I used to have that problem sometimes but to be honest, I got rid of all my bulbs. When we moved in here there were lots of daffodils planted by previous owners. I decided to enjoy them in other peoples yards on my daily walk and haven't missed them. Instead I rely on early blooming annuals that self sow and then die back when other plants are kicking in. The thing that finally did it for me was the short length of bloom vs having to keep and look at that ever lengthening, flopping foliage until it finally died back. This was the problem with the daffs rather than accidentally digging up bulbs when planting. Tulips aren't really reliable here, you have to replant each year because they peter out over time but the foliage wasn't as objectionable to me on them. Seemed I was always hacking tulip bulbs in half with the shovel but they were shrinking anyway, loosing their vigor.

I like seeing crocus planted in lawns, they look great in dormant grass. Obviously this is of no help at all to you except to say it did seem like the daffs were buried pretty deep and I didn't run into them digging, in fact, I had to dig way way down to finally get the bulbs when I dug them out. I was surprised how deep they were. I'd dig up toads every now and then but not daffodil bulbs until I consciously decided to dig them out. We have lots of toads. Maybe you can dig the bulbs in deeper?

As a September project, I placed an order with SRG and am expecting a lot of grasses tomorrow, I went a bit overboard. Its still so dry here I may wait to plant but I usually can't wait to get things in the ground. I've been moving plants around for the last couple weeks, sort of editing, massing and fixing mistakes. I have planted over 100 little bluestem grasses in massed plantings along with 3 kinds of Muhly grass in a mass planting and as specimens. Its finally cooler here and pleasant to work outside, temps dropped down into the comfy 80's and it cools down in evening finally. I'm excited to get my order in. I haven't done any serious trimming yet, things are starting to rebloom in earnest & lots of hummingbirds and butterflies are visiting, we are in Indian Summer mode.

Speaking of SRG, how did that small heuchera plant do that you ordered in July? I remember you got a puny one and was wondering if it came around or not? I didn't do so well with heuchera but its been a long time since I tried to grow any. Maybe its too hot? Too dry? Bad mother? How'd you do with them? I also remember you had a tree that was trimmed back or removed and were getting more sun in a spot, I think it was columbines you had growing there. Thats another plant that doesn't do well for me and I wondered if yours made it or not.

As for the grasses, they do great with very little effort and now they are coming into the best time of the year so this is when I always crater,get greedy and want to buy more---I swear, I really went overboard because you cannot beat those sale prices at SRG. I ended up placing a second order two days after the first.

I've pulled out annuals here and there - some were looking tired already, others needed to be removed to make room for pots of mums, asters. I'm hoping to get the rest of them pulled this weekend or next, except the annual geraniums, which I leave until we get a light frost, then I dig them for storage over winter.

I have some perennials I bought that need to be planted, and I have to buy some bulbs and get those planted, too. I usually don't get around to planting bulbs until late October/early November, though - not in a hurry to get that done.

SouthernGardening, you might consider interplanting the daffodils with the daylilies. They are excellent partners because the daylily foliage will obscure the daffodil foliage right about the time it starts to look ratty.

I really like bulbs planted in a big drift: dig a curving, maybe s-shaped trench about 12-18" wide and 8" deep, then pack it with bulbs, then backfill. The broad s-shape can wind around perennials. You can do 50 bulbs at a whack with this method.This looks especially good with tulips or muscari. I think daffodils are adapatble and also look nice planted in little clumps of 3-5 bulbs per clump. That gives them sort of a naturalized look.

Digging into bulbs is always a problem - you are definitely not the only one!

I gave up on tulips. They only look good the first blooming season here. I agree with the prvious poster, daffodil bulbs mixed in with daylilies is the way to go, I have done that in my yard with great results. I dont have annuals in the ground anymore. Just perenials , flowering shrubs and some annuals in pots placed around the yard.

Sherry

This is really getting into October chores but my focus for the next two weekends is getting the gardening shed cleaned up and organized. A big task since it is almost the size of a one car garage. Next on the list is sinking my 'pot ghetto' into my holding beds for the winter. I am waiting delivery of a couple hundred winter aconite and 'tommy' crocus that will then need to be planted. My husband has finally put up peg board on one side of the garage and installed shelving and hangers so I now can organize all the gardening equipment and supplies I keep there instead of the gardening shed.

