Beautiful Bulbs

[Mara]

Any gardening buffs out there? I am in the midst of trying to plant my spring bulbs (here in CA I find it makes more sense to wait until after Xmas because they come up pretty fast due to our warmer weather...), and trying to find a natural squirrel repellent that I can mix at home that won't be harmful to the dog or other animals, just keeps the squirrels from digging.

They have been digging in my pots on the patio, even if there aren't bulbs there! So I know once I plant the bulbs, they are fair game. I have a fair amount of daffodils and wonder if I mix them liberally in with the tulips and other bulbs if that will assist, or will the squirrel just know which is a tulip and which is a daff and eat the tulip?!

Don't know if anyone here has experience with the squirrels or repellents, but if so let me know. So far the one I have found that I like the best is to coat the bulb in cayenne pepper before planting but that will require alot of cayenne!

Anyhow, bulbs are my absolute favorite of all plants, I've been a gardening nut for about 7 years now (used to own 50 rose bushes!), and done alot of patio and pot gardening, had a yard for a short period of time for 2 years previously which was so much fun, but now am back to patio gardening at our townhouse. At least it's a large space (in CA standards, about 17x30). However, a month ago I had Greg build me what we refer to as a 'bulb trough' which we put on the side of the patio for me to use solely as a cutting garden, so I am excited to use that as a real little dirt plot for experiments.

For the pots, I am doing large displays of daffodils in 20" pots and also some tulip/hyacinth mixes and things like that. I'm a pastel lover of tulips (even though they really only last a year here) and a fan of true yellow and true white daffodils in large displays.

Can't wait til 'spring'! Anyone have pictures of their bulb or plant displays? I'm a visual beauty nut too.

 

[lindsal]

Mara, as gross as it sounds, men''s urine mixed with some water and spread around the edges of the planting areas will work like a charm. I have a roof top garden here in Chicago and the squirrels love to make it a nice little part of there highway in the sky. I thought this trick was an old wifes tale, but I passed Larry a jar and mixed it up and spread it around the boxes and planters and viola, NO MORE SQUIRRELS IN my daff''s and tulips. See if Greg is willing to help you out.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I have no ideas here about the squirells. We have a ton of them and last year we put out plastic easter eggs with chocolate candy inside and the squirells all gathered around a broke open a bunch of the eggs but then refused to eat the chocolates.

About cayene. . .you can always purchase some bulk at a healthfood store to save on cost. Prejarred spices are about 10 times as expensive than bulk. . .(just in case you''re not in the mood to play with Greg''s urine - lol!)

Oh, post photos when your garden is blooming. I would post photos but we just moved, our yard is a mess and it''s covered in about 2" of slush and snow! We ordered a ton of trees from a conservation center in our area and get this, we''ll have 50 giant sequoia trees (in baby form) to plant. lol I have no idea where they''ll go but in 200 years our yard will probably be a national park so with this in mind, we''ll find room. . .lol We also ordered mock orange trees and elderberry plants (which I guess the berries are a real treat, so hopefully these survive. . .they tend to be a bit fussy when it comes to transplanting them says a book I read). I''ll post pictures of our little seqoia starts when we get them this february.

 

[Diamonds4Me]

Mara, to cut down on the amount of cayenne pepper I mix it with water and just a little bit of liquid dish soap and put that into a spray bottle. You can maybe spray your bulbs with something like that? It also works great for roses to keep those turdy little aphids and other rose munchers from chowing down on them.

 

[Mara]

Here is a picture of my old garden in 2003 at our old place...

Also here is the Ofoto album to see more images...the better ones of course!

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=cdxn47v.owuuyoj&x=1&y=-fj9xx9

I planted this garden in Summer 2001, and we left the house in Jan 2004...I'd have to say that when these pictures were taken, Spring 2003 mostly, is when it was most beautiful. It had the tendency to get out of control by summer...Spring was definitely the prettiest.

As you can see I am a huge fan of the cottage garden look, aka large jumble of flowering items...makes it hard to walk through the garden to do any weeding!!

