by Christie Purifoy | Apr 22, 2020
Say the word daffodil, and we tend to picture flowers like the beautiful ‘Ice Follies’ seen in the picture above.
But daffodils (properly called narcissus) come in so many varieties. I love the unique “fancy” daffodils, and any daffodil with scent. Here are some of my favorites:
- Bridal Crown: A delicate, ruffled, scented daffodil that grows well in containers.
- Gay Tabor: Like a scented cream puff with hints of orange. Delicious.
- Thalia: Pure white, delicate, very elegant.
- Rijnveld’s Early Sensation: The earliest-blooming daffodil I grow. A reliable and cheerful splash of yellow in late winter.
- Poet’s Daffodil (poeticus recurvus): The latest daffodil to flower. Gorgeous, wild shape and wonderful scent
by Christie Purifoy | Apr 21, 2020
First, let me say this: my yard is un-fenced, and deer roam freely. Deer LOVE tulips.
What’s a gardener to do?
Plant daffodils. And that’s no joke! Daffodils come in so many beautiful colors and shapes, it really is no loss to plant masses of them in my flower garden, along the wooded edges of our property, in pots, and just about anywhere else I can think of.
But I still want tulips. So, I plant them in three ways. None are foolproof, but together these strategies ensure at least a few tulips every spring:
- I plant tulips near our house, especially highly trafficked areas like doorways. I find that deer are less likely to eat these tulips.
- I plant tulips in containers (see yesterday’s post in “How To”), then keep those pots in the house or on a table.
- I planted tulips in my vegetable garden: my old vegetable garden was fenced. Each fall, I would plant two raised beds with tulip bulbs. In the spring, I would cut those flowers for the house. By the time the tulips were finished flowering, it was time to plant warm-weather loving tomatoes.
Here are some of my favorite tulip varieties:
Rem’s Favourite: (Pictured above) Purple and white streaks like an antique Dutch “Tulipmania” flower
Blushing Lady: Elegant tulip in pale pink and yellow. Great for cutting.
Dream Touch: Easily the most beautiful tulip I’ve grown. Ideal for cutting and bringing indoors to enjoy the silver-tipped layers. Almost looks like a peony.
Foxtrot and Foxy Foxtrot: Beautiful double tulips in pink and salmon.
Ollioules: One of the most perennial tulips I have grown. A beautiful, silvery pink for flowerbeds. This one does look best against a green backdrop, as the pale color can get a bit lost in the garden.
Queen of Night: Tall, rich purple, almost black. A stunning tulip in the garden or flower arrangement.
White Triumphator: My favorite for the flower garden and for planting around our house. Begins ivory and turns pure white. An elegant, tall, lily-shaped tulip.
by Christie Purifoy | Apr 20, 2020
I love to grow spring-blooming bulbs like daffodils and tulips in pots.
Not only is it easy to do (you pot up the bulbs in fall when you would normally plant them in the ground), but when spring comes, you have the option to move your pots around wherever you’d like a splash of spring color.
Two things to keep in mind:
- Most tulip varieties do not return well the following year. After my tulips finish blooming, I add the bulbs to my compost heap and use the container for a new arrangement.
- Daffodils are much more reliable perennials (and unappetizing to deer and other animals!). After my potted daffodils finish blooming, I pull out the whole clump and replant it somewhere sunny in my garden. The green daffodil leaves will continue feeding the bulbs, and I’ll have daffodils in that spot next year.
Bulbs in pots can be planted more shallowly and closer together than when we plant them in our yards.
Here is my process:
- Using clean pots and freely-draining potting soil (I sometimes make my own by adding vermiculite to a heavier purchased potting soil), place a single layer of bulbs in your container, a few inches below the surface, depending on the size of the bulb. Bigger bulbs can be planted a little more deeply. Plant them very closely but not touching. Leave enough space to cover with soil up to an inch or so below the surface of your pot. If you fill your pot to the top, you will lose soil every time you water. I also like to cover my soil with fine gravel or pebbles. Then, when I water in spring, the soil doesn’t splash up and dirty my flowers.
- Label and water very well.
- Place in a dry, protected place that will stay cold but not too cold over the winter. Bulbs need winter cold in order to bloom, but when they are planted in the ground, soil insulates them from the worst temperature extremes. A cold garage is a good place to keep them until they begin to push up green growth in the spring.
- Don’t water again until growth begins in spring. Gradually introduce your containers to the bright outdoor light in spring.
I recommend ordering bulbs in the spring when it’s easy to look around and see what you’d like to grow. Your mail-order company (I like Brent and Becky’s Bulbs in Virginia) will then mail you your bulbs at the right time for planting in the fall.
by Christie Purifoy | Apr 17, 2020
I love adding books to my gardening library that are both beautiful and informative.
With that object in mind, I’ve learned to seek out the books with photographs by Georgianna Lane.
Vintage Roses: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden is one of my favorites. It will inspire you to add new roses to your collection, and it will look simply stunning on your coffee table.
Other books with Georgianna’s signature photographs? Peonies: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden and Dahlias: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden.
by Christie Purifoy | Apr 16, 2020
I’d never had a lilac of my own until we moved to Maplehurst in Pennsylvania. They don’t grow in the deep south where I grew up.
I didn’t even recognize the lilac for what it was–I’m embarrassed to admit this–for several years. The reason is that our old lilac shrub hardly bloomed at all, and the blooms it did have were high and hidden.
My lilac was in desperate need of rejuvenation through a good and thorough pruning.
I realized this only after bringing home a wonderful book: Lee Reich’s The Pruning Book.
I bought that book because I needed to learn how to prune our fruit trees, but the book rescued my lilac.
Two things to consider:
- Some old lilacs have been pruned into beautiful tree shapes. DO NOT cut back those thick, beautiful trunks. Instead, rejuvenate in a way that adds to their beauty: cutting out dead or diseased wood, cutting back any suckers to the ground, trimming back any over-long, drooping limbs, cutting out some of the thin, wispy growth in order to introduce more air and light into the center of the lilac.
- If your old lilac is a twiggy, shrubby mess like mine was you can drastically cut it back (an easy approach but the lilac won’t look good again for a few years) or gradually prune (a little more time consuming but maintains the appeal of the shrub from year to year).
I chose to gradually rejuvenate my lilac, but even the very next spring I had far more beautiful flowers. Here is what I did:
- First, I removed big, old stems that were pointing in directions I didn’t like. I cut them back right at the ground.
- Second, I cut out some old stems from the crowded middle of the shrub, again, cutting back down to the ground.
- Then, I thinned out some of the younger stems so the shrub wasn’t too crowded overall.
- Finally, I cut back some stems that were too long and drooping. I didn’t cut them to the ground, just trimmed them back a bit.
For on-going maintenance, the best time to prune a lilac is just after the blooms fade.
