for future fall planting seasons:

1) COUNT the number of containers I have for bulbs.

2) MULTIPLY that number by 10 (the containers all hold 8-12 tulip bulbs)

3) DO NOT buy "extras", figuring I will find someplace to put them

4) MULTIPLY the number of tulip bulbs by 2/3 and buy that many pansy plants.

5) DO NOT buy "extra" tulip bulbs.

6) More Crocus, dwarf irises and miniature daffodils are OK.

7) See #6. Repeat to self. Often.

Lisa,

You are too funny but hey...I think we all do these things at some time or another. I know I get carried away too. Just remembered that I bought some bulbs the other day or so and they are still waiting to get planted "somewhere". I am sure you're 2005 garden looked beautiful with all of those bulbs blooming!!
While visiting my son and new daughter-in-law a couple weeks ago I bought them some bulbs thinking I would plant them as a surprise for spring...well-after I bought them I was reminded that they would have to wait to be planted til mid November. They are in the refrigerator waiting. Geez-they live in southern California and I doubt I'll be back to plant them at that time. I wonder if they will get planted as they aren't that into gardening,etc...I can only hope for the best.
Anyway...good luck! Try and remember everything...that's always fun trying to do that (for me).

Beca

Foof! NOW I know why all my clothes, shoes, kneepads and gardening gloves are ruined. Bulb planting should qualify as an extreme sport. I never realize how many bulbs I've planted in an hour or two until I tally them all up--and these are bulbs planted either with a small trowel or a spade, NOT a bulb auger, post digger or other fancy device. I can't use anything other than a trowel or spade because my garden is so densely planted.

Anyways...I got the last of the tulips (except for 10 species tulips still to arrive) planted, including the container tulips. Just in time, too--a frozen crust had formed in the soil in those containers, but it was still easily broken up. All I have left to plant at this point are daffodils in containers, 300 minor bulbs to arrive Thursday, and the last "regular" order with another 50-odd minor bulbs. Then, just about the time I think I'm done, the big bulb sales at Van Engelen and Brent and Becky's will start, and I'll be at it until nearly Christmas...

Lisa,

It makes me tired just reading about all your bulbs you planted. To think we had a handful of daffodil and allium bulbs sitting around for a month before they got in the ground. You are going to have a beautiful yard comes spring.

Post some pics.

Maria

Okay. NOW I know how I survive my annual bulb-planting frenzy. Naproxen, and lots of it (aka Aleve). I'm STILL not done planting, and planting, and planting. Heck--I haven't even received my final end-of-season sale order from Brent and Becky's Bulbs (just placed it last night) yet. And still sitting on my kitchen table are about 40 daffodils and a few hundred crocus bulbs--I got the last of the containers planted up plus some in-ground planting done this afternoon. Perhaps tomorrow I'll get all the crocus done and a handful of the daffodils.

There are little green pointy shoots EVERYWHERE. I ask myself: WHAT did I plant THERE? I promise myself I won't buy any more fall bulbs, well, except from Odyssey Bulb and Old House Gardens, and I will still need bulbs for the containers....You can all see where this is going. So can I--I'm HOPELESS!!!

There are a dozen early crocuses, one Iris reticulata and about 8 clumps of snowdrops blooming in the garden.

I received my canna order for spring. It's snowing outside. Good thing I start cannas (and gladioli and dahlias) indoors...

Lisa

Ack! Cabin fever! I'm off to Lowe's to buy window boxes (for outdoors) because I have decided I need window boxes in front. Watering will involve setting up a "black spaghetti" system in each box, with the feeder line along the front step to two on the side--another Rube Goldberg construction. I'm good at Rube Goldberg things :-)

Thank goodness for duct tape!

Lisa

Common sense prevailed once I got to Lowe's. I'd forgotten to measure the windows before I left. I couldn't decide whether I wanted the hayrack-style coir lined window boxes (more expensive) or the plain "granite/sand" plastic ones (probably more easy to deal with). Both would look okay. And I had no idea how many to buy because I hadn't measured the windows. One per window? Two?

I also still have no idea what I want to plant in them. So I got one terra cotta colored plastic window box to start my cannas in, plus some potting soil and bird seed. I'll think about the window boxes a while longer.

I also have to consider the cats. They use the wainscot the window boxes would rest on as a kitty expressway. Would I find my three "boyz" digging/sleeping/rampaging in my boxes? Hmmm...maybe I should just plant them all up with a dwarf blue-flowered catnip variety....

Lisa

Aren't you being industrius Lisa. Canna's seem an awfully big plant to put in a window box but maybe you have low windows? I guess you are still having cold weather there in No. Nev. but here in the South it is warming up. The pomegranate is just starting to leaf out, the paperwhites have been blooming for a couple of weeks and the daffodils are coming up. The parrys penstemon looks like its getting ready to bloom and the cassias look like they're going to have a good year.

I'll have to post a pic to help you with your cabin feaver.

Maria

The Cannas are in a window box simply because that's what fits best under my indoor light rig. They will go into deeper, "regular" (think 5-gallon size) containers once the frost danger is past and they get moved outside.

I decided that yes, I will do window boxes, with Geraniums, ivy and something tallish like Dracaena spike or Pennisetum setaceum rubrum.

Lisa

I forgot. Add spider plants and birds' nest ferns to the window box mix. I think. Well, it will all be tender perennials/annuals in any case, with a mix of shapes and habits, and bright tomato-red or salmon flowers.

I think I also want a green (thompson seedless, perhaps) grape vine for the front fence. I'll let that idea simmer until the weekend. Lowe's has bare-root grapes in stock.

I got some Gladiolus bulbs started along with the cannas. They are in a different container--I have enough horticultural mayhem already going in my spare room, what with two Hostas, three Dahlia plants, a pot of Hymenocallis bulbs and a Peony all potted up and sprouting or growing under lights. How could I resist? Lowe's had them, the prices were good, and I had spring fever.

Maria--you are right--we still have a lot of cold weather to go. But the Jasminum nudiflorum is covered in buds, and more Crocuses are emerging every day. The pansies (I plant them in my containers every Fall) are recovering and starting to bloom, and the pond REALLY reeks. I wish the ice chunk would melt some more so I can get the new pump and filter going.