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You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: The Promise of Tulips

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: The Promise of Tulips

by Anne Laurie|  January 19, 20204:14 am| 78 Comments

This post is in: Garden Chats

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Thanks to WaterGirl (again) for a winter mood-brightener:

At my house, there are happy tulips everywhere you look in the spring!

These solid pink ones are my favorites, and the white ones really make everything else pop. The white ones are sensational at dusk, when they seem to jump out at you.

Double tulips

I can look up the name of the double tulips if anyone wants to know what they are. I just love them, even though they don’t really look like tulips.

tulips

I get all my bulbs from Colorblends, which satby turned me on to several years ago.

favorite pink tulip

***********
I’m trying a tulip experiment myself this year — I planted a bunch of double-tiered Angelique bulbs in a 20″ bowl planter, along with some little blue scilla for contrast. Both of us have really enjoyed the ‘spring roses’ (as the Spousal Unit dubbed them) when I’ve tried them before. But they’re effectively annuals in our yard, so I’m going to see if the bulbs survive the winter under conditions where I can just move the pot when they’re done flowering, and use the space for annuals.

Reminder: If you have garden pics that you never had the chance to send me last summer, this would be the *perfect* time to share them!

What’s going on in your garden (planning), this week?

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Reader Interactions

78Comments

  1. 1.

    Aleta

    January 19, 2020 at 4:48 am

    WOW.  Dreamy.

  2. 2.

    sab

    January 19, 2020 at 4:51 am

    Wow.

  3. 3.

    rikyrah

    January 19, 2020 at 4:53 am

     

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  4. 4.

    sab

    January 19, 2020 at 4:58 am

    Last year I had some bright red tulips that “our” squirrels stole from the neighbor across the street and planted in our yard, presumably to thank us for keeping the squirrel feeders full.

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    January 19, 2020 at 5:07 am

    ‘Fess up. Do you regularly tiptoe through them?

    :)

  6. 6.

    JPL

    January 19, 2020 at 5:28 am

    lovely.@rikyrah:  Good morning!

  7. 7.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 19, 2020 at 5:48 am

    @NotMax: Shh.

  8. 8.

    eclare

    January 19, 2020 at 5:52 am

    So pretty!

  9. 9.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 19, 2020 at 6:09 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning. ?

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 19, 2020 at 6:29 am

    Thank you, WaterGirl.

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 19, 2020 at 6:31 am

    @sab: So they don’t work cheap, eh?

  12. 12.

    sab

    January 19, 2020 at 6:38 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: They are worth evey dime.

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 19, 2020 at 6:40 am

    @sab: Mine are bowling in my ceiling right now. (I think I finally figured out where the little buggers are getting in)

  14. 14.

    TupeloPhoney

    January 19, 2020 at 6:40 am

    Hey, as beautiful as those are during the daytime, I don’t need things jumping out at me at dusk in my own yard, thankyouverymuch

  15. 15.

    sab

    January 19, 2020 at 6:41 am

    Thanks for the Colorblend ref. That’s worth remembering.

  16. 16.

    sab

    January 19, 2020 at 6:42 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Mine are outside, still asleep.

    Five cats, three of them pretty big, keep the squirrels out. Our blind cat used to be a major squirrel menace until the last one he tangled with kicked the shit out of him. He still has scars.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    January 19, 2020 at 6:43 am

    So you garden and design websites. Impressive.

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning.

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 19, 2020 at 7:12 am

    @sab: My wife doesn’t believe in outdoor cats, otherwise I’d have one or 2. The vermin population is pretty out of control. I can thin the squirrel population when necessary but the chipmunks, mice, voles…. Right now I am battling a pack rat that has taken up residence in my garden shed. The stuff he steals. Percy “hunts” him but he doesn’t stand a chance. I’d like to get a terrier but, again, the wife says 2 dogs is enough.

    I’m rebuilding my smoker. Yesterday I uncovered the block I laid for the base so I could measure it and found the remains of a rat in it. (tail, backbone, base of skull) Hopefully whatever ate it (I suspect a weasel) will travel to the other side of my house.

  19. 19.

    satby

    January 19, 2020 at 7:18 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning ?

    @NotMax: of course she does, wouldn’t you?

    @sab: I’ve mentioned Colorblends probably every spring because they have the best bulbs at the best regular prices. Annie Laurie’s link to White Fence Farm is another supplier that provides beautiful and very healthy plants too. Though I love tulips I tend to plant mostly daffodils because the squirrels leave them alone. My few tulips are always surrounded by daffodils to try to protect them a bit. Late blooming daffodils with early blooming tulips work best if you try it, because generally daffs bloom a bit earlier.

