Tulips And A Trillium

The purple tulips at Client #1's were missed when the voles went on an eating frenzy about three years ago. I haven't planted any tulips since then. They have come back and bloomed beautifully every year. The voles have been behaving lately. Maybe I could plant some lilies this fall. They ate all the lilies too.

And why are these purple tulips returning and blooming so well for so many years. Tulips generally don't do that. You get one good year and maybe a smaller second bloom the next year and then you might as well forget them. These purple tulips have been a nice surprise.

Last Saturday afternoon I stopped in at Wamboldtopia's open garden day and got to see all the tulips in bloom there. Damaris and Ricki went on a bit of a tulip planting frenzy last fall. It showed.

A small freebie sack of tulips from a bulb order even landed in my garden last fall. There were four. One was lopped off as it was nearing bloom. I suspect someone was chasing a varmint and missed.

Bulbarella has been on a species tulip ordering and planting frenzy for the last couple of years in the hopes that they will naturalize and return year after year. I have my doubts. They are still tulips and still tasty to voles and other varmints. I seem to recall seeing some red ones in the sunny utility meadow last spring. I don't see them this spring. I do know another patch of species tulips that had been expanding and returning for years got et up last year.

Their only hope is they they will get missed in the millions of poisonous bulbs buried in the ridge top gardens.

Look what I found in the garden becoming, the rare, up here, Trillium erectum. There appears to be a small colony of them. Now I won't have to move one of the very few I have found in the deep forest over to here.

When you walk slow and look close, the forest is full of surprises. Last year I found a population of the Green Fringed Orchid, Platanthera lacera in the garden becoming. I have been watching for them to come up this year so when I get to weeding I won't mangle them like I did last year. That makes six species of native orchids we have growing in the wild cultivated gardens.

Now I just need to learn to tell the difference between Black Cherry tree and Serviceberry, Amelanchier arborea, seedlings. It would be nice to have more spring blooming trees like that in the garden becoming.