OT: Bulbs. So many bulbs

[brettjm]

I'm taking advantage of a cool/windy/rainy day on Sunday to beat the mosquitoes (which have not missed a beat here in GA, despite being early November). I'm going to plant a truly spectacular amount of bulbs. I even scored double with Bulbsdirect after a shipment got lost for well over a month and they sent a replacement. Much to my amazement, the original order arrived a few weeks after my replacement order.

Anyways, I've got the following

50x yellow trumpet daffodils (the gold standard for daffodils)
15x Ice follies (white daffodils)
9x paperwhite Zivas
144x muscari armeniacum (a few varieties)
4x blue hyacinth
40x ruby giant crocus
40x Prince Claus crocus

I did a bunch of squats at the gym on Thursday and my legs are already killing me. If I can walk on Monday it will truly be a miracle. The cruelty of it all is: its not even my yard. We rent. But we plan on being here for at least 3-4 years, and I can't stand having a dull yard. Wish me luck!

[newnandawg]

Have fun with that Brett. I have planted a lot in my day but not that many at one time. You must have all the mosquitos up there. Hardly any 125 miles from you, LoL

[brettjm]

Have fun with that Brett. I have planted a lot in my day but not that many at one time. You must have all the mosquitos up there. Hardly any 125 miles from you, LoL

They're brutal. Our neighbor tells me that there are two other folks nearby who have swimming pools in their yard that look like swamps. I get the distinct feeling that has a lot to do with it. We're putting up a bat box this spring. Doubt it will help much, but at least I know SOME of them will get eaten.

[strudeldog]

Brett,

I am a bulb lover,

At my prior residence I planted many thousand bulbs over the years, mostly Narcissus/Daffodils, kind of hurt to leave them, but I did dig up about 10 of the old standard Paper grocery bags full and planted at my new place and you could not even notice the old place had been touched the next spring. You need to check out Gibbs Garden here in Ga. The Narcissus plantings are stunning.

[brettjm]

Brett,

I am a bulb lover,

At my prior residence I planted many thousand bulbs over the years, mostly Narcissus/Daffodils, kind of hurt to leave them, but I did dig up about 10 of the old standard Paper grocery bags full and planted at my new place and you could not even notice the old place had been touched the next spring. You need to check out Gibbs Garden here in Ga. The Narcissus plantings are stunning.

Just checked out their website. Those are some stunning photos. Will definitely have to check it out sometime...that's only a couple hours from here.

Meanwhile, I'm contemplating where to plant all these bulbs in the yard so that the deer will be least likely to consume them! Its the crocus I'm worried about...The deer here eat everything. EVERYTHING.

[strudeldog]

Brett,

The deer will not touch your Narcissus. The biggest issue I had with crocus was the Squirrels right after planting, after established not so much an issue. Your Ruby Giant are tommasinianus, my favorite of the crocus species as they divide/multiple quicker and even seed about and are somewhat Squirrel resistant. Gibbs garden is close to me and about every other year I purchase a season pass. A great Japanese garden which I enjoy. The Daffodil is literally entire hillsides.

[brettjm]

Brett,

The deer will not touch your Narcissus. The biggest issue I had with crocus was the Squirrels right after planting, after established not so much an issue. Your Ruby Giant are tommasinianus, my favorite of the crocus species as they divide/multiple quicker and even seed about and are somewhat Squirrel resistant. Gibbs garden is close to me and about every other year I purchase a season pass. A great Japanese garden which I enjoy. The Daffodil is literally entire hillsides.

Yeah, the deer never seem to want them at the previous place. Not sure about how the other bulbs will fare against them though.

[COGardener]

Looks like a good start Bret! I to went bulb crazy at one time, I have 1000's of them and they have been naturalizing most of the places I planted them. I bought a bulb auger... man what a time saver!!!

Enjoy planting them all and really enjoy the show come spring.

[jmaler]

Should be a spectacular show next spring. Try to remember to post pics.

