Monday, February 18, 2019

Intro to My February Bulbs

Lent lily aka wild daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus)

It's been a long, rainy and dismal winter but then February happened. It's still rainy and sometimes dismal but Mother Nature decided it was time for spring. I'm all for it.

I thought I'd show you a few of the bulbs that started popping this month plus a video of my backyard. By the way, you can see these photos and more on my Instagram feed, where I'm spending more time these days.

First up in the first photo above is always my first daffodil (as opposed to the paperwhites that bloom earlier) - Lent lily. This is as reliable as it gets. After 14 years of living in north Louisiana I'm still in awe of these daffodils and others that grow wild around here. Most of the bulbs that I grow in my yard are considered heirloom bulbs. Some I've gotten from friends, some from old homesteads (with permission!!), some from Old House Gardens, and some from Colorblends.

'February Gold'

Although Lent lily is usually the first daff bloom, 'February Gold' is becoming a contender for that title. I truly wish I had more of these. The blooms last forever and they're quite cheerful looking, aren't they?

N. x incomparablis

The next reliable and extremely floriferous daffodil in my yard is N. x incomparablis. I used to call this one 'Stella' but I'm fortunate to have a true daffodil expert as a friend (Celia Jones), and she has set me straight on this one. Many people confuse it as I did but the true 'Stella' has white petals.

'Ice Follies'

'Ice Follies' does very well in the South. I have a patch of them in the front corner of my yard that I won from a raffle at the Gibsland "Jonquil Jubilee." Lucky me! But they're also the ones that survive best from mixed bags of daffs that I've planted in the past.

Unknown type of Muscari armeniacum aka grape hyacinth

My friend Travis gave me one bulb of an unknown type of grape hyacinth that he got from a friend. It's much shorter and fatter than other grape hyacinths I've grown. Case in point is the next one.

M. armeniacum 'Alida'

My 'Alida' grape hyacinths are more like others I've seen. This is my second year for growing this variety in both pots and in the ground and I'm very impressed. You also can't beat the fragrance.

Unknown type of hellebore (aka Lenten rose)

Where would we be without hellebores this time of year? Last year my hellebores didn't do so well. Come to think of it, last year was not that great a year for my daffodils either. But this year they're all doing better.

Another unknown variety of hellebore

I've been rather lazy lately when it comes to taking photos of the garden. In fact, most of my photos these days (including all of the ones in this post) are taken with my iPhone. I've also been trying to take more videos because I think that really tells a better story of the garden. So here's my first attempt at embedding one in a blog post. You'll see a panorama starting with the rock wall garden and the patio up top, then the woodland garden in the back corner, then the square beds and the pergola on the side, and then the bed under the giant shortleaf pine tree. The video is taken from our back porch after I did some garden cleanup. Hope you enjoy!




This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2019. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

4 comments:

  1. The first blooms of the year are always special. Makes us think winter might be over although we haven't had much of one-yet! I'm impressed with your grape hyacinths. Compared with mine those are really stocky. Mine have thin whips leaves which look a mess. If I thought I got them all out last year I was wrong. Next year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your spring flowers are beautiful, Jean, and I really enjoyed your video of your garden. It looks like such a welcoming place! Thanks for the encouragement that spring is on the way!

    ReplyDelete
  3. nice job with the video. I've tried doing this but need to practice more! And your space is quite generous; more than I realized when you show plant pix.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a treat to see your spring blooms, Jean! It's sunny here today with temps warming up for a few day, but then back to that dreaded "wintry mix." I'm afraid it will be awhile before I see daffodils or any other blooms in my garden.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for visiting! I truly appreciate your visit and comments. If you ask me a question in your comment, I will answer it here.