drumstick alliums this summer. All gone. I don't know if the tiny bulbs survived for another season, but I do know many were disrupted as I dug around in the gardens, since I could not see any foliage and didn't know where they were. I got 100 more from John Scheepers -- just a start at replacing what I had.

Last year the drumsticks were so sweet. This year not a one appeared.

This summer I put Allium Millennium in terra cotta planters on the deck. They have been great. They bloom forever and the foliage has stayed nice, not all ratty like most onions get. I will put these in the ground, at the front of Meadow's Edge. They're small, happy, purple blooming little plants.

Allium Millenium, blooming all July. The foliage stays looking ok.

I didn't order any more for this fall; they can be planted in spring as they are summer blooming plants. I may want to order more next year,