Spring-flowering bulbs need a period of chilling in order to bloom properly which can make it tricky to plant them later in winter here in Seattle. I decided to take a chance, however, and ordered about 200 bulbs, tulips, daffodils, and alliums.

My understanding is that bulbs need 12 to 16 weeks of cold weather in order to bloom. We have at least ten days coming up below forty degrees. I’m hoping for continued cool weather through March to provide for a colorful April, May, and June.

The bulbs were late clearance items from Tulip World. Here are some of them:

Another challenge in late bulb planting is finding spaces to plant them. The garden is pretty full and I had already planted a bunch of tulips in unmarked places two months ago. Trying to avoid those bulbs isn’t easy. Ultimately, I put about 35 tulips along the west property line in front of the greenhouse, a line of about 35 parrot tulips along the sidewalk in the memory garden. I also planted a bunch of tulips and daffodils in the front of the foundation planting in our little dog yard on the south side of the house. I tucked alliums into the memory garden in bunches of three and also along the driveway in the orchard garden and in a couple of pots along the south side of the driveway. I also planted a few tulips and alliums in the orchard garden.

Late clearance bulbs aren’t perfect and plump the way earlier autumn bulbs might be. Some have mold and some are desiccated and dead, but at least 75% of them looked good and healthy and likely to bloom well.

I didn’t attack the other chores I had lined up today, but Leon was kind enough to help lift up the side of the greenhouse where the wood foundation frame was rotting and shim it with bricks so the gap in the door closed up. He had to adjust the latch, as well, and then also adjust the latch on the nearby gate.

We also poured some cement for the maple samara wind sculpture in the native plant garden so we can get it reinstalled. The wind had snapped the pipe holding the sculpture earlier and we’re trying to figure out a better way.

I did a little watering and rearranging in the greenhouse today, as well. I noticed something interesting with my Pleione plants. These orchids form small bulbs on top of the older, mature bulbs. And the bulblets each have a long, thin leaf attached. When I pull off the old, faded leaves, the bulblets come with the leaves. I planted up about seven of them into moss and fir needles. As I was doing that I realized that this is a reproduction strategy for the plant. For plants in the wild, as the leaves fall off and get blown away by wind or dragged by animals, the bulblets are distributed away from the parent plant. You can see the bulblets attached to the leaf stems below.

Our cold snap wasn’t quite as cold as promised but still kept us below freezing for the better part of a week, with ultimate lows around 15 degrees. I am glad I took the steps to ensure the greenhouse heating system was working and that the Tonsai starts are safe. The greenhouse got as low as 37 degrees but held steady. The six inches of snow on top likely helped!

Here is what the greenhouse roof and the pots outside looked like after the snow with their snowy blanket.

I planted native plant seeds yesterday as my new New Year’s tradition–eight different kinds in nine pots.

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I packed snow on top of them to be sure they were watered/insulated. I also mixed a bunch of seeds to load into seed bombs later on and ordered some clay to use for seed bombs later this month.

Today, I worked on the seed starting station and got the lights and heat mat working and ready for seedlings. I planted some violas, dahlias, and forget-me-nots. The violas need to go into the refrigerator for a few weeks before coming back onto the seed mat, or possibly the greenhouse. They grow better cool.

Lastly, I moved some of the fern sporelings from their original container to terrariums.

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I only moved eight of the fernlets into these shiny new homes–and there are likely 50 or 60 more that need to be moved! I predict a big fern giveaway for the neighborhood this spring if I can get them to a reasonable size where they will make resilient houseplants.

My garden plans for 2022 include the removal or relocation of many non-native plants and adding native replacements. I plan to move all the shrub roses from the too-shady orchard garden and plunk them into the memory garden where they can get full sun. Those poor plants give me a few beautiful flowers every year but not very many and the plants themselves are forever looking for light.

Other plans include growing veggie starts for friends and neighbors from organic seeds and also some flowering plants and herbs. And, of course, a big focus on propagating and giving away native perennials, shrubs, and trees.