Yesterday Rebecca made tea using our heirloom bulbs series porcelains and along with a bouquet of clipped flowers of butter and eggs (Narcissus ‘Orange Pheonix).  Tea has been a new wonderful introduction to my life.  On top of that, we couldn’t resist the Girl Scouts at the grocery store.  Combine flowers, Girl Scout cookies, and tea and you can have a wonderful afternoon.   The rest of the day was spent harvesting crinums and shipping out orders!

Clipped Boquet of Butter and Eggs

Close up Butter and Eggs (Narcissus 'Orange Pheonix')

Spider Lily Porcelain with Girl Scout Cookies

Me Being Goofey with the Coffee Mug

Well, I might have spared you the dizziness of a shaky video, but in case you missed that one, here is another shaky video.  Yesterday, I was thrilled to see all that was blooming in our old field, so I quickly jumped out of the truck  with my camera.  When I arrived back at my truck, I no longer had my keys and could not find them anywhere.  Right before my phone died, I sent out a panic text to Rebecca that I was stuck in the old field with no way to get to the current farm or back to the cabin.  Messages some times go through and sometimes don’t in our bad cell reception area.  Moments after sending,  the phone  finally went kaput and I had not received a response.  Two hours passed as I looked for my keys, but I took the time to capture many wonderful shot of the blooming bulbs.

The real question is, after watching the video, can you tell me where I dropped my keys?!

I was able to take numerous photos while out and about in the field for two hours!

Clump of Texas star Narcissus.

Texas Star jonquil hyrbid (Narcissus x intermedius)

Texas Star jonquil hyrbid (Narcissus x intermedius) in a row. Notice campernelles and grand primos in the background.

Texas Star jonquil hyrbid (Narcissus x intermedius) can sometimes blooms down in the foliage, but the overall effect of the mass color of gold is not hindered!

Roman hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis) with a lady bug.

Roman hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis) with a lady bug flying away.

Roman hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis) clump from a distance.

Roman hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis) in a row. The gaps are where the voles have had their fun!

Roman hyacinths can actually come in pink, white, and many shades in between as well. This is considered the blue form.

Notice how they clump up! Roman hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis)

Roman hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis): sometimes called French Roman hyacinths because they can be found along the old Roman roads through France.

The Magnificent Narcissus 'Elicheer'

Naricissus 'Erlicheer' believed to be the double form of Grand Primo

Hoop petticoats (Narcissus bulbocodium) sized next to my boot.

Hoop petticoats (Narcissus bulbocodium) clump

Hoop petticoats (Narcissus bulbocodium)

Hoop petticoats (Narcissus bulbocodium)

You can see the burnt tips from the freeze of these Narcissus tazetta 'Grand Primo' but plant with some spring blooming phlox and you'd never see this!

Narcissus tazetta 'Grand Primo'

Some people call them paperwhites, but Narcissus tazetta 'Grand Primo' begin with yellow sweeter smelling cups and should not be confused with Narcissus tazetta papyraceous (paperwhites).

Narcissus jonquilla- Jonquil sweeties!

Jonquils up close--oh the sweet sweet smell!

Jonquils make clusters of flowers.

Snowflakes (Leucojum aestivum) with freezer burnt tips in the background.

Over seven years of growing these and I have never seen the tips of the snowflake foliage burn like this.

Blocks of snowflakes in Texas field.

From left to right: Narcissus 'Trevithian', random paperwhites maturing foliage, Narcissus 'Erlicheer', small clumps of hoop petticoats.

Narcissus 'Trevithian'

Solid Row of Narcissus 'Trevithian'

Solid Row of Narcissus 'Trevithian'

Row of Campernelles (Narcissus x odorus)

First, let me share some photos from our Friday visitors.  Why would the Bulb Hunter blog talk about fishing? Well, if you are like me, many of you have friends and family who don’t give a hoot about gardening, but they sure do care about fishing.  The truth is, they are very much related, and one way I can engage non-gardeners and remind them it is time for spring flowers, is by showing the interrelatedness of things.  In short, when the spring bulbs like daffodils are blooming, the fish start biting!  Let us all take time to appreciate the changing seasons and what they mean for your hobbies, my hobbies, and your families hobbies!

Robert was able to catch a lot of bass, and it had the whole family excited.

Bass biting in the spring

Robert with a bass

Robert and Dad working on removing the bass from the lure

Libby not sure about the bass

Libby still not sure about the bass

Robert with bass at the pond

We definitely had a full cabin!

