Winter Losses

It's the best time of year for me and athe worst. As I walk around the garden looking at all the emerging greenery I can't help but notice what is missing. Some are not a suprise they were experiments to begin with . Others are bone hard perfectly placed and still have not made an apperance yet this season. Those are the mysterys was it the kids, dogs, over enthusiastic husband with a weedwacker?? Some I will try to solve and replace others I just look at as an opportunity to try something new. The most disapointing of my losses this year are the Frittilaria imperialis bulbs. Last spring the one orange crown imperial bulb I had bloomed its head off and made a spectacular spring show.



After seeing it bloom I bought several more bulbs and a pricey named cultivar in yellow and planted them all in the same area as the original bulb hoping for a great, albeit stinky, display in the front garden. Guess what I got?? Nothing, not one single flower or even a leaf yet!! Considering the bloom dates from last year I should at least be seing a significant amount of foilage already. Oh well, back to the drawing board for next spring. This one was never a slam dunk I kept hearing from people it was finiky and just disappeared some years. For some reason I thought those rules wouldn't apply to me.