Now in the townhouse we have a patio, so I am back to container gardening which I did for years before we had the small yard at the old house, but I love doing containers with bulbs.

Update on the bulbs with cayenne, nothing has been disturbed this last week so I am keeping fingers crossed that it did the trick! Possibly the scattered daffodils as well helps deter the little furry rodents!

 

[hoorray]

Ohhhh... gardening time! I''m a gardener deep down too. I don''t have a fun garden right now. I''m in the desert, and the plants here are not as fun as the ones I''ve had in the past. My last house was in Half Moon Bay, and I was addicted. I could ALWAYS find a place for another rose bush. We didn''t have squirrels, so no help there. We fought gophers, and often had to resort to chicken wire. For bulbs, I sometimes planted them in the plastic green strawberry containers (not the clear ones now, but the pint-sized green net style ones) to keep them away. Tulips really didn''t really work there due to the heavy clay soil, but I had spectacular bearded irises.

Here are a couple of pics -- I did mostly perennial borders with a large rose garden in the middle. I had somewhere around 50 rose bushes -- some in containers, but most in the ground.

I love the mix of foliage colors and textures in your garden pic that you posted.

 

[hoorray]

One more pic.... makes me nostalgic.

 

[Mara]

very nice lop! i love roses, they are so easy to grow here as well and so many varieties, when i owned my 50..i still wanted more!

i actually would love to have a huge lot one day where i could do the whole ''garden room'' thing and have a cottage garden, and the neat perennial edged patio like yours, and then just an entire rose garden for blooms and cutting, the woodland daffodil spread (with something like a thousand bulbs under trees), etc etc. i guess if we moved to the east coast where land is actually more affordable, it could happen, but then again the gardening season is cut in half over there vs California, so I don''t know.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

The flowers in your album are gorgeous. . .a few are even down right luscious! Hope your container bulbs do wonderfully as well.

 

[hoorray]

Date: 1/16/2005 9

9:14 PM
Author: Mara
very nice lop! i love roses, they are so easy to grow here as well and so many varieties, when i owned my 50..i still wanted more!

i actually would love to have a huge lot one day where i could do the whole ''garden room'' thing and have a cottage garden, and the neat perennial edged patio like yours, and then just an entire rose garden for blooms and cutting, the woodland daffodil spread (with something like a thousand bulbs under trees), etc etc. i guess if we moved to the east coast where land is actually more affordable, it could happen, but then again the gardening season is cut in half over there vs California, so I don''t know.

I''ve had a couple of big, cottage-type gardens, and they become like children. It''s so satisfying to work with them and watch them grow and fill out.

IMO, you can never have too many roses. Have you been to the nurseries in Fremont? There is one in particular called Regans (I think) just on the east side of the Dumbarton bridge. I literally used to talk to myself as I walked through there, saying things like, "put it back -- you don''t have a spot for that one", and "not today, you already have xxx of that color", etc. I''m a sucker for anything in bloom, and I have never seen so many types of roses in one spot. Literally acres of them.

 

[MrsFrk]

Date: 1/17/2005 12:46:33 AM
Author: lop

Date: 1/16/2005 9

9:14 PM

Author: Mara

very nice lop! i love roses, they are so easy to grow here as well and so many varieties, when i owned my 50..i still wanted more!


i actually would love to have a huge lot one day where i could do the whole ''garden room'' thing and have a cottage garden, and the neat perennial edged patio like yours, and then just an entire rose garden for blooms and cutting, the woodland daffodil spread (with something like a thousand bulbs under trees), etc etc. i guess if we moved to the east coast where land is actually more affordable, it could happen, but then again the gardening season is cut in half over there vs California, so I don''t know.

I''ve had a couple of big, cottage-type gardens, and they become like children. It''s so satisfying to work with them and watch them grow and fill out.


