Thursday, March 18, 2010

Flower bulbs

Long ago before my natal family moved to Wildwood, a great aunt & uncle lived in the old homeplace = Aunt Ruth & Uncle Clyde. They were great lovers of flowers, and blooms continue to arise from bulbs they planted decades ago. I love bulbs and heirloom flowers myself - and I should, while it is on my mind, make contact with one of their children & probe deeper into the planting of these bulbs & their general history.
this is one of a dozen, or so, ancient yellow crocuses that Aunt Ruth planted near the house

a single clump of purple crocuses remain

cutting daffodils for the dinner table - into a favorite vase - did Aunt Ruth & Uncle Clyde plant the hundreds of these bulbs on the roadside bank together?



a find here at our 1940's-built home in Richmond Hill - more long ago planted bulbs - ones I did not recognize, something different - after a little research, they are: GRAVETYE GIANT SNOWFLAKES

Old House Gardens (www.oldhousegardens.com ), a favorite bulb source of mine, describes these as:
Animal-proof! Above daffodil-like foliage, dainty white, green-tipped bells dangle gracefully. 18-24 inches tall, ‘Gravetye ’ is the hardiest, most floriferous snowflake, other forms of which have been grown in gardens since 1596. It was introduced in 1924 from Gravetye Manor (say GRAVE-tie), home of William Robinson, “father of the English perennial border.”



1 comment:

angelina said...

wish that purple was opened up!