It’s Not Too Late! You Can Still Get Some Bulbs in the Ground

My gosh, it’s November already! Perhaps you have a bulb order sitting in your basement that arrived weeks ago or you’re eyeing those sale notices coming from online bulb sellers and wondering if it’s too late to plant bulbs. Have no fear; you still have time!

This is a marvelous time to take advantage of deep discounts on remaining bulbs. Ordering from reputable online bulb sellers is a good way to go as the bulbs haven’t been sitting out in bins in heated big box stores or even garden centers. They’ve been kept chilled, just waiting to be packed in a box and shipped out. (You can also have more confidence that you are actually getting the bulb varieties you want – bulbs tend to hop around in those open bins.) Any bulb order you place now will likely come very quickly, and you should make time within a few days of receiving them to plant them. Yes, you still have time, but not that much time, so don’t delay.

 

Irises in April? What’s Going On?!

“Bloom events” is a term used by biologists, phenologists, and other plant scientists when they discuss when plants bloom. And this year, they must be noticing several weird bloom events occurring in our area!

As most of you know, we’ve just gone through a very very dry winter. Yes, drier even than normal for here. As (seemingly) the rest of the country had record snow accumulations, we had one of our driest winters on record. Add to that the fairly warm winter temperatures along with plenty of spring wind and you’ve got gardeners scratching their heads as some of their hardiest plants have disappeared while wimpier (or so they thought) plants have come through unscathed.