  20. 20.

    satby

    January 19, 2020 at 7:20 am

    Watergirl, I would never get anything done because I would sit in your screen porch admiring the flowers in your garden all spring and summer long!

  21. 21.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    January 19, 2020 at 7:42 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Oh man, once they’ve decided they live in your house, it’s hard to keep them out.

    @sab: I didn’t know squirrels could do that. Good for them!

    @satby: Did you wind up going to market yesterday? I thought of you as we were out getting bagels and it started to hail.

    Watergirl, beautiful flowers. What a great brightener to the morning.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 19, 2020 at 7:47 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Over the years I’ve learned a few tricks and have been fairly successful at evicting them. It’s not easy, and some of them just won’t give up, but it can be done.

  23. 23.

    Immanentize

    January 19, 2020 at 7:50 am

    Good morning All, and thank you Watergirl!  I love tulips.  We had some in the yard, tall red ones, but as soon as they would get beautiful, the squirrels would decapitate them.  A fleeting joy.

    In gardening news, I managed to kill a rosemary that I brought in for the winter.  Too little water?  Too much?  Some thymes one never knows. Either way, dead.

  24. 24.

    Josie

    January 19, 2020 at 7:51 am

    My corgi hates the backyard squirrels with the heat of a thousand suns.  He often sits at the sliding glass door staring out to get a glimpse of one.  When I let him out to potty, I bang on the door first to give them a fighting chance to get to a tree.  He runs out as if shot from a cannon.

    ETA: Lovely flowers, Watergirl.  I am jealous.

  25. 25.

    JPL

    January 19, 2020 at 7:52 am

    @Immanentize: Did you get any of the white stuff over night?

  26. 26.

    Immanentize

    January 19, 2020 at 7:54 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: My neighbor is working on his house — going on ten years.  He is ‘finishing’ the siding and left his soffits open in the Fall.  Now, it is a squirrel race track — night time entertainment!  So he is engaged in a squirrel jihad.  I

    just saw a black squirrel on my fence this past week.  I really have a fondness for black squirrels which are pretty rare around these parts.  They look good running in the snow.

  27. 27.

    Immanentize

    January 19, 2020 at 7:56 am

    @JPL: Yes, we got four or so inches.  It’s going to get up to 44 today, so I need to shovel early to let nature shovel more.

  28. 28.

    hilts

    January 19, 2020 at 8:02 am

    Attention to fans of Rachel Maddow or Lev Parnas, MSNBC will re-air the full interview starting tonight at 10:00.

  29. 29.

    Anne Laurie

    January 19, 2020 at 8:05 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: My wife doesn’t believe in outdoor cats, otherwise I’d have one or 2.

    How does she feel about <del>weasels</del> ferrets?

    (Only because I remember reading that’s what medieval Europeans used to protect their granaries before they were introduced to domestic cats.)

  30. 30.

    Nelle

    January 19, 2020 at 8:12 am

    We got about five inches, topped with a bit of drizzle for an icing crust.  Then the temp dropped and a northwest wind came up.  This morning, the temp is below zero and wind chill is -24F.

    Yesterday, my husband went out to try to chip a tire path out through the ridge the icy ridge the snow plow through up at the end of the cleared driveway.  The driveway was sheet ice and it took three tries to get up and into the garage (it is fairly level).  When he came in, The Cough was back.  I stay in, aside from opening the door and flinging bird seed on the frozen drifts from time to time.

    We can do cold. We’ve lived in Fairbanks.  We even drove the Alcan in December at -43F (why, yes, we were young, stupid, and poor in an old Datsun.  With a three year old).  But we are not interested in cold anymore.

  31. 31.

    laura

    January 19, 2020 at 8:14 am

    After an earlier post in which Immamentize was asking about a Daphne I went and bought a Daphne for the front porch – winter blooming fragrant and surprising scent especially on a cold winter’s night. Added some stock, carnations, seadrift and cyclymens for pops of color. Those tulips are beautiful and promise of Spring’s arrival.

    In the back yard, the orange tree is heavy – I mean Heavy with oranges and spouse will start picking to get ready for Saturday’s breakfast party. We invite just about everybody we know to come over and share the bounty and afterwards we get on the calendar to have the rest picked for the River City foodbank so none goes to waste.

  32. 32.

