Patience is a virtue I wouldn’t say is a strength of mine. However, planning ahead is something I’m good at. If I know I put my best effort forward in advance, figuring out the details and timing projects until completion…it’s worth the wait.
When my spring garden started popping up this season I was filled with a sense of accomplishment and joy. I’ve always loved seeing spring gardens in other people’s yards blooming. All the colors of red, yellow, orange and pink tulips… and later the creeping phlox covering over rock walls, so pretty!
I’m currently waiting for a few patches of phlox I planted last spring to spread more and bloom. I think at least three of the six I planted survived. The other ones I can’t find under the piles of mulch I refreshed a few weeks ago. We’ll see.
Last fall I decided to plant a bunch of tulip bulbs. I actually got a couple of big bags from Costco, go figure. It was a spontaneous buy but I knew I had the timing right. I remember we found a Halloween costume for my son there the same day, so early October. I had a spot by a little walking path in the front of my house that leads to the water spout I thought would be perfect. I really wanted a coral color, but I found red and orange ones that were close enough. I wasn’t going to let obsessing over a super specific color keep me from planting any. So pivot I did and popped them into the cart.
In the past I’d had trouble digging under trees to try and plant bulbs. In Flower Power I mentioned the time I first fell in love with tulips as a child. At my first house in Minnesota I discovered planting daffodil bulbs under a tree is tricky when you run into all the roots. So for this project I wondered how easy it would be to plant the tulip bulbs near a tree. Either way, I was determined to get them in the ground, and then wait.
Luckily, I was able to plant them in big clusters in a few spots I found it easy to dig. I used rocks to plan out where everything was going to go. I did three groupings of red and two of the orange, to equal an odd number of five all together. It worked great!
Red Tulips
This spring I got one purple hyacinth that had yet to open at Aldi. I’m starting to see a pattern here. I didn’t think I was in the habit of shopping for flowers at grocery stores, but I guess that’s how I find the time in my busy family life right now. Whatever works.
That purple hyacinth was in a glass vase, and I put it on my desk at my day job for a couple weeks. But when it opened it was so so fragrant I couldn’t stand it, and had to quarantine it on my garden bench in the garage. I didn’t touch it for another few weeks, but as soon as I started to see the tulips come up I got excited.
I went and planted the purple hyacinth bulb in the ground next to the tulips. I later went to The Home Depot to quick check out their garden center. I found two more purple and three pink hyacinth to cluster next to the first one.
Purple and Pink Hyacinth
I also got a flower I’ve always thought was so pretty called grape hyacinth. It’s shorter, so I put it in front next to the phlox I’m still waiting to spread more.
Grape Hyacinth
Last spring I tried artificial flowers I got from The Dollar Tree. We were planning a trip to Florida to go to Disney World and I knew I wouldn’t have time to water anything. While it did give some much needed color to my front porch, I honestly kinda hated them. I donated those and grabbed a pack of real yellow pansies this year instead. Much better.
The yellow plant stand in the background is from The Dollar Tree I got it new this year for $5.00, and I love it! No plant on it yet, there’s time.
Yellow Pansies Why I love the color, yellow
I also mentioned in Flower Power how my neighbor Mary had pink bleeding hearts in her garden. Last season I found a white one that I’m so happy made it through the winter and is blooming! I chose a mostly shady spot under a tree in my backyard, close to a low window I can see it from and enjoy.
White Bleeding Heart
Next to that I planted a new variety that the ladies at K&A Greenhouse in Verona, Wisconsin shared with me. They said “You just gotta try this one!” I loved their enthusiasm and paid quite a bit for this little beauty, but she’s so worth it. It’s also a perennial, so comes up every year, and blooms in various colors in spring. I chose a yellow one and it also made it through the winter. It’s called Helleborus Wedding Party First Dance. Great name right?!
Yellow Helleborus Wedding Party First Dance
Today I swung by our local Ace Hardware to see about getting a dandelion weeder tool. I had one in the past that you step down on that worked okay, but it broke a couple years ago. This year, although I love yellow, I want to give my grass a better go. Bye-bye dandelions. I invested about $40.00 in a tool I just tried for an hour and half, and I have to say it’s worth every penny! You also step down on it, but it’s so much better quality and very sturdy. I don’t feel like sharing a picture of it in my beautiful secret garden post, but it’s called Grandpa’s Weeder if you’re curious. Weeding to make space for the beauty in life feels great.
I’m trying to end with some great metaphor here, but I think I’ll leave it at that. Make it an adventure!