The Ordering of the Bulbs

Thinking ahead to cooler days, time has come to order bulbs for fall planting...

This year alliums will be planted at Number 17...I ordered 3 different varieties from Brent and Becky's...but being sorta, um, frugal as well as a gardening nut, I could only bring myself to order one $8 Globemaster bulb...crazy...because if that one bulb turns out to be a failure, then I'll never know the glory of a bed Globemasters because I won't convince the Inner Cheapskate that forking over $8 for another Globie is a good idea...and if that one bulb flourishes, being a huge wonderful success, then I'll kick myself for not having planted more...

The biggest lesson I keep re-learning in the garden is Plant At Least Three of Everything...okay, except for that amazingly expensive dwarf Cutleaf Japanese Maple...even if your garden is a, nay, The Model of Restraint, having the same plant's colors, textures and dimensions flow throughout your space is going to help it all make visual sense...even if you buy plants with the abandonment of a child turned loose in Chuck E. Cheese's clutchin' a bag of tokens, having no plan in your mind or if, like me, you just lose your senses once your soles (hah hah...okay...I do love a pun, even a s-t-r-e-t-c-h-ed one) touch hallowed nursery ground...

(okay...hold it a second...I can't be the only gardener who coolly states "No, I don't need a buggy" to one's spouse...then ends up carrying, dragging, and pushing pots along the ground with your braced good leg until said disappearing spouse can be located, shot a warning glance and sent to retrieve a buggy...it really does happen almost every time we visit a garden center)

and load everything that catches your eye into your buggy, forgetting that your plan was only to have pinks, blues, purples, and a touch of white...

Remember~

Just about any color or size or texture can work in a garden if you place the same (or close to the same) all about the place...

In the spirit of that idea, amidst a brokered arrangement between the Gardening Nut and the Cheapskate, I bit the bullet, ordered 5 "Mars", 5 "Firmament" and 10 "Purple Sensation"...plus I ordered a few galanthus...I missed the snowdrops this year so I'm putting some in and crossing my fingers that they'll naturalize over time...

If not, I reckon my Inner Cheapskate and the Gardening Nut will have to take that to the mat next bulb ordering time...