Reprise -- Bulbs an October Tradition

It's October once again and bulb planting time. I spent a big part of today planting bulbs in front -- a whole huge bagful of Mount Hood daffodils -- a favorite of ours. I've spent the last few years planting in the back garden and Husband Jim and I felt that the front garden had been neglected. Neglected no more, next Spring it should be abloom!

This post was originally posted on October 27, 2008 -- it seems bulb planting time is usually at the same time every year.

Please join Chari at Happy to Design to see what other "second helpings" there are for this Sunday!

A big basket of bulbs is an October tradition. Daffodils, tulips, hyacinths. I've been planting bulbs for most of the 20 Octobers that we've lived at Linderhof and spring makes quite a show.
The daffodils have multiplied and some years I've bought more expensive and fewer bulbs so we have some unusual flowers come spring. Other years I've bought a big sack of more common daffodils like Mount Hood.

The tulips, too, range in all colors but unfortunately, they, unlike the daffs, don't multiply. But I still like the tulips anyway and plant a good supply of them each fall.

I love hyacinths for their smell is incomparable! Blue and white and purply ones mostly -- I don't really care for the pink ones. Often I'll get a few bulbs to chill and force in January in my bulb vases. They make the whole house smell good.

This year, however, instead of the regular hyacinths, I got a bag of the little grape hyacinths -- muscari. I've never planted them at Linderhof and I can't wait for them to bloom. I planted most of them around the center fountain in the herb garden but there were a few "strays" that I found when my bulb basket was empty -- these I planted in the spot where I found them in the basket -- so there should be two surprise showings of the muscari.
With my jar of bone meal -- a must for planting bulbs, it's fun to take the basket of bulbs on a nice October day with the sun on your back -- and plant spring flowers! The only hard part is trying to remember where there are already bulbs -- you don't want to dig up already planted bulbs!