Promises...

Earlier this week, I went to New Garden Nursery to buy some little yellow violas (I call them Johnnies) because I know that in January I will desperately need the color they provide. There will be nothing else happening in my garden until February so these cheerful little guys will have to get me through a month of bleakness. On my way to the violas - o.k., so it wasn't the direct route - I went past the bulb display, now with a sign declaring the bulbs 25% off. To make a long story short, I came home with my Johnnies AND a bag of bulbs.




Bulbs are amazing. They are small packages holding so much potential. They don't appear to offer much, but we plant them, knowing they promise to bring beauty and joy. I did indeed plant my bulbs even though it was a couple days into December and the planting time clearly indicated that they should be planted September - November. Does the little bulb know that it is being planted Dec. 2 instead of Nov. 30? I don't think so. It still will probably get enough time in the ground and in the cold to do its thing before it is required to burst forth in the spring.




I have tried growing Muscari botryoides before, both the white form (Album) and the pale blue form. Both times the plants were already blooming when I bought them. Neither survived to grow and bloom again the next year. Somewhere a gardener wrote that he gives any particular plant at least 3 chances. That sounds like a good idea to me and so Muscari botryoides 'Album' gets another opportunity. Maybe this time it will live from year to year for me, slowly naturalizing in my garden.

Now I wait for spring and a promise to be fulfilled.



Have a beautiful day!