When he was a kid, my husband was amazed to discover a crop of wild onions growing in his backyard. With his friend Erin, he dug them up, washed and chopped them, and made a nice batch of french onion dip for his potato chips. His mother was less than impressed. "My crocuses!" she cried. Maybe this little adventure with bulbs explains Michael's lack of inclination to cook (or garden) these days.
It's bulb season! Buy them by the bag - an easy, cheap garden planted in an afternoon, or alternatively, some really expensive guacamole.
I've been jonesing for bulbs all summer. Of all my gardening projects over the years, bulbs have consistently been my best bet. I can kill $50 worth of annuals in a week, but $10 of bulbs will come back year after year.
Most familiar bulbs blossom in early spring. Crocuses, tulips and daffodils often pop up before the snow has melted. As a result, many of the blooms that come from bulbs are everybody's favorites. These are the flowers that announce the end of winter, the first green leaves to break the endless days of gray. Of course, it helps that they're beautiful, but it probably wouldn't matter if they weren't. Any good cook knows that serving dinner as late as possible makes it taste better; when you're starving, rice and beans is a feast - add some crocus "onion dip" and you're all set! After six months of khaki grass, I'm famished for any color but brown.
As I've said before, I have no particular vision for my front yard, but bulbs seemed like a safe bet to get me started. I've been awfully jealous of the neighbor's irises for the past few springs, so I stocked up this year. There were early-blooming dwarf irises that will really pop if I sprinkle them between my daffodils, and giant, showy irises that will rebloom from spring into summer.
While I was browsing for irises, I caught sight of some unique, ruffly tulips. They came in shades of scarlet, and I thought they'd look great in my famously unsuccessful flowerbed by the house. Maybe, unlike everything else planted there, they will survive.
Perennials were on sale as well - and fall is the perfect time to plant. I spotted some flaming agastache in shades of sunset and scarlet a few aisles over. They were a great match for the tulips. Hey! The tulips keep it lively in spring, the agastache keep a good thing going in summer.
Just down from the agastache was a beautiful coral bells plant, giant eggplant-hued leaves that are purported to look nice all winter long. The purple leaves looked great next to the agastache, which had violet petals mixed in with the orange and pink. And the purple also looked nice next to the flowers of ice plants, which are also evergreen. Pretty soon my cart was loaded not just with bulbs, but an entire spring-winter riot of color for my front yard.
Bulbs were just they gateway drug for my fall spending spree. If my husband has sticker shock, I'll just whip up some french onion dip to take his mind off it.