Hi pat, I ordered about 16 iris which were sent WAY too early and are sitting on my kitchen table drying out; also ordered some daffodils which will arrive end of September, also too early, but will plant everything and let it sort itself out...

Replete Daffs,
Barrett Browing Daffs
Ice King Daffs
Mixture of Tulips (tulips never seem to last more then a year here.. frankly I dont even follow thier names, I see some colours, pick them out, and choose new ones the next year, I only buy a few dozen at most.)
Giant Purple Alliums

About 200 bulbs in total went in last sunday.

Silverkelt

Wow, Silverkelt, that will be gorgeous next spring! If there's one thing I don't like to do in the garden, it's planting bulbs, probably because for so long my soil was like cement. Maybe with better soil now, it won't be such a hassle.

Silverkelt, tell me about your giant purple alliums. I have been lusting over them since I went on a garden tour last spring. Where do you get your bulbs???

they were sitting at lowes, so decided to grab them, I think they are the ones Called Gladitor. They had white ones as well.. but they didnt appeal to me as much. I planted them next to my alchemist rose.. Im hoping the color combination looks nice.

I have ordered bulbs from colorblends a couple times, can be expensive.

But I noticed this year Lowes really had a very nice selection of items, many named varieties, not just the yellow trumpets.. I have about 500 daff bulbs now here and there in the garden, I will probably have 1-2k total when Im done adding them , I only add a couple hundred a time, seems easier on both the budget and time.

Silverkelt

I have both purple (Globemaster and Mars) and white (Mt. Everest and White Giant) tall alliums. I like them quite a lot since they have good impact and last a long time, both each year as well as over many years since the critters don't eat them. Their seed heads last for about 6 weeks after the bloom are done and are a subdued version of the flowers. I've had neighbors pull over to the side of my 45mph road to ask what they are.

Other favorites are the early reticulated irises (Iris reticulata, I. danfordii, etc.) which are the first bulbs to bloom along my south foundation. Small, but bloom for weeks due to the cool temperatures when they bloom, often alongside the leftover snow piles. They come in various stunning shades of blue and purple, and occasionally yellow. They usually don't return for more than a couple of years.

I like the single daffodils better than the doubles (unless you are going to cut them while still buds) since the doubles end up looking like wads of wet tissue when it rains while they are blooming. Some of my favorite daffodils include Misty Glen (white) and Sun Disc (yellow). Daffodils also aren't eaten by the critters and so are quite perennial in my garden.

In general I try to plant bulbs behind larger perennials so that the ripening bulb foliage isn't visible through June and July.

I usually order my bulbs from Brent and Becky's or Van Engelen/John Scheepers during the summer since I like having more choices beyond tulips and yellow daffodils that seem to be the norm around here.

just tulips this year - 400 or so. They love my stony sandy soil and will naturalise. Some varieties are more inclined to return. Single earlies, Fosteriana, Lily flowered, Darwins and all the species return....in fact, apart from the striped Rembrandt types and the viridifloras, most tulips are reliably perennial as, by a freakish coincidence, the fens of East Anglia must somehow have similar features to a caucasian hillside in Iran or Turkey.

I will probably plant some more chionodoxa under the privet arch. I've been trying to get them to spread but so far it is slow going.

Haven't seen any Fall bulbs at our Lowes yet, unless they got them in sometime this past week. I better go check it out. Normally I end up buying the bulbs when they go on clearance as I don't have the spare money for bulbs when I should. One of these days I'm going to start a "Fall bulb fund" in January.

I normally don't do spring blooming bulbs, as I dislike the look of the dying foliage after bloom. However my sister was here this weekend and gifted me with 2 dozen double daffodils. She suggested I plant them in the daylily bed. That way the foliage would be hidden as the DL's grew. So that is what we did. Planted them in clumps of 3. Now thinking I should add some tulips as well. Hmmmm...thinking this could get addicting.

I'm trying really hard to resist buying tulip bulbs...it's too disappointing when the moose eat them right before they bloom. But I'm planting 2 more daffodils, some scilla, hyacinth, crocus (a really deep orangy gold yellow) and blue anemone that I'll put together, and 3 different allium...Mt. Everest, A. atropurpureum, and A. bulgaricum (or A. nectaroscordum). I've been looking for more chionodoxa and some more of another little bulb that I can't recall right now, but to no avail.

Ha, I dont know whats worse, moose or deer honestly. I get more deer, so I guess they are worse, and there are more of them.

My parents would loose alot of early stuff to a bull moose who would amble out of the woods spend a couple hours feeding and go away. I still remember when I was living with them and our cat "mr stubs" decided the bull moose was a big mouse or something, he ran after it, got to 2 feet and ran all the way back to the house and hid under a bed for awhile.

I still cant figure out what he thought he saw that made him run after a moose!

Silverkelt

OOPS! I didn't see this post and started a new one about the crocus I just found out about...Orange Monarch!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Orange Monarch crocus

I looked out a window yesterday and realized the naturalized paper whites that I had moved are already up. I was hoping that digging them up and resting them a few weeks would encourage them not to bloom for Halloween...no such luck. Thankfully they are the only ones up so far.

I replanted 100's of tiny daffs that we uncovered with the big dig this summer, I sure hope they make it. But I think I will pick up a couple of big sacks of King Alfreds. Thank goodness for the little garden auger and a power drill in that clay!

Still on the lookout for orange monarch...checked a few places now with no luck...one place had them and they Flew off the shelf!!! Love the hunt!!;-)

Probably none unless we get our problem solved with the skunks and racoons. Every time i look out or walkout in the backyard i want to cry.

I had this beautiful lush green lawn bordered by all the different flowers i've shared here,and those darn skunks have shredded almost the whole yard.

In the past 2 weeks we have gone thru 5 bags of spectracide,and i'm beginning to think they think it's dessert!!!!

I checked over at the Lawn forum and others are having the same problem.We've been in this house for 45 years and have NEVER had this problem.It's very depressing to see.
Kathi

Recently I planted 25 common daffodils which is an inexpensive experiment to see whether they will survive all the critters around here. I planted them in groups of 5 in large pots with chicken wire on top. I can lift the pots and put them where the dying foliage won't show or transplant them to a more permanent place as I re-plan my garden.

I've tried various bulbs in the past but with chipmunks, squirrels, marmots, and deer I've never had blooms. I now have deer fencing so at least that reduces the predation. Marmots are a menace tho and ate most of my daylilies this last spring altho they survived when I replanted them closer to the house.

I have various irises and grape hyacinth which are perennial and don't seem to attract the critters.

The other day I bought a pack of 12 "Fritillaria, Uva-Vulpis" bulbs. Interesting shape and color to the bloom.