Reporter's Reflections Archive

I couldn’t help myself. I came home from shopping Saturday with new flower bulbs, which made me bring out the other bulbs that I have had tucked away since fall, which led me to the garden with a shovel.

I know, I know. It’s way too early. But I only took samples of each to plant in the ground, so I won’t kill them all at once.

 I couldn’t help myself. I had to get my hands in the dirt.

 Even so, I planted about 25 Gladiola bulbs of the hundreds Judy Wolfram gave me last fall, two Daylilies, 25 Ranunculus, and a couple of others. I held back planting the new, purple, Dinner Plate Dahlia. I also have my Stink Lilies to put out.

 I buried the ones I did put out as deep as I dared, hoping the extra dirt over them will protect them this week. We’ll see.

 While piddling around, I did see signs of the florals already residing in the gardens. My Daylilies are already sprouting, and Daffodils are not yet open, but almost bursting. I planted orange Daylilies when I moved here, which have multiplied profusely over the past seven years. Last year, I started pink ones in places, and the new ones this year are red.

 Iris (mine are purple) and Liatris (also purple) have peeked through as well. The Forsythia is blooming. The Lilac and Rose of Sharon have buds on them. The Bearded Iris look as if they might all be big enough to bloom this year, and my Asiatic Lilies? Well, that’s a whole story in itself.

 I started with three of them: red, yellow and orange. Then the Forsythia bush got too big, and I dug up the Lilies to move them where they would have more space. Having removed them all (or so I thought), I covered the entire area in a thick layer of newspaper, and spread it all over with mulch.

 Two summers later, when the newspaper finally disintegrated, I had almost 100 lily sprouts come up through the ground. It appears that I missed a few starts off of the originals, which grew a network of offshoots all throughout the ground because they couldn’t break through.

 The first year they appeared, they didn’t grow four feet tall. They simply bloomed right on the ground. Last year, I began dividing them again. I thought I planted about four or five of the little bulblets together when I relocated. To my surprise, this weekend I discovered that 10, 12, up to 15, have sprouted from the same mounds.

 This should be interesting. I can’t divide them this year though. I’m out of garden room. This week, I have plans to dig some Hibiscus that grow wild along the road, and I placed an order for Lavender, Mexican Shellflowers, Butterfly Glads, and Fairy Lilies. I am out of garden space. What to do?

 I guess I’ll be expanding my flower beds again this year, or, I can send the overflow flowers to Grantsville’s Beautiful Blooms campaign and let them plant the flowers around town. Hmmmm.