Spring Bulbs

The challenge when we lived in New England was to order the bulbs and get them planted in the fall before the cold weather came and the ground froze.  There were many times that I was out on a cold autumn day racing to get the bulbs in the ground before the first winter storm.

Things are different in Central Texas, where the ground doesn't freeze.  In fact, the bulbs were ordered in the fall, but as soon as they arrived they went right into the refrigerator to get the appropriate number of weeks of cooling before being planted.  Like a lot of plants, most of the bulbs that we associate with spring require cold weather to produce spring flowers.

Finally, the time came to remove the bulbs from the refrigerator and get them into the ground.  Luckily, the bed had been prepared in the fall, so the recent gardening task was to get them plopped into the ground so they could settle in and start growing for a spring display (next month?)

The biggest challenge, of course, is to choose varieties that will not be tempting to our voracious deer population.  Experts assure me that deer do not eat daffodils (we'll see) and the bulb supplier (in Connecticut) testified that deer would not bother hyacinthoides (scylla, or squills).  Now all we have to do is wait and see if 1) the cooling period was long enough, and 2) if, in fact, deer will not find the new growth appetizing!