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Has everyone had enough rain? Right now I'm in need of a sunny day
outside. The rain is nice, but enough is enough. I am glad I
fertilized last month because it's starting to pay off. I used a
timed release pellet with a high middle number to go around and drop
a pinch around all my iris and perennial clumps. The tulip bloom is
sensational; all that work and hundreds of tulips I planted last
Fall were definitely worth the effort for the gorgeous color in the
spring. The color scheme I've most enjoyed is a combination red
and yellow tulips, yellow daffodils and a few white scented daffs.
It's really striking in the front yard. One of the favorite
red/yellow tulips is the Monsella Tulip. Short, but really cute.
Exceptionally vivid colors, huge flowers and long lasting bloom
included Kingsblood tulip and yellow Big Smile tulip, both late
bloomers and great for long lasting color. Still my long standing
favorites are the Emperor series, for early bloom and long color.
Don't overlook those fringed blooms, especially Barbados tulip.
What fun they are for cut flowers in a vase. Also fun, but not long
lasting in a vase, is the multiple bloomer called Gypsy Love tulip.
It's not only fringed, but has multiple bloom on one stem. Now, be
sure and fill in with some Thalia daffodil, a lovely 12-15" stem
with pristine white bloom that is extremely fragrant. A
wonderful cut flower with it's gardenia fragrance for your flower
border.
My median iris are starting to show, now. Smell the Roses, an SDB,
is making the biggest purple show for me, because I have about three
separate clumps of it. Other early bloomers giving me a happy show
right now are SDB Gingerbread Man, oh it's so cute, Mini Mite, Hush
Puppy, a really sweet thing called Counting Sheep and another SDB
Cream Cake. MDB Tingle is also blooming, as is IB Azap.
Others in bud and hopefully opening in time for the median show on
Sunday May 22nd are Little Amigo, Sun Doll, Blue Trinket, Sunshine
Sally, Wild Jasmine, Hush Puppy, and Hi Sailor. Some very pretty
IB's in bud are Hot Spice, Lover Boy, Pleasure, Rare Edition,
Voila, Apache Warrier, Nice n' Nifty, Dark Waters and BB Jessaboo.
My earliest TB to bloom so far is Moon Drift and San Juan Silver.
I sure appreciate the baby iris because they help create a long
iris bloom season.
Fertilizing my greenhouse geraniums in March and April has been a
boost for bloom all through Spring, too. Because the night time
temps have stayed below freezing for several weeks, I have been able
to bring most of my wintered over potted geraniums outside to give
us additional springtime color on the decks and throughout the
yard. I have resisted the impulse to plant them into the ground and
give them permanent summer homes in my perennial beds until after
Memorial Day weekend. We all know how Mother Nature can fool us
with an early June frost.
The work I did last year in redoing beds has paid off, too. Though
the weeds still managed to find the light wherever a hole was cut in
the landscape covering, it made the spring weeding a lot easier
because I had less ground to weed. That makes it all worth the
trouble. Happy gardening!
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