Thursday, November 12, 2009
Evening comes too early for me now. Gail and Karl the Wonder Dog joined me in a quick walk out back after I returned from work today. I had been sitting too long and needed some fresh air and a little of the stuff that makes me love living in Vermont. We returned too quickly but the light was fading and I had a few things to finish up before dinner. The smell of acorn squash baking with maple syrup challenged my need to finish this blog on lilies.
Fall is the time many folks finally decide to plant some spring bulbs for the first time. I encourage such plantings as they make the dreary days of the last snows and snowbanks melt into great colors that beckon warmth and spring. Daffodils have always been high on our list because they are about impervious to animals, big and small. Neither deer nor voles will eat them and even in poor soil they reproduce and present more flowers for each year to come.
Besides daffodils and probably excepting the tiny crocus and muscari that are seen by the hundreds, tulips are probably the most popular spring bulb. They are less likely to succeed over time and are on about every animal menu somewhere near the top. I tell people if you can get three years out of tulips in Vermont, you're lucky. The species tulips do much better but most that we see in the stores are hybrids and susceptible to "munching". Here are some daffs pictured up top and three tulip bulbs just below.
Fall is the time many folks finally decide to plant some spring bulbs for the first time. I encourage such plantings as they make the dreary days of the last snows and snowbanks melt into great colors that beckon warmth and spring. Daffodils have always been high on our list because they are about impervious to animals, big and small. Neither deer nor voles will eat them and even in poor soil they reproduce and present more flowers for each year to come.
Besides daffodils and probably excepting the tiny crocus and muscari that are seen by the hundreds, tulips are probably the most popular spring bulb. They are less likely to succeed over time and are on about every animal menu somewhere near the top. I tell people if you can get three years out of tulips in Vermont, you're lucky. The species tulips do much better but most that we see in the stores are hybrids and susceptible to "munching". Here are some daffs pictured up top and three tulip bulbs just below.
While I am at it, here's one other caution for fall planting. Stores often carry what many gardeners call "tiger lilies". I'm not sure I can think of another common name ascribed by so many gardeners as representative of the wrong plant. In this case the tiger lily people are mentioning is pictured just below. This is Lilium lancifolium, originally Lilium tigrinum, first named in 1810 and used like potatoes as food in Asia. I never got this figured out because tigers have stripes and tiger lilies have spots and sometimes people call daylilies tiger lilies. This is how I get more confused by what customers really want to by.
Here are a few more from our collection that we enjoy. Until late spring of each year, we have no idea what we still have growing.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglrNLk-QXDQ7nFVP_qktuuDfZ-26bdYl20YYPMaSlxn29PNpdVwv7MQCtVo2ifAQFHFeyKRqXsYmzv-FgqWAVPBNzaqpXUY22chOmR4hhG-cFr_xoTM8C95aXt1g_GiE90Ltk5Ow/s320/regale.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjPz3A50QlDRQzQrIgwil7KvJGsH0v8T7_POYL7A9mzNwUuWG3qtDcgfe4-KsmUX27SW8Z5JH9ufGoa2HdmhcTkhJUBGisgKeg-M5ZlUF2BxttWtNYTHKhwd0tht0uu7sagaHf9g/s320/rosy+dawn.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAIE6FSm3PdGg9rVYSwhLHWDHmqgFzS0KOUMH_7_EMqpTdt9NVCXtqlnxEN_0HPxDn5D5ubdfzV3mjh8RSV4un96yIF3tWgAoENJKHvJgYXcHWMU-dDs1N7RO6yQmaMkMHWcBd-g/s320/uchida.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhQJSWAzpeQ5ttmJRPZfqaw7bpbg7vDzf410ZkaBDTt4mw5nTAKGla4lkB-qs38c-acln696Iis-7gMrwvJVnIsYGhxPTRdJ0ngNXnaPKT1xNUWN5pQztiWJbnrbPAz85K-7a3Yg/s320/yellow+lancifolium.jpg)
Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where tonight's temperature will fall into the teens but rebound to the high forties tomorrow. Still time to plant bulbs!
George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm