Fall bulbs

I selected and ordered all my fall bulbs.

This is what I'm getting:

First, I piggy-backed on a friend's order and scored some pink daffs and crocus, wholesale.

I've never tried crocus before, but recalling mmw's crocus love, I decided to give 'em a whirl. I think I'll try them in clutches of 3-5 as companions to plants growing in some of my garden's larger containers.

I had a couple of pink daffs in a bag of mixed daffs I bought last year, and they were my favorite. I think the 'chromacolors' I ordered are different than those Carol said reminded her of "a pale, old lady with too much lipstick in the wrong shade of pink." Meow! I imagine using these daffs thickly planted in pots and maybe sharing a few leftovers with one of my aunts.

Then from Old House Gardens, I ordered three Camassia and the Intro to Heirlooms fall sampler (because I'm perfectly comfortable letting anonymous strangers make important decisions about my garden). The fall sampler may include daffodils, lilies, tulips, hyacinths, and crocus, among others. Hopefully it will be tulips and hyacinths because I didn't buy any of those this year, and I already have some native lilies I'm happy with. I'm gonna put the blue Camassia under white-flowering Abutilon and Digitalis purpurea 'Apricot Beauty'.

Finally, last night, I placed my last bulbs order for 2007, and I have to say that here on the blog so I don't buy any more bulbs this year! This time ordering from Telos Rare Bulbs, and emphasizing west coast natives, I picked a half-dozen Brodiaea elegans and Dichelostemma ida-maia, three more Camassia lechtlinii, and one Fritillaria biflora.

About Brodiaea elegans, Bornstein, Fross and O'Brien say, "Harvest Brodiaea is one of the best in the genus with large violet flowers that open a few at a time atop 6- to 20-inch long stalks." Harlow and Jakob say B. elegans is "a reliable and adaptable garden plant that tolerates occasional summer water and heavy soils, and it multiplies well." Perfect!

B, F & O'B suggest planting Dichelostemma ida-maia with red-flowered coral bells "for a lively combination". That sounds good, because I just divided several red-flowered coralbells that I didn't know what to do with. Now I have to pick a spot to mass them.

Fritillaria biflora blooms in late winter and early spring and wants dry summer dormancy, according to H&J. "This plant is almost always found within several miles of the coast. Native to open grassy slopes and woodlands in both northern and southern coastal California, chocolate lily is reasonably easy to grow in containers with white flowered Sisyrinchium bellum or meadow foam (Limnanthes douglasii)."

Well, good, because I still have L. douglasii seed I didn't use last year. A containerized brown and yellow flower combination should make for an unusual end to Winter '08 in the garden.