Back in the fall of 2010 skunks tore up holes in our lawn looking for grubs and I wondered what the heck I was going to do to fix them. In the end I decided a good way to fill those holes would be to plant bulbs. I've seen lawns filled with flowers before and I dreamed of having that for myself. Acting on a suggestion from Jean @
Jean's Garden, I decided to plant Siberian Squill as it could withstand some competition from the lawn grass.
I had visions of my front yard looking similar to the one below.
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| I keep seeing lawns like this one awash in blue and I WANT IT TOO |
In the spring of 2011 I waited for my squill bulbs to appear and colour my lawn in blue. That didn't exactly happen.
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The 75 bulbs I planted weren't even visible unless
you were standing right on top of them |
All those tiny bulbs didn't make much impact in my huge lawn. I wasn't ready to give up though. Each fall I keep planting more bulbs. 75 here ... 30 there. I'm patient..... and stubborn.
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| my sea of blue in 2013 |
This week I looked out across the lawn from the flower bed and what did I see? They are still difficult to see from a distance but my vision of blue is progressing.
Moral of the story here - dare to dream.
*thank you Kokanee for many years of commercial
brain washing inspiration ;-)
28 comments:
My squills were a disappointment...but like so many plants that sleep, and then in year three leap, you will be rewarded. One spring, you will have blue as far as your eyes can see. Patience...
Patient . . and stubborn. That's the description of a good gardener. I'm so glad you are starting to se your dream emerge!
Much patience! They will multiply, won't they?
I have done the same thing with crocus in the lawn. Ha.. I am still waiting. Will continue to wait for "the LOOK" to appear. :) We gardeners are a patient lot.
Yay! The quill look beautiful.
I have started ordering bulbs by the hundreds. I planted three hundred and fifty daff bulbs this year and hope to see the results next year. Van Engelen sells bulbs at good prices.
A neighbour down the street has your dream lawn. The blue flowers have cover the whole front lawn and have spread into the woods beside the driveway. It is quite breathtaking.
In my own garden, it has taken three or four years for the blue scilla to multiply, but their numbers are still pretty modest. I think patience will eventually pay off.
One day I am sure your lawn will be a sea of blue flowers...
I think you're going about it the right way - a little this year, a little more the next. Eventually it will be an entire lawn of blue, and you will be so proud.
Keep at it, you will eventually get a display that will be awesome even from a distance, and I'm sure you will feel it was worth the wait.
Funny clip! I love the idea of a sea of blue in the lawn. Muscari keeps popping up in our lawn and it irritates my husband but if squill show up sooner maybe that would easier for him to tolerate. Your lawn is going to be gorgeous when all those bulbs start to multiply. :o)
It's a marathon, not a sprint...you're doing it the right way :)
I like the above comment, so true...
Dream on, it's working. There is a beautiful old house in our little downtown, the lawn is gorgeous, and so blue with squill...everyone has to start out somewhere.
Jen
Marguerite girl !
I have squill planted by one of my garden benches and I love it too .. it is planted in the middle of astilbe so it is funny to see the two plants coming up together like that.
Dream on girl .. it will happen ! Stick to your plans : )
Joy
PS .. the garden is becoming a monster with the rain we have had the past few days !!
Patience, patience, the virtue of a true gardener. Just keep doing what you are doing. Instant gardening is too expensive so for all of us with shallow pockets, this is the way to go about it. I planted 300 crocuses and 300 snowdrops 2 years ago, it looked like a lot for my tiny garden when I made the order, but it is still a drop in the ocean for the effect I want. I am going to plant the same again this autumn :-)
I understand how you feel but kudos to you for knowing and accepting that it's a slow process yet celebrating the small successes! I dream of my little forest being filled with bluebells but haven't done anything about it...yet!!
it's getting there but boy it takes a long time!
LOL, hadn't thought of it but yes those should be the basic qualifications for gardening
They're supposed to, by seed and the bulbs themselves. I spread a little compost round them this year hoping some seeds will take.
ooh Lisa, there is a place by my work that has crocuses like that. what a sight! I wonder how long it took them to achieve it. Patience is definitely a good virtue to have.
good for you. It's taken me a long time to really understand that bulbs must be ordered in the hundreds.
Jennifer, I think I may have some reproduction going on but like you, if it's happening it's really modest. Considering the size of my lawn it could take A LOT of years to get the look I want.
It's slow progress but hopefully it will pay off in the end.
That's it isn't it? every gardener has that day when you eventually look back and realize you've created something great and all the time and trouble was worth it.
They haven't run those commercials in years and yet the line 'dare to dream arnold' still pops into my head every once in awhile :) I tried muscari as well but gave up as they bloom later and my husband, like yours, was kinda irritated about mowing around them. The squill are pretty much finished by the time we mow around here.
great line Keith :) that's something to remember with more than a few things in my life
That's so true, we just have to dream it and then work at it a bit at a time.
such a pretty flower isn't it? love that blue colour. We've had rain this weekend and things are really starting to pop. What a difference a little moisture makes.
that is definitely an issue for me. I would love to plant bulbs by the thousands but the cost is too much so I do what I can with the money I have and hope one day I'll see the result.
bluebells! like one of those English countryside scenes, how gorgeous that is. Jane, you've taken on quite a bit fixing up your house and you don't even live there full time yet. I'm impressed with all you've done so far, those bluebells can wait.
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