Grant, pretty pics! There appear to be two different kinds of flowers in the first pic, the little blue star-shaped ones, and something bigger and sort of hairy. What are they?? Oh, wait, is the hairy structure just the center of a cluster of blooms, all on the same plant? If so, how interesting!

I planted a ton of bulbs this fall, and I have some snowdrops and some grape hyacinth blooming. Oh, and my little apple tree is about to bloom! I covered it last night for fear that even a light freeze might kill the flower buds. Does anyone know how hardy apple blossoms/buds are?

--Maureen

Hiya Maureen and all,

Thanks for looking and commenting, I really appreciate it. It's fun to share our gardens isn't it? The hairy structure in the center is as you guessed, MORE BUDS coming in. Yay! The flowers in the pic are just the first ones of what I hope will be a nice cluster. These plants are SO EASY to keep happy here and they just get bigger and better each year, plus they don't need to be hooked up to life support in summer, so what's not to love?

Your bulbs sound great too. Do your grape hyacinths live year after year? Everything sounds nice. Hopefully someone can answer your question about the hardiness of apple buds/blooms. Good job covering them just in case. Keep us posted!

Take care,
Grant

Grant, I frankly don't remember how long the grape hyacinth is supposed to last, but I know that when I was a kid we had it come up year after year for at least 6 years, so I have high hopes!

Today I found some beautiful purple star flowers blooming, too, more bulbs planted this past fall. Here are some pics, including the apple blossum buds.

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--Maureen

Hiya Maureen,

Great pics, thanks for posting them! I may have to plop some grape hyacinths around my garden too. I have crinums, rain lilies, surprise lilies, plus the Scilla and Lachenalia in my pics to keep them company. Thanks for sharing yours.

Love the blue star (Chionodoxa???) too. What variety is your apple tree and do you reliably get fruit? The blooms are really pretty and look full of promise.

Happy Gardening,
Grant

Grant, I don't know the latin name of those star flowers, I'm bad that way! My mother handed me a bulb catalog (Breck's I think) and told me to pick some.

The apple tree is an Anna. It's only been in the ground for about a year and a half. I planted it in the fall of 2009, and it did flower that spring (2010) but didn't produce any fruit. It was a really tiny little tree so I didn't expect much. It has grown a lot since I planted it but it's still quite small, so I won't be surprised or disappointed if we don't get any fruit this year, either. Especially since we're supposed to freeze tomorrow night. :-/ I'll try covering it but don't know if that will help.

I definitely need some rain lilies, that's on my "must have" list.

--Maureen

Grant,

Do you have a preferred source for your bulbs and other beautiful plants that you grow?

dlg

DLG, I buy lots of stuff from lots of places (plus I do a TON of plant swaps too). I buy a lot of semi-tropical bulbs from McClure and Zimmerman, plus Berridge Nursery too (they usually have nice fat Scillas). Hit Baker Nursery often too in Central Phoenix, and I am not above hitting Home Depot and Lowes too (I'm not above ANYTHING when it comes to gardening, except stealing).

I order a lot of plants from Select Seeds (great website adn catalog), and I experiment a bit with Annie's Annuals. I order tons of seeds from Thompson and Morgan and from JL Hudson Seedsman (fun catalog, no pics), I like High Country Gardens too, and I'm an addict of Plant Delights Nursery too. I hit Orange County, CA and L.A. a lot too and get lots of goodies there (Roger's Gardens in Irvine, Mimmosa Nursery in Buena Park/Anaheim, CA Cactus Center, etc). Ebay.com often has interesting plants and seeds for sale too. I guess when it comes to plants I'm an omnivore, LOL.

Take care all,
Grant

Thanks for the tips Grant. This gives me lot of places to check out.

Again your yard is awesome.

dlg

Hey dlg, you can support a somewhat local business if you want some neat interesting and somewhat rare bulbs :) Lookie here:

Arid Lands Greenhouse

Grant - what a variety of interesting plants. Thanks.

Thanks, dlg! Good call on Arid Lands, azant, they're great. I visit them each time I'm down in Tucson.

Take care all,
Grant