I haven’t had much time for the garden this summer, what with an apartment to redecorate and a move to plan, as well as a busy schedule at work. And I miss the garden…
So last week I got a bit impulsive and decided to treat myself to a little dream of spring. Nothing too extravagant, but I ordered 500 crocus bulbs and 250 tulip bulbs from a Dutch website.
There’s absolutely no grand plan for this purchase, other than trying to get some spring colour in the garden. Both crocus and tulips are mixed colours, so they will go a bit all over the place. The crocuses will probably end up in the lawn and the tulips will be scattered in random groups through the borders.
They’re brash, they’re slightly gaudy and they’re in no way stylish, but they’re lovely all the same. A French woman I once knew adored tulips for what she referred to as their beauté bète; their stupid beauty. Now, some tulips are – to me at least – refined and elegant, but the ones I’ve ordered really aren’t. They are fun and cheerful, though, and I can’t imagine they won’t make me smile when they appear next spring.
And isn’t that a great reason to buy 750 bulbs?
All right, so my crocus lawn won’t look like this. At all. But never the less it’s the source of inspiration; to have at least a section of the lawn suddenly turn into a flower bed each spring for a few weeks before the lawn mower is dragged out from hibernation. There will be no pattern, and the colour scheme will be more random with the yellow crocus contrasting with the blues and whites, but still.
(And the planting will be less concentrated since I “only” have 500 crocus bulbs. For a dense planting like the picture above, I guess 500 bulbs would only cover just over a square meter…)
It will, though, be back-breaking work to get 750 bulbs in the ground.
oh what fun! 750 bulbs!! I did that just 4 months ago, 900 + bulbs. Actually, the planting was a lot less back breaking than I anticipated and it’s been very rewarding! especially now that the tulips are opening! I look forward to seeing your crocuses and tulips in flower on your blog in a few months! happy bulb planting 🙂
The bulbs will arrive in September, be planted in September/October and then the crocus should hopefully pop up in March/April and the tulips in April/May… So it will 8 months before I can get some return on my investment… Oh, the art of patience is a difficult one!
[…] shopping news my spring bulbs have arrived! 250 mixed tulips and 500 mixed crocus… Now I just need to store them in a cool, […]
hi good luck with your bulbs. Where was that amazing shot of the patchwork crocuses from, i’d love to go and see it ?
jackyhobbs@talk21.com
That crocus carpet is in front of Rosenborg Slot (Castle) in Copenhagen, Denmark.