    Gin & Tonic, Duke of Tanqueray

    January 19, 2020 at 8:19 am

    I wish I could have tulips, but it’s kind of pointless to plant them because the deer think it’s a salad bar.

  33. 33.

    Mousebumples

    January 19, 2020 at 8:22 am

    Gorgeous tulips! I have more crocuses around my house… The tulip bulbs I’ve planted seem to become lunch for the local wildlife but they don’t to to get to the crocuses for some reason…. We’ve also got a decent sized garlic crop that we plant each year. We love to use it in cooking, and it’s super easy to grow, I think. The hardest part is convincing my husband to wait to harvest until they’re actually ready…

    So long as we have Gardening chat going, I was hoping to plan a rosebush of some nature come spring. Trouble is… I’ve got pretty clay-y soil under the topsoil. Any suggestions? (my daughter’s middle name is rose… Hence the reason for wanting a rose or rose like plant). We’re also in Wisconsin, since I expect the climate probably makes a difference too.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 19, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @Anne Laurie: We have a resident weasel who visits from time to time. He likes to decapitate my chickens and drink the blood. I have never tried to trap it as I am hopeful s/he will discover the bounty that awaits around my bird feeder. I mentioned above that I found the remains of a rat that I am fairly certain is the work of the weasel. Still on the wrong side of the house and at least 200 feet from the feeder, but hope springs eternal.

  35. 35.

    satby

    January 19, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I did go to the market yesterday! The weather warned up enough that the ice storm turned to rain before stopping. But very few people braved the weather. Now it’s freezing again so all the snow is just ridges of ice.

    @OzarkHillbilly: do share your squirrel eviction tricks, I think I need them too. Not sure if it’s grackles or a squirrel family, but something has burrowed into the soffit judging by the pieces of shingle and wood in my yard.

  36. 36.

    Princess

    January 19, 2020 at 8:34 am

    We’ve entered the part of the winter where I buy a bunch of tulips every week at the grocery store along with my groceries. It helps.

  37. 37.

    Quiltingfool

    January 19, 2020 at 8:37 am

    I love beautiful gardens, but my knees are so bad that I haven’t done any garden plantings around our house (built a few years ago).  Plus, the soil in my yard is horrific – clay and chert, an Ozark staple, especially when my  yard is on a breaking ridge top (I was a soil scientist and worked on a soil survey for my county…I know this soil!). Years ago I had garden beds that looked nice because I hauled in decent soil, and if I want pretty flowers around I’m going to have to do that again.  Also knee replacement would help a little, I’m sure.  So, I look at photos of your lovely gardens, sigh, and then work on quilts.  I get my color high through fabrics these days.  I finally took the leap and opened a store on Etsy to sell my quilts (quilts are taking over my house, lol) and have sold a few.  Got to keep selling them to feed my quilt making addiction!

    Say, is it possible to have a thread on hobbies?  I love to read about stuff other people do – just like I love reading about all the gardening!  Reading political commentary is important, but I get so sad and so angry at times, I need to read about something joyful.  Cat and dog pictures help a lot, too.

  38. 38.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    January 19, 2020 at 8:37 am

    Excuse the eruption of promo here, but today is the last day Amazon is selling the e-book of my middle-grade fantasy Finders Keepers for $.99.

    “Earthquakes? Fires? Plague? Twelve-year-old Cade tries to ignore how they’re increasing as the new year approaches while he and his sixteen-year-old brother search for their missing mother. But there comes a moment when he has to choose who or what he’s going to save.”

    I now return you to your regularly scheduled garden enjoyment.

  39. 39.

    Immanentize

    January 19, 2020 at 8:38 am

    @laura: Please let me know how the daphne does. In April or May, I’m going to get one as suggested by Momsense.

  40. 40.

    satby

    January 19, 2020 at 8:39 am

    @Mousebumples: I’m not a successful rose grower, at least of the beautiful hybrid tea roses, but I have found some success with the Knock Out and “own root” shrub roses.

  41. 41.

    Jeffery

    January 19, 2020 at 8:42 am

    Found Monty Don’s American garden shows on YouTube. They won’t be up long once the BBC gets wind of them being posted. Thought you might like to see them if you have the time.

    Episode 1
     
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrSKBa-Pe9M

    Episode 2

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfnpPs4A7DA

  42. 42.

    Immanentize

    January 19, 2020 at 8:43 am

    @Mousebumples@satby:

    Also, look for Kay in a thread — she is in Ohio (similar weather) and I think she used to do rose advice on the phone for home extension in her region. (Or maybe that was the mushrooms talking?)

