tulips hate me

I've struggled with tulips at my house, but last year I thought I finally got it right.

 They were beautiful.

I even fertilized them.

And this is what I get.

  A single flower, and a mess of foliage.

Tulips, I'm done with you.  Next year I'm trying hyacinths.

april bloom day 2015

Happy Bloom Day everyone!  Today is also tax day, and my refund arrives day.  Not even the rain is getting me down!  Even though the tulip show managed to fit itself in between bloom days, I have quite a few pictures to share, and not much time to type.  So lets get to it, and take a walk around my yard.

Shade Garden:

Just a few wide shots for perspective

Wild columbine & woodland poppy, 2nd year purple azalea, 3rd year double columbine

2nd year wild geranium, 2nd year trillium (woodland variety)

Side yard:

Bird's foot violet, spiderwort

Dwarf rock iris with wild fern, dwarf rock iri, rue anemone

 Front Yard:

 

1st year purple tulips

Late daffodils, dogwood & half of my front yard

 new-to-me confederate violets

Wild Azaleas:

 

The wild azaleas are so pretty and just smell so good.  The bees are so happy, and you can hear them as you walk towards the plants.  At my house, the white azaleas bloom first, followed by the pink.  Some of the older azaleas are taller than I am, up to around 8-10 feet tall.  I am continuing to clear out underbrush around them every year, and the habitat is expanding. I'd love to nurse back the grove that my grandmother always talks about from her childhood.

Assorted:

There's not a good way to photograph the blueits and capture the carpet that covers my yard.  My yard is mostly moss, and I only mow a few times a year.  This has allowed the blueits to take over, and I think it is so pretty.

You can also see that my hellebores are very happy with my shady home, and are well on their way to multiplying & establishing little colonies.

Ok, that's it.  Not bad for a quick post!  As always, thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!! If you'd like to see more of what's blooming around the world today, stop by her blog.

tulips

So here is my tulip story.  They are some of my favorite cut flowers.  I planted what I hoped to become gorgeous yellow tulips along my driveway, but after two seasons, they never bloomed.  They would send up sad little leaves, but never flowers.  Tulip fail.  I did some reading and saw they like full sun, so I dug up the bulbs and moved them to a sunnier location.  I also decided to try my luck with new bulbs, and on an impulse buy, I picked up 30 purple and 30 orange bulbs last fall.  With the help of a 5 year old, I planted some in the front yard, and some along my back fence with the roses.

They're blooming!

The new bulbs at least.  The older bulbs did the same, come up but not bloom routine.  Unless someone else has words of wisdom for me, they'll get one year of fertilizer in the their new home, and if they don't bloom next year, they'll be replaced. 

One interesting note about the orange tulips, they are yellow when they come up, and then turn bright orange.  They also open up during the day, and close up at night.  Who knew!