Although we had a very cold, snowy, and long winter the Spring flowering bulbs did not suffer much underground, as did some of the Jarvis Garden shrubs.
Over the years the collection of Narcissus, Daffodil, and mini daffodils, has grown to include quite a variety of sizes and colors.
There are both pink and blue Hyacinths.
Here is the yellow flower of the insidious Marsh Marigold, next to a very tiny blue star shaped flower.
These are nodding tiny narcissus at the edge of the garden.
Bunches of daffodils have multiplied and naturalized over the years. Since I have been known to dig up clumps if they do not bloom, different varieties wind up in new clumps.
This is a Parrot tulip that I got from my friend Elizabeth years ago when she moved from house to house. If planted really deeply, Tulips come back practically forewver.
These are Dog Toothed Violets.
White Tulips
Deep red Darwin tulips
Years ago, Marsh Marigolds were not in the Jarvis Garden. I purchased many, many potted plants from local nurseries, and that is where they must have come from.
Unfortunately, now they blanket my entire yard. They are sort of pretty, and people really like them, but they are the worst spreading weed that I can think of. I never share plants with people who don't already have them in the garden for fear of infecting their soil.
This is a double flowering narcissus that multiplies rapidly.
This is a Lenten Rose which grows in deep shade under one of my Rhododendrons.
A green Lenten Rose in deep shade by by big barn.
Darwins are good old standard tulips. They are tall , have huge blooms and lovely deep colors: lipstick red, bright yellow, and pure white. I may even have a lovely pink variety.
A crazy double yellow daffodil
Some of these Tulips came from a batch that my sister brought back from Holland over 40 years ago. I cannot figure out how they survive that long, but they do.
New additions
These Tulips were brought from my parent's house, and they originally came from a garden center named Wheatley Gardens which bordered the rear of my parents property.
This is one of the few flowers that I can name, Pheasant's Eye. It is very striking and also multiplies well.
Ice Follies
Probably King Alfred, which is usually the largest and strongest of the Daffodils.
I think that I got the bug for collecting Spring bulbs from my childhood days at Wheatley Gardens. They would throw bloomed out bulbs , which were imported from Holland in wooden crates, onto a huge compost pile each year. I quickly learned that bulbs would come back and started to collect their rejects. Many of the Spring flowering bulbs actually come from those days. They just keep on coming back. I sometimes stop by the side of the road and pick up pots of bloomed out bulbs that people discard after Easter. I have also been known to purchase, at a deep discount, bloomed out bulbs from pharmacies and supermarkets. Bulbs have promise built right into their scratchy brown, oddly shaped, dried out forms. If you teach your children to plant these strange packages of hope in the Fall, they will learn a lot about future planning, and deferred gratification. Nothing wrong with waiting a few months for a big return! It is a great lesson.
