I snapped this photo of this pairing of crocus flowers for my wife, as her colors are purple and white.
Crocuses
Category: Flowering Bulbs
Daffodils
Our daffodils are still going strong.
Emerging Flowers
As winter fades into spring, life reemerges.
First Squills
The Siberian Squill that I planted eight years ago in the sidewalk tree beds out front are still going strong, and are often the first thing on our block to bloom.
First Daffodil Blooms
The daffodils I planted last autumn are starting to bloom.
First Sign of Spring
Today’s warm weather was a fluke, but nonetheless I spotted the first sign of spring in the garden — a few early shoots pushing up from bulbs that were planted last autumn.
Late Night Planting
How is this my life? Planting daffodil bulbs at night, in the rain.
Total of ten sidewalk treebeds successfully planted tonight, with between one and four dozen daffodil bulbs each, plus a sprinkling of wildflower seeds from a field in the Hudson Valley that we visited this summer. Thank goodness I’m almost done with the autumn planting!
Daffodil Invitation for Neighboring Buildings
Nominally, anyone can perform tree-bed care activities — such as cleaning, cultivating, watering, and planting — on any sidewalk in New York City.
However, it seems to be generally accepted etiquette that the people who live in a building have “first dibs” on the adjacent tree beds, and thus I am loathe to do much digging unless it’s clear that the people who live or work in that stretch have no interest in doing so.
In hopes of mustering some buy-in from my neighbors, I’ve posted letters in a couple of nearby building, inviting them to join me in planting daffodil bulbs in their tree beds.
Daffodil Bulb Pickup
I was very pleased to be able to pick up a large supply of free daffodil bulbs today for planting in the garden and around the neighborhood. They were provided by New Yorkers for Parks as part of the NYC Daffodil Project.
Their distribution site was in Union Square, where bags were set out for people who had registered online. I had missed the registration cut-off date and was relegated to the wait-list line for leftovers — but thankfully, this year they had expanded their program and had many thousands of extra bulbs, so I was able to get as many as I could carry.
Each of their shipping crates was estimated to hold about 550 bulbs, and conveniently fit into one of the large reusable grocery bags I had brought with me. After filling my jumbo shopping cart with three crates’ worth — a hundred pounds of bulbs — I bumped them down the stairs to the Q train and headed back uptown.
Now it’s time to tackle the next project — planting them all!