  43. 43.

    Anne Laurie

    January 19, 2020 at 8:45 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yeah, I was being sarcastic — your wife might find the thought of a ‘barn cat’ or two more palatable than a weasel!

    (Come to think, rescue orgs around here sometimes have semi-ferals that they try to place with people who’ll care for them & let them live in their outbuildings, cats who are people-tolerant but not people-friendly.  Any chance there’s a group around you might help with that?)

  44. 44.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 19, 2020 at 8:47 am

    @Mousebumples: My place has an extreme clay dolomite matrix that is great for growing weeds and trees but not much else. Whatever I plant, be it veggies, flowers, bushes or trees, I always work in a generous amount of compost. By generous, I mean if I dig a 2 foot diameter hole 1 foot deep, I work about 4 cubic feet of compost into it. In other words, I pretty much replace the clay with compost.

    I have 2 healthy and happy rose bushes.

  45. 45.

    Immanentize

    January 19, 2020 at 8:47 am

    @satby: I have two own-root plants and they do grow well here.  The roses aren’t as fancy as tea roses, but they put out many flowers — spring, summer and fall (if I remember to water and feed them.)

  46. 46.

    zhena gogolia

    January 19, 2020 at 8:49 am

    @Quiltingfool:

    That’s a good idea. There used to be something similar. You could e-mail one of the front-pagers, like TaMara.

  47. 47.

    zhena gogolia

    January 19, 2020 at 8:50 am

    @Gin & Tonic, Duke of Tanqueray:

    Yes, that was the end of my brief gardening career. I got all excited picking out different color bulbs and planting them. They lasted one day.

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    January 19, 2020 at 8:52 am

    @Immanentize:

    Some thymes one never knows.

    My dad would have heartily approved of that comment.

  49. 49.

    TerryC

    January 19, 2020 at 8:59 am

    Im pretty sure the red squirrels that live in the walls and basement of our old 1870 farmhouse have been living here for far longer than my 33 years here. Certainly the occasional Michigan rattlesnake we find in the basement testifies to that.

    This year, besides planting 420 oaks, buartnuts, and heartnuts, we will be spending a lot of time learning to graft and field grafting edible varieties of fruit onto wild, volunteer stock: apples, pears, and plums – and you can graft cherries, peaches, and nectarines onto plums (I have several hundred field babies). Also table grapes onto wild grapes.

    Also going to try some strange things on my private disc golf arboretum, like grafting Honeyberry onto Autumn Olive.

  50. 50.

    satby

    January 19, 2020 at 9:01 am

    @Quiltingfool: oh, do link to your Etsy store in your nym (as long as you don’t mind people here knowing your real name). I’d love to see some of your quilts.

  51. 51.

    WaterGirl

    January 19, 2020 at 9:01 am

    Anne Laurie, I tried to buy some Angelique this spring – they were there in my cart, then I waited two days to pull the trigger, and they were out.  Procrastination 1, WaterGirl 0.  :-(

    I would be embarrassed to say how many tulip bulbs we planted this fall, so I’ll just say that unless something goes horribly wrong, there will be plenty of tulip pictures for Garden Chats next year.

  52. 52.

    OzarkHillbilly

    January 19, 2020 at 9:05 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    Yeah, I was being sarcastic — your wife might find the thought of a ‘barn cat’ or two more palatable than a weasel!

    Heh, I should have caught that. A couple years ago when I was visiting the great north woods she had to take over all the chicken duties. We had one rooster with whom she had a true love/hate relationship with. It seemed to relish the idea of sinking his spurs in her. One night he didn’t want to go into the coop when she insisted he should so she said, “F’ you.” and left him outside for the night. The next morning we had one decapitated ex-rooster.

    The Sullivan city animal control facility works is no-kill and works with the local HALO chapter to take care of the animals. We got both Miss Kitty and the Woofmeister thru them. I am sure they have some feral cats, but my problem is convincing my wife that I can make it/them a snug and comfy warm hidey hole to shelter in when the weather is nasty and that they will be happy with it. I don’t really blame her. Either coyotes or foxes call our place home (they don’t share but they will trade off).

  53. 53.

    WaterGirl

    January 19, 2020 at 9:07 am

    @TupeloPhoney:

    The white ones are sensational at dusk, when they seem to jump out at you.

    Perhaps I should have said the white ones really “pop” at dusk.