My bulbs arrived but only a small order - 250 leucojums, 250 aconites, 250 star of bethlehem, 100 cammassias, 50 erythroniums.....although I too went a bit insane after discovering a ridiculously cheap nursery (frost asters, wood asters, hardy begonias, abelia, various eryngoes, violets, sanguiisorba, a clutch of hardy geraniums.....and I have started on the autumn seed sowing. My new wheeze, to avoid insanity, is to prick out the seedlings into nursery beds in situ rather than the usual endless potting on which I normally do. Back in my design and building days, the phrase 'less is more' was continually on my lips. What a hypocrite I am since more is definitely more as far as I am concerned.....and when seeds are involved, caution and moderation are non-existent in my vocabulary.
Our woods are very light - the poplar lose their leaves really early - already, most of them are on the ground, so we are going to make a leaf 'cage' this weekend, plant the bulbs and do a final grass sowing. I sprayed the willow beds in readiness for November planting of 17 types of osiers, dogwoods, hazel and alder (a little coppice area) and we are planning another order of hedging whips, Traditionally, I used to order my bare-root roses (and have already bought a Canary Bird (r.xanthina x var.spontanea).
I slacked off loads over the summer -well, we did have a week-long party which took up heaps of time - but it's back to mayhem during this, my busiest (and most expensive) time of year. There is also shedloads of stuff to do on the horsebox...although I spent a large part of last weekend applying tung oil. Fortunately, I have bribed and nagged the offspring into coming along to help with the bulb- planting (ply them with cider)....as I am exhausted just thinking about it all to do.

That's a small order? I hate to think what a *large* order of yours looks like - yikes!

Campanula, I think only a few of those Star of Bethlehem was all you needed, it is a very invasive plant. You sure you want to plant that???

Its considered a noxious weed in these parts, my sister is overrun with the pest, its her most hated, reviled & prolific weed, impossible to eradicate and there is not a single area on her property, according to her, that it has not infected. She doesn't call it 'Star of Bethlehem' but I will just leave it at that.

Tex, compared to the brambles and nettles, I am more than happy to give the ornithogalum a run for its money....but yep, it was Mr.Campanula who insisted on this one.....so it will go along the northern edge amongst the already running amok english ivy....and failing that, I will rain liquid death upon it in the form of Broadshot herbicide. I did put my foot down when wild garlic was mentioned.

I usually put in around 3000 bulbs so yep, we are taking it easy this year.....

It took me some time to get my head around the US worries about noxious weeds (the lists seem endless and include some harmless (to my mind) things such as anisodonteas, berberis, cytisus. Here in the UK, even after 100s of years of happily importing plants from all over the globe, we generally only get our knickers in a twist over japanese knotweed and rhodendron ponticum, as well as a few aquatics. My eldest finally pointed out to me that having lots of empty space----1000s of acres in the Big Country, weeds can really take a hold and run out of control whereas we are much more intensively developed - each person in the UK has around 1/8th the space of a US citizen - there are 5x as many people in the US in an area 40x as big as Britain. Consequently, there are few spaces of comparable size where weeds can get a hold and where there are (Scottish highlands, moors and our extensive canal system) the weeds tend to be the aforementioned knotweed and rhodies We have considerably more problems with fauna running out of control (American crayfish, muntjac deer, grey squirrels, mink).

Campanula-kindly let all of us here in the US know what you will find to kill SOB. I think you are going to be more than irked at Mr. Campanula, since he had to have them.
Waiting to hear from you, don't let us down.

Yea me too. I want to pass it on to my sister. If she was reading that she'd never shut up about it being impossible to kill or even make a dent in it. She can go on for quite some time about SOB. Years of spraying, digging, sifting through soil for bulblets and cursing have made her obsessive compulsive.

Most of the weeds in the US are from Europe. The native Americans called them 'White Man's Plants'. Most of the aggressive weedy grass is from Africa or Asia. I think its the fact that the landscape was so drastically altered when Europeans came here that makes for the attitude. It is rare to see unaffected areas. Around here where I live, its grassland and when you do see a pristine native area, you really do get a grasp of the alteration because the imported stuff takes over in other areas killing out the native species and completely taking over. Its not pretty the way the native grasses are, it looks weedy and ugly. I can't speak for other regions but I hear the same thing is true.

This plant hitched a ride into the US from Russia when the immigrants brought in wheat seeds. People often think tumbleweeds are native because you see them in Cowboy movies and TV westerns, but they aren't. We see them around here but not like this. Its stuff like this that gets peoples attention but some do go overboard and become rigorists on the subject.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWcdERE9OwA

This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Fri, Sep 26, 14 at 14:01

SouthernGardening, I hate dying bulb foliage, so I’ve been very careful where I put daffodils. Since I don’t use Daylilies, I have put them behind, Pennisetum ‘Hamelin’, Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’, Hibiscus ‘Kopper King’, Taller geraniums, Hellebores, Baptisia, near the base of an Oakleaf Hydrangea that leafs out to the ground and I never notice them after that. Most of mine end up in the middle of the border.

