I didn't really think that the garden would get the look I wanted for it overnight. One of the things I'm having to get into my head is that gardens are always a work in progress, always changing and never finished.
Bill noticed in the early spring that the new grass was most sparse in the strip where the walkway used to be but that seems to have worked itself out, with some assiduous watering. He seems to think he planted enough seeds to fill the flower beds, but not all of them came up. However, there are more varieties of flowers than we used to have and I've just today planted a few more to have early spring blooms.
I went through my magazine clippings filed under 'garden' for some inspiration, and given that it is coming up on bulb planting time, I'll share some of the information in one of the articles with you. Bulbs have always struck me as being a frugal (not to mention lazy) option, given that once planted they come up year after year and even multiply and need divided. I'd credit the magazine, but their name appears nowhere on the page.
They recommend 10 types of bulb for the best flowers and wow factor, much more exciting that the usual daffodils found everywhere here in spring. If you've never visited the Royal Horticultural Society website, here's the link. It's an amazing website and if you love gardening (or even if not, like me) you'll enjoy browsing their website.
Narcissus honolulu was last listed with the RHS in 2008, but there are many other species of narcissus that are very nice. I quite liked the narcissus geranium!
The article also gives the following tips, and obviously have written for me, given the first one.
1. Plant them the right way up (the point bit is the top).
2. The smaller the bulb, the closer together they should be planted. Clusters rather than single bulbs or straight lines give a better display.
3. For a great show, plant at least ten big-bulbed varieties, such as tulips or narcissus, with at least 20 smaller bulbs, like snowdrops, all clustered together.
4. When using containers, the pots should be proportional to the size of the bulbs, unless you are mixing sizes, in which case go for a bigger pot to provide room for the bigger bulbs.
5. Generally, the larger the bulb, the deeper they need to be planted. They don't elaborate on this, so hopefully this is explained on the packet.
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