IMO, you can never have too many roses. Have you been to the nurseries in Fremont? There is one in particular called Regans (I think) just on the east side of the Dumbarton bridge. I literally used to talk to myself as I walked through there, saying things like, ''put it back -- you don''t have a spot for that one'', and ''not today, you already have xxx of that color'', etc. I''m a sucker for anything in bloom, and I have never seen so many types of roses in one spot. Literally acres of them.

I was at Regan''s yesterday! It''s like an amusement park for rose fanatics. Time to buy bareroots. (don''t you have enough!?!?! my husband queries. NEVER!!!)

Mara, your cayenne seems to have worked, but a friend of mine who lives in San Jose has fought a biblical battle with her squirrels, the only thing that worked for her was "Shake Off", which contains some sort of predator urine- fox or wolf or similar. She bought it at OSH, it''s a granular product that goes a long way.

 

[Mara]

Thanks for the trip MrsF...I will def keep that in mind. I was at OSH a few weeks back and they were out of their 'squirrel repellant' but I didn't get a name of the product.

So far so good on the cayenne but you never know! I can always start getting Portia to pee into a cup...hehee.

I used to shop at Regan's 1/2 off sale every September...they'd put all their roses on sale and I'd swoop in and go home with at least 3-4 each year. For the bareroot purchases though, they were never my favorite...I used to shop with rose enthusiast and usually family owned co's, kind of like looking for well-cut diamonds....roses were a passion too.

The bareroots I would buy would be from a company like Edmunds Roses in Oregon, where the bareroots would come with 3-4 strong anchoring branches, as opposed to an OSH or a JacksonPerkins or Regans rose which would mostly only come with 2-3. These are the branches that the rose comes with as a bareroot, pruned down to only the strongest. The better the strong anchoring branches, the stronger the offshoot branches, the stronger and better the roses--and possibly more of them. Better to start off with more branches than less.

There are other great companies too which of course are eluding me right now...but most were online or catalog purchases. Oh and also Petaluma Roses was amazing as well, I actually did his website WAY back when they first got one..and in trade got something like free roses for 2 years! Took big time advantage of that one! hehehe..if you are ever in that area, definitely visit the nursery, it's a rose-lovers haven!

Got almost my miniatures from specialty miniature companies and the experts would call the supermarket roses that you'd pick up sometimes 'throwaway roses'...but honestly some of those bloomed the prettiest and with the least amount of disease over some of the inbred roses!

The rose thing was alot of fun and like diamonds, alot to learn about roses, amazingly! I even went to a few shows over the years with a local rose group of friends. Fun stuff. But my original passion is and always will be bulbs! I got hooked on gardening with bulbs.

Edited to Add: Local nurseries which I love to visit are Yamagami's in Cupertino & Almaden Nursery over in Almaden area of SJ near the hills..they have some great roses at both places as well. Every time I go to the nursery, my credit card cries for days!!

 

[Kamuelamom]

I''m a buff!

I did mostly vegetable gardens, but I did have flowering plants as well. I found that I got the most satisfaction out of plants which flowered, and I could cut. I grew an assortment of mini roses, which I loved putting in little vases and scattering them around the house.

Mara, love your little cottage garden. I heard somewhere of the cayenne peppers for squirrels , but since we don''t have squirrels here I can''t say how successful (or not) the method is. Looks like it''s working for you!

Lop, I loooooove your garden. Looks sooooo picturesque. Is that a former home or where you currently live? It''s so beautiful!

At the new home I have not yet begun to garden. I will eventually but we still have so many other priorities before I can get my hands dirty. I love digging in the dirt.

Good luck with your patio garden Mara. Send pictures of the progress.

 

[Matata]

I''m not happy unless I''m playin'' in the dirt. The local nurseries have a staff member greet me at the door when they see my car pull in the parking lot because they know I''m good for a minimum $300 a visit. I particularly love to play with herbs and try to find unusual ones to experiment with in cooking, making soap, and brewing teas. My entire garden is new. The house is 2 years old and last winter I had a professional do the backyard which used to be nothing but grass -- put in a teeny pond & waterfall, a raised bed vegie garden, and a stone path down the back of the house that borders my herb patch. Here''s some pics of what it looked like newly planted. I didn''t take any pictures of it in the summer which I regret because all the plants grew and filled in the bare patches. The tomato plants that you can barely see in the raised bed grew taller than the fence.

bad pic of my teeny pond

vegie garden

path & herb garden

old time fragrant roses

roses & lavender out front

 

[MrsFrk]

Mara, I forgot to mention that your garden pics are gorgeous! I love container gardening, I have lots of space but I stick pots everywhere.