The only time I try to move daffodils, is after they bloom but before their foliage disappears, so I can see where they are and avoid, cutting the bulbs.

I don’t have any bedding annuals except in containers. I have a few Cosmos mixed in but I leave those to set seed.

I’ve barely started fall chores yet. I have a few potted plants still hanging around that I will find a place for and plant soon. I’m still working in the vegetable garden, and I’m waiting for the tomatoes to finish to put the trellises away for the winter. Will have to find space in the garage to do that, so a little clean up and rearrangement there. I hope to work on the lawn a little this weekend. I’m collecting seed. The plants I want to move are mostly those that prefer moving in the spring, so not much of that is happening this year.

We always keep mowing the lawn to chop whatever leaves have fallen on it so we have a good layer of mulch for the vegetable garden.

No major projects this year so that’s about it. A slow fall actually. I’m enjoying the beautiful weather!

TexasRanger, hope I don't take things too O/T but when you said "Instead I rely on early blooming annuals that self sow and then die back when other plants are kicking in" this is exactly what I would like to do but not sure where to start. Our climates are very different but do you have any suggestions?

Back to the topic at hand, I think I might divide some of the ground covers I planted this year to space them further.

Later in the season, I'll do some clean up and really cut back the huge (but gorgeous) lilacs that are in front of the house. I also have about 5 elms that have succumed to Dutch elm disease so we'll hire someone to take them down. So sad.

They aren't as flashy as bulbs but I have several wildflowers that bloom very early, to me they are a lot more fun than bulbs. Off the top of my head:

Fendler's Bladderpod (lt yellow w/blue foliage) Late Feb to March

Aphanostephus skirrhobasis -- "Lazy Daisy" (white) March

Escholzia californica --"California Poppies" or Mexican poppies, Deep yellow

Salvia columbariae -- "Chia" Purple, March to June

Layia platyglossa -- "Tidy Tips" yellow & white, March to June

various Lupines -- Purple, March to June, some are annual some are perennial

Phacela campanularia "California Bluebells" deep blue, March

Euphorbia rigida "Silver Spurge" big chartreuse blooms on blue foliage, March (a perennial and not native)

I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of and some that I'm not sure of what they even are from seed packets in the past that have naturalized, the cool season ornamental grasses are coming along during early spring and some bloom quite early.

This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Fri, Sep 26, 14 at 22:59

Texasranger: I don't plant tulips either because they won't bloom after the first year. Mostly I've been coming across bulbs other than daffodils that are smaller and not planted as deep when I dig, such as crocus.

That heuchera died among about 4 others. Heuchera is now on my do not buy list. The ones still in the garden are doing pretty well so I don't need more anyway.

The columbines did pretty good but I plan on moving them to more shade soon. I did lose one about a week ago after I noticed there was a path of losened dirt in that area. We even saw the ground move in a spot so we are guessing we have a mole. There are more paths now so I will be picking up a deterrent for that today. The columbine loss is no big deal really because I have many winter sown columbines that should bloom next spring. Thank you for asking :-)

I did the same with SRG. I placed a second order 2 days after my very first one this spring but have been very good at not ordering or buying any plants for 7 days now.

Karin: Thank you. I will interplant them with my many daylilies.

felisa: The peg board is going on my to do list. Thank you.

prairemoon: You are right. There are many perennials that will hide the dying foliage but I think mine are still too immature to do that unless they catch up next year. I've only been gardening for 2 seasons now.

Went on a planting frenzy yesterday. The ground was a joy to dig after several days of heavy rain!

Lots more to plant today--hostas, heathers and herbs--oh my--then tomorrow I start cutting back anything that looks ratty and also do some weeding.

I may pot some plants I'm fearful of putting in open ground. Emily McKenzie Crocosmia, Sorbaria 'Sem' and a basic obedient plant...maybe Monarda in a pot? LOL!

southern, I do better much setting in new plants in fall. Very early spring is OK but late spring is iffy. Lots of the plants I've bought in late spring don't have time to establish a good root system before summer kicks in which is usually in June and they often struggle to take hold. I rarely loose a fall planted plant.

