Time To Think About Tiny Spring Bulbs?

I am getting anxious to plan the spring bulb garden, and what is interesting me this year is some tiny, really tiny, miniature bulbs to plant in my hypertufa troughs this fall.

I have checked around and I think I have a few lined up that will work perfectly!  I will hold off and wait to plant them a little later in October, but I needed to find the best place to order them because I am not sure I can find the ones I want in the local nursery.  How about we check Amazon? I will include some links here. Being an affiliate of Amazon, if you should make a purchase, I can earn a small commission which helps support my blog expenses. Thanks for your support.

How about the 

[easyazon_link identifier=”B074183P2X” locale=”US” tag=”thehypegard0d-20″]winter aconite Eranthis hyemalis[/easyazon_link]

  ? It grows about 4 inches tall and is supposed to spread easily. And I read that it comes up through the snow, then it dies back after blooming early, so this works for me. I will put it in a deeper trough and plant a sedum underneath the blossoms so that when it dies down, I will still have a wonderful trough. It will be a bright sight in the winter and early spring.

And for some blue, which will be so pretty in the snow, how about one called 

[easyazon_link identifier=”B07BXHDT31″ locale=”US” tag=”thehypegard0d-20″]Glory of the Snow or chinodoxa.[/easyazon_link]

These do the same thing, flower very early and then go dormant after blooming. And since they need good drainage, my hypertufa will be perfect.  They have a stalk with up to ten flowers on top and will be so cheerful looking. I must find these.

I already have [easyazon_link identifier=”B00CA1I4VO” locale=”US” tag=”thehypegard0d-20″]grape hyacinth (muscari)[/easyazon_link] , but it is in the bed with other plants. I want to get this one and plant it generously in a bowl or trough. Then I will put this on the deck outside the dining room window so that I can see it in the winter against the snow.  Well, how about all of the troughs out there where I can see them right from inside the house? Sounds like a plan!

How to you feel about deadheading little bulb flowers?

I think they should be deadheaded. I think I should cut the flower stem off after the bloom has faded, even cut it down to the bottom of the stalk, if any. I feel that if the flower spends its energy trying to make seeds, then it won’t feed its bulb for next years blooms. I want my bulb to make more bulbs and naturalize so that I have more and more.

Now if you have interest in collecting seeds or hybridizing and all that involves, then maybe you feel differently. But I will deadhead the flowers.

The [easyazon_link identifier=”B005JSKDZK” locale=”US” tag=”thehypegard0d-20″]snowdrop[/easyazon_link] (Galanthus) is another flowering bulb which appears in the snow. I love the drooping flower head and I would like to have a whole drift of these among the other palette of colors.

A common name given to the snowdrop is Fair Maid of February. I will start looking for them in February . Maybe if the snow isn’t too deep at that time, I will be able to see them.

Another flower, which I have had in the garden for years is the

[easyazon_link identifier=”B076C9XGKB” locale=”US” tag=”thehypegard0d-20″] Anemone blanda [/easyazon_link]

which is also called the Grecian windflower. Its flower is like a daisy and mine is a very intense blue. It lasts for just a little while and then, like these others, it is gone. These flowers’ locations are hard to remember. 

I know I have probably dug up and discarded a few, thinking they are weeds. How many times has this happened to you? I know I have done it many times, forgetting where things are located or forgetting something I had planted. I should be better organized, right?

I have my mind on a few others such as miniature daffodils and mini-tulips and then there are the [easyazon_link identifier=”B00CA1G4JS” locale=”US” tag=”thehypegard0d-20″] reticulated iris [/easyazon_link]? I have some very tiny iris but I am not sure if these are the reticulated ones. They seem to fit the description. I bought those this spring at a Plant Sale and they were already little sprouted iris about 5-6 inches tall. These dwarf iris have come up each spring with blooms so big, they are like a Bobble-head doll. The foliage lasts all year, and looks like a regular iris.  Here is a picture and I have put an Altoid mint box behind it so you can judge the size.

What kind of iris is this? Am I correct calling it the reticulated iris? Is that just another name for the dwarf iris?  Can you help me? Does it have a special name?  If it is this type of iris, it grows from a bulb and not a rhizome as the larger iris do. No matter what it is, it is just precious in a hypertufa trough.

Here in Ohio, we are predicted to get our first night in the 30s F this weekend. Just a taste of what is to come. I am SO NOT READY for winter snow and ice.