Sounds like you've been very busy :). When spring rolls around please post pictures.
Annette

Congrats on all the work, it will be worth it come Spring (if varmints don't eat those tulips!). How did you plant them all, in beds or borders?

What color/type tulips did you plant/order?

Speaking of varmints.....I had planted a bunch of tulips and I am not kidding when I say the very next day the squirrels were already digging in all the areas I planted! I scattered granular Plant Skydd over each area (I planted multiples in large holes) and there haven't been any critters back. It's fairly expensive stuff but I'm seriously thinking of treating the entire yard with it by using a seed spreader. I wasn't happy the one year I lost a beautiful japanese maple to voles. It never ceases to amaze me how much damage rodentia can do to a garden. I also started using liquid Plant Skydd last fall and I haven't had a single deer since I started using it.

schoolhouse,
You are so right. The varmints are persistent. I put out a bait station last week after I lost a beautiful rose to them. I noticed it was leaning and when I investigated, voles had eaten most of the root system. (Today, I could smell that at least one of them had died. Good!)

thyme2 dig
I planted the dutch iris along either side of the path. The tulips are scattered in the beds. Some of them are in single color swaths, some of them are in mixed pinks, very dark purple and a more medium purple.

Thanks for the info. I ordered Plant Skydd. As much as plants cost, it will be worth while to try multiple means of protecting them.

kay