I went on a frenzy too and just put in a 3rd order of grasses to Santa Rosa Gardens. They knocked another $10 off with a fall coupon, who can resist? Thats three coupons you can apply along with the sale price and I got another discount for ordering multiples for a couple of mass plantings of the same kind of grass. They are amazing when you add in the flat $5 shipping rate and the plants I've gotten have been really nice.

We are still very dry and in the mid to upper 80's here. I had to soak the soil good in advance before I could even think of digging but this is the time to plant so you do what you have to. This will give me a good 2 months of good weather and they will have all winter to establish roots.

True confessions--I'm awaiting my second order from Santa Rosa Gardens....need 12 step program.

I have been trimming branches from the clearstory of my husbands painting studio . If I don't, he will cut the whole tree down. Then I will have an ugly view of the three phase power pole. I mentioned that to him and it made him hesitate. We are talking about a escarpment live oak So I jumped on it so radical steps would not happen. I am also better on ladders and up on branches than he is. I just love my sawsall. So much less scary than the chainsaw when 15' off the ground .

Now I am off to pick up some xeric soil ( sand and compost) to do a bunch of planting. Ripping out beds and planting some new stuff. I have red flags way out in the far ground beckoning me. I think I will leave the flags out their for the first year to remind me to water. I have many ( 20 or so plants waiting for my attention. 6 more coming from HCG.

OMG, I am getting freaked out now. I did plant out a number of SOB....but lurked awfully near the fir-epit, thinking I could increase the diameter and consign them to a fiery death. Failing that, I did severe damage to the horrendous brambles(impenetrable, way over my head) and 6foot tall nettles in short order (organic sorts look away now) using aforementioned Broadshot herbicide) which, I think, contains a fearful cocktail of vicious killing chemicals. I had a tiny little window for 1 spray (after bird nesting, before leaf-fall).....only our location in agriculture central allowed me to do this with only a slightly stained conscience (in comparison to the gleeful crop spraying which seems to occur on a daily basis nearby).
Nonetheless, all the leucojums and cammassias went in while most of the SOBs are sitting in the net bag still.

Take my advice Campanula, throw the rest of the SOB's away, you already have too many. I'm checking out Broadshot herbicide, but have a feeling we don't have it here.

Hey, you do know it is not ornithogalum umbellatus? True O.nutans can be a spreader but having checked and rechecked (the RHS even awards it the AGM - Award of Garden Merit), I am not going totally loco just yet.

Because I am now feeling truculent and defensive, I have immediately ordered Ornithogalum arcuatum, O.dubium and also seeds of O.magnum.......
I can hear my mum's voice in my head now, going on about cutting off noses to spite faces......( think I was a belligerent child)

Camp, Mine used to say the same thing, then my dad would add something equally clever like "and if you don't get that chip off your shoulder, little lady, I'm gonna knock it off".

Its just that we like you----Friends don't let friends plant SOB's. You said it was Mr. Camps who wanted that one didn't you? In one ear and out the other is sometimes the best way, just nod your head and hope he forgets. Most of the people who complain about it are the ones with lawns because it loves to invade them from one end to the other.

catkin, you don't need 12 step program until you are working on your third order at 2:00 in the morning after spending 2 days planting the previous ones trying to figure out where to plant them.

Yea, wantanamara, just cut it down. That'll fix it. Gaw.

I weenied out of ordering the silver ironweed from HCG after sweating over indecision. I got scared off by the xeric only cowboy "hat" icon and the description saying it likes alkaline soil, like that white crud you guys have down there. We have dirt here which sounds bad so thats two strikes against me from the git go.

Okay, Tex. Placed my third order this morning after having stayed up late last night narrowing down my choices. Talk me down.

This post was edited by catkin on Sun, Sep 28, 14 at 22:02

So today I finally started planting the daff bulbs and realized I don't have enough daylilies to interplant them with so that was a good excuse to order new ones. Problem solved! :-) I know this is not the daylily forum but I have to say they are beautiful. Can't wait to recieve them.

I can't talk you down catkin, I'm too far gone myself. I'm afraid the inmates are in charge.

I suggest you two plant addicts wander over to the antique rose forum....and marvel at the lists of bare-root orders that are being placed as I write. Some of the truly far gone think little of ordering 100s, from multiple sources. Yeah, I know there are a few well-off Californians there but really, if you feel you are in need of 12 stepping, take a gander at some who are deep in the throes of plant mania.

There is no chance of Mr Camps 'forgetting' - he spotted a single SOB last year (must have been a stray bulbs in my narcissi order) and has gone on (and on) about it ever since. Unfortunately, he is treading dangerously close to having a full-blown plant addiction himself....without any of the hard work I have had to do. He merely sees....and then insists....endlessly.