[jkuo]

I went a little crazy with the bulb planting myself this year. My original intent was to use some bulbs to fill in a back corner of the yard and add some color under some trees. Then I decided to take my 4 y.o. to Lowes to keep him occupied. I let him pick the daffodils and tulips, and naturally he heads straight for the econo packs. So, I blame my children for the extra bulb planting work I had to do this fall, but the flip side is that come spring, I can perk up my son's interest in the yard by telling him that the daffodils and tulips were his choice.

[WillsC]

I do miss daffodils. Back in PA they were such a welcome sight after the brutal winters.

[aphahn]

It's going to be awesome! I use one of these and it makes planting tons of bulbs a snap. Only have to bend over to put them in the hole, I even skip that by having my kids do it.

http://www.proplugger.com/

[cis4elk]

Cool tool, thanks for adding that Andy. It looks much easier than digging 8" holes by hand. I was planning on getting some version of the Weed Weasel Step & Twist eventually for weeds in the yard, it looks like the proplugger will do that job too. Have you used it for deep rooted weeds?

I'm not sure if it's an ideal area for them here or if Blue Grape Hyacinth grow good everywhere, but man we have thousands of them in our little yard. Every year when I'm moving stuff around and digging in the earth I separate hundreds of those bulbs out and throw them away, just because they are so prolific. They multiply like nothing I have ever seen before. They are really nice in the spring though and the honey bees sure do appreciate them. I look forward to planning out and planting bulbs in our new yard next fall, it will also be fun to see what randomly pops up this coming spring there, the previous owner took care of the yard and liked to plant things at some point in the past, but the yard(and everything else) stopped getting cared for a handful of years ago. Bulbs are one of the few plants that do tolerate neglect well.

Good luck and have fun Brett!

[aphahn]

It works great for weeds, except Canadian thistle, but then again nothing works on those.

[brettjm]

I thought about getting a tool, but I think I'm just going to dig up patches instead. Those little hand tools suck, and I didn't want to drop more than 20 bucks on something that may or may not work. Its currently 50 degrees and raining (and the high is 51 today). I'll take cold and wet over mosquitoes!

[aphahn]

I hate those hand bulb tools with a passion. Never again

[strudeldog]

Andy,

Do you have any issues with it plugging up? I have long handled step on planters with short cylinder where the previous plug comes out the top. I also have one where the short cylinder opens up on lever in the handle. Always looking for a easier tool with heavy clay soil I often have to stand on both steps and basically jump, and no way I could just turn over and release the soil. I am not working in a prepped bed, mostly naturalizing in a woodland.

[aphahn]

We have heavy soils here too. It has only plugged up when it is muddy. The last plug doesn't always just drop out, sometimes it needs a little push from my thumbs.

[strudeldog]

Thanks Andy, Looks like a good tool, maybe on my Christmas list

[lilfiggy]

so lucky you guys are to have the climate for bulbs. Only lilys will grow here in humid no dormacy florida. when I lived for a short time in Michigan I had gorgeous bulbs people would stop in front of my house and take pictures. That and the dogwoods so gorgeous. That is the ONLY thing I miss about Michigan.

[brettjm]

The deed is done. My back is sore, but it was easier than I anticipated, since we've gotten something like...6-8 inches of rain in the month of November already. I'd uh...take some pictures of the progress but uh...yeah, it'd just be pictures of empty beds, so maybe come Jan/Feb we'll get some pictures up. It rained the whole dang time, and was ~48 degrees, but not a dang mosquito. Victory is mine.

[strudeldog]

Brett,

I will go OT on your OT thread. You motivated me to to go see the Japanese Garden again today, supposedly the largest in the U.S. But getting back on topic folks need to check out this link to their Daffodil planting, and a single photo can't really capture the expansive plantings. http://www.gibbsgardens.com/garden-p...fodil-gardens/ Been a very dreary cloudy Fall and today as well Still the beauty shines through.