I order from Edmund''s too, and last year I was a total English rose whore, my CC was getting a workout at David Austin''s.

I have always had (knock wood) fantastic luck with bareroots, my most glorious hybrid tea is a "Garden Party" bush that I got bare root from Rite Aid for $1.29, back when I knew nothing about gardening. Just stuck it in a hole, and let ''er rip.

I like to wander through Yamagami''s for inspiration, but boy is that place pricey.

 

[Matata]

Try that front one again

I guess I messed up the size too much, sorry.

 

[MrsFrk]

Matata- beautiful yard! I have tons of room, I''ve got to get cracking on a proper vegetable garden. Your wee pond is darling.

 

[Mara]

yeah Yamagami''s is definitely expensive, but I just love wandering through there and then of course get suckered into purchasing.

plus they allow dogs and portia loves to go there and snout around and come home with dirty paws and face...hehee.

Matata..love your roses and that close up of the roses is beautiful! I love close up images of the old roses with the patterns, to me they are much more interesting than the hybrid teas, though I do love those for cutting and some fragrances are to die for.

I''m always sad that the old roses and the Austins don''t last very long when cut...they die within a day or two!

 

[fire&ice]

Can''t really offer much help as each geographic location has various variables - earth type, temperature, shade, etc. But, most areas have some type of book that will give a plan so that you have something to bloom all season long.

Another thing to keep in mind is height. Your tiger lillies are going to be higher than your lilly of the valley.

And, to push the Costco one more time, they sell a large bag o'' bulbs. It''s quite a good deal to get you started. Also, a friend of mine belongs to a bulb swap.

Also, Mara, maybe you will like to have a section for wild flowers. I don''t know what blooms out there - but here daisy''s, black eyed suzi''s, shastas (yes, I am a daisy freak). They come up every year so plentiful that they need havesting.

Hostas are a real staple here in the southeast. Helenborious is great because it blooms here in February.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

And, to push the Costco one more time, they sell a large bag o'' bulbs. It''s quite a good deal to get you started. Also, a friend of mine belongs to a bulb swap.

Which bulbs are best for container gardening? I''d like to do a bit, just 10 pots or so. . .I''m an african violet gardener so mostly I do indoor plants, but would like to experiment with some outdoor potted stuff too.

 

[Mara]

I find bulbs absurdedly easy to grow in containers..it's the drying and storage of them from year to year that is the pain with containers. Easier almost to toss them and start new the next year.

Daffodils are VERY hardy, repel critters, and I have found bloom anywhere...tulips if you live in a friendly climate (CA is not friendly really...), I love freesias for their smell and you can pack a bunch in a container, but they do tend to flop.

I do mostly Daffs (different varieties), tulips, freesias, muscari for bedding. I love John Scheepers, Van Engelen and also got some this year from Van Dycks which had some amazing deals and good reviews. A few diseased bulbs though...I plan to write them a letter as a whole bag of iris's grew those tiny plant bugs and it was a disaster!

Colorblends.Com has some amazing pictures, get their catalog as it gives you alot of inspiration for the coming year...they sell in very large bulk (aka 100 of each cultivar) and have great pricing.

Whatever you plant, fertilizing in containers is crucial, esp for bulbs--get some bulb food and plant it with the bulbs.

Oh and YES Costco is the BEST for large quantities of bulbs if you want to go local, and in spring they sell their lilies in bags of something like 12 for about $10 which is amazingly cheap compared to the 'specialty' shops which sell them for something like 3 for $8...I racked up large amounts of lilies and glads this way in the past.