  54. 54.

    satby

    January 19, 2020 at 9:08 am

    @Immanentize: I’ve had a touch more success with own root than the grafted ones but the jury is still out because most are less than two years old. I’m hoping that this summer they’re established enough to really put on a show.

  55. 55.

    satby

    January 19, 2020 at 9:10 am

    @TerryC: let us know how that goes, I forget exactly how much but you have a lot of land, right?

  56. 56.

    indycat32

    January 19, 2020 at 9:11 am

    @Quiltingfool: Hello.  Fellow quilter here.  The only tulips at my house is the quilt hanging on my wall.  I haven’t tried selling any of my quilts.  I’ve found most people have no idea the cost/time of making a quilt.  I did buy a longarm this year.  Having fun with it.

  57. 57.

    debbie

    January 19, 2020 at 9:15 am

    Beautiful tulips!

  58. 58.

    MomSense

    January 19, 2020 at 9:18 am

    @Mousebumples:

    The more care you put into amending the soil before you plant, the better.  Clay is tough because it hardens to concrete.  I think it would be a good idea to get to know your local extension service and a good local nursery, preferably one that has been in business a long time and caters to local landscapers.  You need to find out what your soil needs, including the ph.

    A good nursery will do their best to help you pick the right roses for your garden, but they will tell you how to care for them.  Some of them will offer guarantees on their trees, too.

  59. 59.

    TerryC

    January 19, 2020 at 9:20 am

    @satby: I will report! Yes, when I retired five years ago I was able to buy more adjacent land and go from 7 to 19 acres at my home only five miles from the UMich campus.

     

    This spring we will pass 10,000 trees planted in the shape of a disc golf course since I retired in 2014 as we reforest about 11 acres of previously tilled land.

  60. 60.

    MomSense

    January 19, 2020 at 9:21 am

    @Quiltingfool:

    My neighbor made a raised bed that is raised all the way to waist height for another neighbor.  It’s soooo cool.  We may make some for our community garden so more neighbors can join in the fun.

    I’d love to see your quilts. I wish I could do it, but I only burn my fingers trying to iron the seams!  Gave all my saved fabric pieces to a friend.

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    January 19, 2020 at 9:23 am

    @TerryC:

    This spring we will pass 10,000 trees planted in the shape of a disc golf course since I retired in 2014 as we reforest about 11 acres of previously tilled land.

    I choked up when I read that.  Who says one person can’t make a difference?

  62. 62.

    Mousebumples

    January 19, 2020 at 9:25 am

    @satby: yeah, I don’t have as much of a green thumb as either of my grandmas, but I’d like to at least give it a try!

    @Immanentize: I’ll try to remember to be on the lookout for Kay, thanks!

    @OzarkHillbilly: doesn’t sound too different from my soil! I might need to get a vermicomposting bin going again for rug winter and plan to put that wherever I try the roses. Thanks!

    @MomSense: I’ve got a favorite local nursery already – though I’ve more used them to add trees to my lot thus far. (has 2 trees on about a half acre when I bought my house, and we’re up to about a dozen or so now, but one of the original ash trees is slowly dying) But the local extension program idea is a good one, and I know they offer a Master Gardener program / certification too, which may be helpful. Thanks!

  63. 63.

    TerryC

    January 19, 2020 at 9:30 am

    @WaterGirl: Thank you. The thing I am most proud of in my professional career was creating the annual Campus Sustainability Day in 2003, which has since become Campus Sustainability Month ?

  64. 64.

    WaterGirl

    January 19, 2020 at 9:37 am

    @TerryC: That really is something to be proud of. Go you!

  65. 65.

    Immanentize

    January 19, 2020 at 9:49 am

    @TerryC: So impressive!  I’ve been toying with the idea of buying farmland in upstate NY.  But never thought to get it close enough to some college to make it part of their endeavors. Great thought, thanks.

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    January 19, 2020 at 9:50 am

    @OzarkHillbilly

    but hope springs eternal

    You have to put out the WEASEL FUD signs, silly.

    :)

  67. 67.

    MomSense

    January 19, 2020 at 9:57 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Just bought it!

  68. 68.

    debbie

    January 19, 2020 at 10:08 am

    I found a FB group the other day that posts photos of British gardens for garden tours. Every photo is lovely, but there are photos of fields and fields of snowdrops. With all the grayness that is winter around here, the group has cheered me up to no end.

  69. 69.

