The Moon of the Bulbs

October is, if you're provident, a good time to plant bulbs, although you should really wait till November to plant tulips here. This year I was on the early side with my orders, and have planted the following to date:
96 chionodoxa (deep blue) in the corner garden among the oakleaf hydrangeas. No, it won't look quite like this picture, but my hope is that the corner will eventually be a sea of blue in early spring
6 fringed yellow tulips under the aucuba (golden echoes)
8 dozen more Tommy crocuses under the maple tree
2 dozen more English bluebells (hyancinthoides non-scripta) under the oak tree
4 dozen Scilla Siberica in the walkway garden

Still to be planted are General de Wet tulips (fragrant, orange, probably under the butterfly bush), and a mixture for the front door pot that I lifted from one of Emma T's columns (it's the In the Still of the Night collection). It is supposed to be a mysterious, elegant mix of black, cream and mauve tulips and hyacinths. We'll see.

Also planted are two flats of pansies and a flat of spinach in the raised bed.

Because of the impending Paris trip, I called Brent and Becky and asked them to ship the order right away. With any luck, I'll be able to get them all in the ground next weekend.

Three projects

Having all this time to garden means doing more than the routine maintenance. No, new peaks must be scaled! Hence three projects, at least two of which will test my abilities.


The first is the expansion of the back corner, which was looking awfully bare after the forsythia was grubbed out a year or so ago. The current plan is to plant three oakleaf hydrangeas 'Alice' that should provide height and mass (plus three-season interest). (My sources claim they grow 10-15' in height and width, though their label claims only 8' - we'll see.) Then I'll underplant with hostas, spring bulbs, etc. Here is the project so far. And here are the plants waiting to be planted.






Second is a raised bed beside the cutting garden which will be a home to sun-loving annuals and vegetables. The very nice man at Home Depot assured me I could do this. Yes, but... Here is the lumber, and below is a picture of the raised bed frame, a bit cattywompus because I had to use screws and a drill instead of my sewing machine.



 

The third is putting up the trellis, which I did today with a little help from Alison as to moving and placing everything. At its feet are the cardinal climber vines, eager to clamber up the trellis. (Or is it an arbor?)

And the fourth of the three projects is to get rid of the grass underneath the viburnums. Newspaper and mulch on their way!

The June Garden

It's been dry, dry, dry, Dulles reporting the least rainfall ever for the month of May. I've watered the front gardens and the white garden although I feel guilty about it, but I have to keep that bloodroot alive!



Here's a piece of garden statuary that finally has a home on the weathered fence.

And just across from it is the oakleaf hydrangea 'Snowflake' that has traveled around the garden - first under the oak tree, then along the fence in the white garden - until finding its final resting place (I hope) next to the back door. It's drooping just a bit, so I may sneak out and give it a drink later today.


Thunderstorms are promised for Sunday, but what we really need is a good, soaking rain. * which we got all day on Sunday, thanks to tropical storm Barry. 1 1/3 inches!