Into the Ground

I unexpectedly got Columbus Day off, and since the rest of my weekend got eaten up by other obligations, that was my gardening day.

 

I'd received my shipment from Brent and Becky's Bulbs on Thursday, so they needed to get put into the ground ASAP:

• 10 Monarda 'Petite Delight' plants.  These went in the bed with the winterberry hollies, roses, and Andromeda.  This was advertised as a dwarf selection which will not grow as high as the species, so I put it in the front of the bed to fill in the empty space near the rocks.  If it's as prolific as the bee balm I put on the front walkway, it will fill in nicely.
• 10 Dichelostemma - ida-maia bulbs.  I had gotten a handful of these firecrackers in a bulb mix, and my mother-in-law thought they were absolutely lovely, so I added some more near where I think the others are alongside one of the smaller iris patches. I didn't dig any of the others up, so not sure how close I got, but I hate leaving labels out in the beds.  These were pretty much the only thing that survived from that mix that I planted probably 3-4 years ago.
• 10 Bellevalia - pycnantha bulbs.  Looks sort of like a muscari (grape hyacinth).  I put this on the front slope along with 10 Scilla - siberica 'Alba'.  I have a lot of blue squills (they keep multiplying yearly), and thought it would be nice to throw some white ones into the mix.
• Similarly, I purchased 10 Muscari - aucheri 'White Magic' which went in where I'd removed roses earlier in the fall.  All along the edge of the driveway I have blue muscari, and I thought it'd be nice to see some white ones.  When these things multiply, and they will, I will see if I can do some mixing of the whites and blues all along the edge of the bed.
• And finally, under the cherry tree went 10 Hyacinthoides - hispanica 'Queen of Pinks'  which will give a shot of color when the winter-damaged liriope foliage has been sheared off and is yet regrowing.  It will probably bloom just after my Fritillaria uva-vulpis.  There is aconite and squills in that bed too, so I have bulbs coming up from early through mid-spring, and the pigsqueak and Lamiastrum galeobdolon will take over as the bulbs fade.

I'm awaiting two more shipments, one from John Scheepers, and one from Wayside Gardens (estimated delivery today, in fact!)