Thanks for that list TexasRanger!

I enjoyed looking through it. Looks like Escholzia californica should work here. Phacela campanularia is SO beautiful but would resent my clay soil, I think.

I also read that Fendler's Bladderpod - if I ever write a story, I'm definitely going to have a character named Fendler Bladderpod- makes a good treament for spider bites.

camp, I don't know if you ever saw it but I did wander over to the ARF in a weak moment last year & posted a tasteless ditty illustrated with some birds but it didn't last long, it was on a thread you started about posts disappearing. I am out of my area of interest with roses but I can just imagine the financial carnage. I've been ordering more grassy material to build this pocket prairie and wouldn't want to make those folks over there feel jealous & inferior over the big bucks I'm throwing around for 'Blonde Ambition' skeeter grasses, more bluestems and especially the very red Big Bluestem turkeyfoot named 'Red October' I can't wait to try out once I figure out a place to plant him. Maybe close to those new stiff blue Indian Grasses where they'll catch the late afternoon sun rays picking up that bright red? I'm already pining for next fall to see the results and bemoaning my lack of space.

Greenhearted, my new fav name I ran across recently is Wanda Dudwash. Maybe she can be Fendler's girlfriend. The bladderpods are nice because they bloom so prolifically and early then dry up to almost nothing with the hard pods. You can easily snatch them up if you want to control next years crop. In their habitat, they will make the landscape a sea of yellow as early as February. Mine were in a seed pack I bought from Native Seeds of Sonoran Desert mix along with some other interesting off the beaten track wildflower mixes.

I couldn't resist trying this very red Big Bluestem and I can't wait to see it color up next fall. This time of year I am always planning for next fall/winter interest. Come winter, I will be thinking of spring.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://shop.nativeseeds.org/collections/amaranth

Wow, 'Red October' looks a treat! Looking forward to your fall now too, TexasRanger.

Thanks for the link to Native Seeds. Wanda Dudwash and Fendler Bladderpod... it does have a ring to it, doesn't it? Perhaps the next Hairy Podder? -groan-

Wanda Dudwash sounds like Wanda Doeswash with a bad sinus condition.

Well it has been a three bonfire day. the whole garden area to the north of the large shop out to my Vegetable garden. SO different. maybe all the perennials under them will like me better. I think I am going to change the spur path to the back gate of the vegetable garden by moving a mature mexican oregano bush. The large badly placed rosemary and Conoclinium havanese have joined ranks and I can't move them without killing them but I think I have done it successfully with the mexican oregano before.

This was raw land when I first got out here and everything was short. This was a scrubby area and now it has progressed to trees. I am even taking out small Oak trees to lighten the air. I like it. But damn , I have dirt and ash in my ears. How did that happen. Just call me Wanton Dudnawash.

Inmate? Surely you meant patient! LOL

:off to check out the AR Forum:

Trivia: I read once that JD Salinger named his main character in Catcher in the Rye after having looked at a bill board with a movie starring William Holden and Joan Caulfield...

Perhaps pair the Wanda Dudwash with molinia Edith Dudzus.....but don't you enjoy that bonfire smell of burning plant matter. I have been slashing and burning with glee in the woods....all my clothes have that woodsmoke whiff about them now.

There are no mirrors or hairbrushes in the horsebox.....so I don't care about being a total filthoid ( we are renowned for our grubbiness in Europe)....although I do have a weekly bath whether I need it or not.....

campanula: grubbiness in Europe? I heard people say that about the french but I don't believe that's true.

Campanula, try slashing and then letting it rot on the ground. It is messy for a few years but it is great for the soil and wildlife. I slash and leave it. It stops the run off. I leave it in berms and some all over. One rancher says he will go back in 5 years and burn what is left. We have a lot of grade change in our land and torrential rains and dirt that flows easily ( caliche). So leaving branches and leafy twigs is important to catch the dirt. They are much better at catching the wind driven leaves in the fall. I was back in the gorge and saw snakes chasing frogs through the twiggy berms that I left. where the berms are is where I have trees sprouting. AND there was 4 inches of dirt behind the berms.. I use the slash to protect the seedlings from the deer.

Today I was burning stuff that was close to the buildings that are by the more "formal (misnomer) garden". My husband does not like the mess that I leave for the retention berms. He likes things looking very 'park like". So around the buildings , we do it his way.

Yep I will be pretty smoky smelling all week. I did get a massage from a traveling masseuse too so I was a pile of jello at the end of the day.