Thursday, November 5, 2009

Preparing for spring

I spent my weekend raking up leaves from our trees in the front yard and carrying them to the backyard to use as winter cover for my garden beds. I had plenty of leaves to mulch with.


The neighbor's cat couldn't resist checking out my progress.


A few weeks back, after the first frost, I planted about 60 new tulip bulbs in my garden. I tried to space them between the tulips I left in the ground last year. I'm not exactly sure if last year's tulips are hardy enough to last another winter, so it will be a bit of a backyard experiment for me. But the tulips turned out so beautiful last spring, I couldn't bring myself to dig them up.


Once again, I bought the tulip bulbs from a local Earl May garden center. They are an Iowa-based family business that buys their tulips directly from Holland. I love buying my garden seeds and tulips at Earl May, because I know they will carry varieties that grow well in our Midwest climate.
Here's my list of tulip varieties I planted for spring 2010:


  • Donald Duck - Early spring tulip, bright red with yellow edges

  • American Dream - Mid-spring tulip, orange/yellow

  • Apricot Parrot - Late-spring tulip, apricot with yellow and green

  • Happy Generation - Mid-spring tulip, white with red

  • Bing Crosby - Mid-spring tulip, bright red

  • White Dream - Mid-spring tulip, white

I'm feeling bright and sunny just thinking about these beauties and how great they will look in my garden next spring.

1 comment:

  1. I put mine to bed last week. I have to ask you, is it too late to plant bulbs?

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