    Kay

    January 19, 2020 at 10:29 am

    I planted a bunch of double-tiered Angelique bulbs

    Perfect for that, AL. You’ll love them. It’s a gorgeous pink and the flower form is incredible. When those “rose flowered” tulips first came out I bought a bunch and put a lot in a bed near the road at a rental house- wrong place. You have to see them up close or they’re wasted.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    January 19, 2020 at 10:41 am

    Tulips to me are kind of an indulgence because they have to be replaced and they’re all flower, the foliage is nothing, but I think they’re worth it because no other flower has those clear colors. I think they look best massed so I put them in a bed that is the length of a front (wide) window – small- and really jam them in- I put them on 6″ centers and then just add about 1/4 of the initial total each year to replace those that peter out. They’re the only flowers people walking by comment on.

  71. 71.

    Kay

    January 19, 2020 at 10:52 am

    I rented a tiny garden apartment once and put tulips in the weedy, trash-choked postage stamp yard by the door and the lady who owned the property was annoyed, like I had violated the symmetry of her slumlord holdings. Her landscape plan dictated only weeds and supermarket bags in that bed.

    Anyway! They’re good for that because it’s not a big time investment and they’ll wear out in a couple of seasons and you get a lot of bang for the buck while you’re there.

  72. 72.

    debbie

    January 19, 2020 at 11:08 am

    @Kay:

    I was never able to penetrate the rock-hard soil outside the back door of my apartment, but a more willful neighbor planted daffodils about 10 years ago, and they’ve thrived and spread. The bed’s like a secret little treat just for the tenants.

  73. 73.

    WaterGirl

    January 19, 2020 at 11:45 am

    @debbie: Some Irises can be like that, also.  When I moved in here. there was a whole row of irises growing in a 2-inch strip of dirt next to the foundation of the house.

    No watering, no care, they just did their thing.

  74. 74.

    weavrmom

    January 19, 2020 at 12:46 pm

    We had squirrels in the attic, too—–until a pair of Kestrels moved in!

    Kestrels are noisy beyond belief. They are not afraid of anything, and we learned that they announce their coming and goings to each other. Rough translation of the months they were courting and raising their family:

    “Honey, I’m leaving now, back with food soon! OK, bye honey, see you! Kisses to you, too, here I am flying away!

    Hey, I’m back with delicious food! Let’s eat and chat! Time for you to head out yourself! Bye, have a great hunt! Thanks sweetie, I’m planning on it!

    Wow, I’m back again, really lucky find, you’ll love this! Yes, I really do, let’s eat and talk together now for a while! You kids want this? Ok!” etc. Kestrels only talk in exclamations.

    Fortunately it was highly amusing, and only in the daytime.

    The fledglings finally made an appearance in the pine outside our bedroom window, and were extremely interested in but bashful watching us for a while. After everyone took off for good, we got things closed off permanently.

    Happy memories.

  75. 75.

    weavrmom

    January 19, 2020 at 12:54 pm

    @MomSense: you are right about clay!

    My old house had a backyard hill which was clay over solid limestone. It killed SO many plants, until I discovered that native CA plants will are made for the job. Between their jack-hammer roots and my constant thick mulching, the soil improved over the years slowly. I had to learn to listen to my land.

  76. 76.

    Cowgirl in the Sandi

    January 19, 2020 at 12:59 pm

    I just went to Annie’s Annuals in Richmond CA on Friday.  They had a zillion poppy plants and I stocked up.  A friend planted some 2 years ago and let them go to seed and last year she had poppy babies – she gave me some and now I’m hooked.  Can’t wait to see them bloom

    BTW, I really like the Sunday Garden Chats – just wish they weren’t almost over by the time I read them in California.

  77. 77.

    WaterGirl

    January 19, 2020 at 1:25 pm

    @Cowgirl in the Sandi: Not sure where you are, but here in central Illinois, we don’t get flowers on poppies their first year.  So don’t give up if you don’t see flowers this year.  Just be patient.

    Gardening is an act of faith.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    January 19, 2020 at 3:35 pm

    @debbie:

    My father is not a good gardener- too cranky- but he likes roses so he made a rose garden. He’s a neat freak so it was rows of rosebushes surrounded by white landscape rock- the bare dirt would bother him. He must have sensed it was kind of grim so he took those translucent plastic milk containers, filled them with water and colored the water with food coloring then he turned them upside down and half-buried them- they were supposed to be colored boulders. I could not stop laughing, and he got horribly offended. I just don’t understand why the boulders would be blue and green and red. I don’t understand what the vision was, execution aside.

    It’s a wonder I can garden at all given this upbringing.

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