Procrastination Pays Off in Bulbs

Just polishing my crown here. As The Queen of Procrastination, I can tell you all the advantages to waiting to the last minute to do things while acknowledging that there are also disadvantages. However, I'm also a positive thinker, so I tend to dismiss the latter.

The latest triumph in my career of putting things off was delivered by The Man in Brown just a little while ago. Bulbs. Big and little bulbs, full of the promise of spring. Every fall I tell myself I'm not going to plant any more of them, then I think about how it feels in spring when these rays of light burst through the winter-weary landscape and make my spirits soar. That gets me every time.

This year, I was hanging out in Twitter when Brent and Becky's Bulbs announced their 50% off sale and I beat a path to their cyber-door. What's great about Brent and Becky's is that you know you'll get the same great quality product at the end of the season that you do during the rest of the year.

Another plus is you'll find all kinds of goodies that aren't readily available just anywhere. I mean, how many places do you think I've seen a Narcissus called 'Romy?' For those of you who don't know, my husband's name is Roman and everyone calls him Romie, just as they did his grandfather, for whom he was named. You know I just HAD to buy that one.






I've got the perfect place to plant a drift of spring crocus, so I bought several different crocuses, including more of one I already have and love, Crocus sieberi ssp. sublimis 'Tricolor.'

Crocus sieberi subsp. sublimis 'Tricolor' in the garden - 27 March 2009

'Advance' is aptly named, because it's one of the earliest to break ground and bloom. I really like the two-tone color combination of yellow and lavender on its petals.

I bought 50 of these, which might sound like a lot, but crocus are small and it takes a lot to make any kind of impact. I could have used about four times that many. Next year!





I gravitate towards stripes when I'm shopping for clothing and I guess I do the same thing when it comes to flowers. That's why I bought Crocus 'King of the Striped.'












This spring, Romie and I went to our younger daughter's house to help her with some clean-up around the yard of the home that she and her husband had purchased the summer before.

I was thrilled when she told me I could take a few of the "really pretty pink flowers" that had come up in various locations at the back of her house. Upon looking them up, I identified them as Tulipa 'Little Beauty.' Though she gave me a few, I wanted more, and now I have them.

'Little Beauty' is a species-type tulip, originating in the mountains of central and western Asia. I like their petite and delicate form and they're reliably perennial. I bought a couple of other species tulips that I didn't already have.

















I bought some hybrid tulips, too.




And finally, a few bulbs of those little works of art called Iris reticulata. We've got 'Harmony' in a few locations and some native wild Iris cristata we found in Arkansas several years ago.

The new ones are called 'Spring Time' and look as though they'll be a little more blue than 'Harmony,' which is a definite purple. Brent and Becky's describes them as "bluebird-blue with white tipped violet falls, purple spots and yellow midrib."


So, you see, procrastination can be a good thing. When spring arrives in just over three months (yay!), there will be twice as many colorful new blooms than there would have been had I not waited until snow was in the forecast to order them.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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*With the exception of Crocus sieberi subsp. sublimis 'Tricolor,' all photos are courtesy of Brent & Becky's Bulbs, used with their permission.