I always plant tulips. I’ve had beautiful ruffled pink ones, and fringed parrot ones, standard, double, lily flowering, you name it, I’ve tried them. I rarely see any in my garden.
They don’t like the soil or the light levels, or something, or maybe they get eaten over the winter, who knows? Fact is I don’t normally see tulips in spring. There are two exceptions to this rule: a beautiful West Point variety, bright yellow, with splendid lily flowering tulips on long, slender stems, and now this.
Don’t judge, I can tell it is a standard tulip with no remarkable qualities, but it managed to make it to year two, which is rare, and it’s not even in full sun, so I’m counting my blessings.
From what I gathered I don’t plant tulip bulbs deep enough, but I doubt that is the only reason. Over many years of gardening plants taught me they have veto rights about where they are willing to grow, and I suffered many pangs of guilt over watching them wither pitifully, despite all my caring and effort. In such situations I just accept the fact that I am not going to grow that particular plant and move on.
Meanwhile April Fool brought the rain instead of the cold, and with it more excuses to postpone the spring cleaning.
By the time I get to it, I’ll be harvesting seeds for next year.
Main Areas: Garden Writing; Sustainable Gardening; Homegrown Harvest
Published Books: “Terra Two”; “Generations”; "The Plant - A Steampunk Story"; "Letters to Lelia"; "Fair"; "Door Number Eight"; "A Year and A Day"; "Möbius' Code"; "Between Mirrors"
Career Focus: Author; Consummate Gardener;
Affiliation: All Year Garden; The Weekly Gardener; Francis Rosenfeld's Blog
I started blogging in 2010, to share the joy of growing all things green and the beauty of the garden through the seasons. Two garden blogs were born: allyeargarden.com and theweeklygardener.com, a periodical that followed it one year later. I wanted to assemble an informal compendium of the things I learned from my grandfather, wonderful books, educational websites, and my own experience, in the hope that other people might use it in their own gardening practice.