Beautiful!

This is a surprise. I think I vaguely remember this bulb coming with a trade 5-7 years ago. For the first few years it was in a pot, then got put in the ground about 3 years ago. I forgot all about it, and baby trees and spiderwort got away from me in the area. Last weekend, I chopped most of that stuff down and yesterday, I noticed this bloom from the old mystery bulb. I'm planning to stop gardening in this area and go back to mowing and this bulb saved itself by finally blooming. Obviously I'm going to dig this up & put it somewhere where it can be more appreciated!

It appears to be an Aztec lily. Aztec Lily (Sprekelia formosissima)




I looked at the list of people who have this in the database but I don't remember trading with any of the people who have it, but I could have and just don't remember. If whoever sent this to me sees this, thank you! It took a while, but it has bloomed and it is magnificent!

JMorth used to grow those. Could it have been him?

Rj, love the tulips flanking the beautiful walkway! The pastel colors are a nice complement to walkway.

Tiffany, that is one unique looking lily! Looks like an exotic bird in the amazon. Thanks for sharing the pic of this lily. I had never seen them before.

It is unusual, to me too! I thought I'd have to ask what it is but I searched for "red lily" and spotted an identical pic pretty quickly.

Deborah, could be.

Tulips lousy again.
I planted tulip two years ago for the first time in about ten year
They came up OK last year but like the last time I planted, not as good as they should have been and this year , the second lousy at best.

I do not know if twenties can zap tulips but some thing did zap the first ones up here as the single one with a bud failed.
to bloom and the others look like a tornado went through them.
Nice big leaves and no flowers.
Now a few put in the Iris garden, I do not know when they were put in, one is blooming fine now and there are a few more that will.
I have two gardens North and South fifty miles apart and down south I rarely had problems but I often missed the bloom so I tried them up here and quit down there.
It seems those put in as an after thought do better than those put in prepared soil up here always.

What REALLY gets my goat is, down South in a bed for bush roses, where tulips have not been put in for over a decade.
I did some prep for replacing the railroad tie border, leaving a dirt pile outside the garden, next to a tie.
THERE, there is a single nice red tulip blooming, no idea where it came from.

Tulips can usually survive down to the high 20s, The Darwins work best for the classic Tulip look and if you want more than one season out of them, but typically the 2nd year you might get 75% and the third approx 50%, not counting the Deer eating them. They need really good drainage, for my Darwins I mixed a lot of pea gravel into the soil and also put approx 2" of pea gravel into the bottom of the planting area. I've had some species tulips going on 5 years with good blooms.

RpR, can't help you much with any planting in zone 3. But i hope that you will be able to find tulip varieties that have a consistent return.

Thanks Rj for the above tips to extend the life of tulip bulbs.

Last of the daffodils to bloom in my garden is Green Eyed Lady

When I said, "The ones I have were found in empty lots during drought, by noticing the only green foliage in a sea of green". I meant to say,

The ones I have were found in empty lots during drought, by noticing the only green foliage in a sea of BROWN...

Oops!

crawgarden said:Tulips can usually survive down to the high 20s, The Darwins work best for the classic Tulip look and if you want more than one season out of them, but typically the 2nd year you might get 75% and the third approx 50%, not counting the Deer eating them. They need really good drainage, for my Darwins I mixed a lot of pea gravel into the soil and also put approx 2" of pea gravel into the bottom of the planting area. I've had some species tulips going on 5 years with good blooms.

What is annoying, down South in heavy Black Gumbo, I planted , they grew well , for several years.
Up North in lighter soil, even when prepping the soil, only those tossed in as an after thought seem to do well, prepped plots go pffft.
As liliies and daylilies do OK in the same area, it is strange.

Leucojum Snowflakes blooming

Lovely, RJ! How do you keep the Solomon's Seal from taking over the whole bed? Mine grows like a weed.

It is a good grower, I either dig it and transplant, or just pull it.

Caladium!

I got a few new daffodil bulbs last fall - all are historic narcissus and I'm pleased with them.

CONGRESS


ELECTRUS


FEU DE JOIE


ODORUS FLORE PLENO


Here's one I've had a while that I'm not sure whether anyone else posted.

ORANGERIE

Pat, those are wonderful!

Those are gorgeous varieties, Pat! I have never seen or known of them before. Their colors and forms are wonderful. Thanks for posting! Love, love the last one!

They are interesting and varied. I like them a lot.

Gladiolus




Call me crazy but I like the bloom on an ordinary onion, and these wild buds before the petals explode out of it.

More gratuitous Gladiolus pics!

These were blown over, so now they're in a jar.


PURPLE!!