Spring bulbs are pretty much sold out now....but you can do some lilies and freesias for summer! I adore lilies as well and they procreate like mad!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Thanks for all your tips. I'm in Tulip country up here and we even have festivals dedicated to them so, even though they're gorgeous, I'm a bit tuliped out. lol Daffodils sound fun and probably are okay for WA weather. I'd love some yellow ones to brighten up my patio area.

Costco sounds like the best place since I'm late here in getting started. We were so busy selling our house and moving that I pretty much forgot about plants and most of my house plants are pretty pissed off right now

lol

Oh, I want to tell you, there is a product called soil soup and you can buy other versions of this at nurseries too and this stuff is THE BEST stuff as it provides vital beneficial bateria for your plants that no fertilizer can come close to matching. The bacteria only live for 12 hours OUTSIDE of dirt, so you have to use it immediatly to give your plants their treat.

I had a house plant that was dying and I fed it this stuff and it literally sprang up from the dead!

http://www.soilsoup.com/home.asp

 

[fire&ice]

Tulips grow well here. Here, daffodils & iris''s grow like weeds. They give birth and just keep going. Gotta love em. Another great thing about dafs are they will last quite a long time in water. As I said, they grow like weeds here. They will pop up on the side of our house & even in the middle of the back yard! I love to put them in a great organic green matt vase!

Aren''t flowers just the best! Our highway dept. plants seed for wild flowers - poppies abound!

 

[moremoremore]

Oh matata, you *would* post those roses, wouldn''t you!!! I love them, they look very much like peonies...just beautiful! You have very good taste

 

[Kamuelamom]

Matata nice stone path and beautiful roses!

 

[hoorray]

Matata, your roses are beautiful. This should be a great year in your garden now that things have settled in and started to grow!

 

[Matata]

Thanks Kmom & lop. I''m looking forward with mixed feelings to the summer because after all the of last year''s planting and nurturing, I''ll probably put the house on the market come spring. FH and I think it would be better timing to buy a place together a year before the wedding to get one big item off the "to do" list.

 

[Mara]

Matata, I was very sad to have to leave my old garden behind...I only took some of the bulbs and about 5 of my favorite roses. Having a container garden is not the same as working the dirt yourself. Though it does make it easier, since we have alot of hard clay where we are here in N.CA. I hated that part! Buying potting soil is 1000% easier than playing with that hard clay!

My daffodils are starting to come up...I estimate within a month the patio garden will be in full bloom! Just in time for Greg''s dad and stepmom''s visit!

 

[cflutist]

Mara, since you say you like the tropics, have you considered growing tuberose? Its actually a bulb which comes in single and double varieties with very fragrant white flowers (that you know they make leis with). They prefer full sun but will tolerate some shade. Each bulb produces only one stalk, but one is enough to fill the entire room with fragrance. The last time I bought them, they were a dollar a bulb at Navlets Garden Centers. Haven''t bought some in a while since they come back every year. We do divide them every couple years.

 

[Mara]

Yes cflutist...I have grown tuberose a few times...but they don't seem to grow in pots that well so I have relegated them to that future garden dreamland. They do smell divine--very strong. I also grow paperwhites, the indoor narcissus that some people love to hate, they smell VERY strong...but it's an acquired taste. The first year I grew them indoors, I wasn't sure I liked them, but now I grow them every year in about 4 pots around the house and I love them.

The Tahitian flowers, I forget what the name is, reminded me of a tuberose and they smelled divine. We got a lei of them when we came in the first night but it died right away, not like orchids which last for weeks. I wanted another lei but we couldn't find one on our island, unbelievably. So on the way out of the airport, I bought a package of them wrapped in a banana leaf and had the agriculture stamp of approval for travel into US etc. Well in Hawaii the evil customs man took them away to my very vocal protest (Greg had to literally haul me away), he said regardless of the stamp/packaging, etc, they were not allowed. He also took away my banana leaf purse and Greg's hat that had been made for us by the locals. G said he probably just wanted to give the flowers to HIS wife.