A full cabin with daffodils

Daffodils and Tea

Daffodils brighten up any lunch.

Libby and Robert by the fire in the cabin

Cece on the floor at the cabin

We tried to get a photo shoot at the cabin with the kids and the daffodils, but they were pretty squirmy and either squashed them or broke the stems!  Just a quick note on the name daffodil.  Many of you might be confused between the difference of the name daffodil, jonquil, papwerwhite, tazetta, and more.  I will work on an official page on the www.southernbulbs.com site, but briefly, all of the above mentioned common names are in the genus Narcissus.  They are all botanically named Nariccus X or Narcissus Y or Narcissus THIS and Narcissus THAT!  Any Narcissus bulb/flower/plant that has a trumpet shaped bloom is called a daffodil.

However, no matter what they are called, Libby and Cece did not want to sit still!

Squashing the daffodils in hand!

Kids with the daffodils--DO NOT LET KIDS EAT DAFFODILS

After the photo shoots were done, everyone fed, and everyone put to bed, I quickly tried to wind down myself and get some sleep for the next day of work.   Saturday was Calloway’s Garden Center’s big event called Gardenfest, and I was to present at four stores.   I started off in Plano, Texas at their Preston Rd. facility with daffodils from the farm to show them all the different things blooming.  After my second talk, I made sure I had a hot tea with lunch to keep my throat going.

Tea in between talks

The weather was wonderful, and customers were buying bulbs!

Shopper shopping the bulbs at Calloways

Not all of them were my bulbs, but other companies such as Van Bloem had other assortments of good spring bulbs, and Abbott-Ipco had a nice selection of caladiums.  My display is the little barrel all the way at the end, and I don’t have a great picture because it was pretty much picked over.

Bulb display at Calloway's Preston Rd. Location

Now, to answer the title of my blog…What People Enjoyed Most From My Talks on Saturday: everyone enjoyed my bulb hunter presentation, my first red tulip experience, the beginning of The Southern Bulb Company, the beautiful bulb pictures, but many of them particularly liked the landscaping ideas and companion plants I suggested with bulbs.  Therefore, I will mention one of my favorites right here and now!

Many of you know I work closely with the Southern Living Plant Collection, and I am so glad to hear that they have a new ornamental grass coming out, ‘Gold Breeze’ Miscanthus (Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gold Breeze’ PPAF).  It is listed on their “What’s New” page.

Miscanthus Gold Breeze

A favorite combination of mine is ornamental grasses with crinum lilies.  Through many of our garden center partners and online, we are carrying nice healthy Crinum ‘Ellen Bosanquet’ bulbs.

Crinum Ellen Bosanquet in Lanscape

Many avid gardeners LOVE the blooms, but are always looking for something to plant around the base of the bulb to hide the bottom part of the foliage.  Next time this question comes up, try ornamental grasses, like gulf muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), or this new compact form of grass, ‘Gold Breeze’ Miscanthus.

Today Rebecca is collected flowers from the field, and there are some beauties blooming!  She has made some arrangements which she will have up on the blog soon shortly after mine.

Rebecca with a pink hyacinth from the field.

Fragrant jonquils in hand.

Snowflakes and jonquils together.

Narcissus trevithian

Narcissus Grand Primo and Trevitian

S'mores at the Red Cabin

The fire at the cabin was still burning and Rebecca had a late lunch (tuna fish sandwich) waiting for me.  For an after lunch treat, we made s’mores!

Chris is back to the old grind today, assembling shelves for the pole barn, and clearing the way for spring bulbs! Getting back to work is a challenge for me especially after so many enjoyable days of frolicking with my family last week. Boy, did we have fun.

Heres a shot of a lovely paperwhite I plucked from the farm to take back to the Red Cabin…oh yes, speaking of paperwhites…

Just a quick update from my very first paperwhite forcing experiment at the Red Cabin. Just for your info, I used potting soil instead of pebbles and water. One pot was planted very shallow and kept warm and cozy inside. The other bulbs, I planted deeper about twice their height and left outside to fend for themselves. Both were watered intermittently, whenever I remembered.

Both pots were planted on November 16th. The tall, gangly pale green one pictured on the left began blooming just before our Christmas party on December 12th. He bloomed beautifully on our kitchen table near a window through the last part of December. He probably only got about two hours of full sun a day hence the lighter green foliage, according to the Bulb Hunter.

Oh what nice dark green healthy leaves this guy has. He started blooming while we were away for Christmas vacation and still has blossoms today. I neglected to snatch a photo of him today but heres a couple gorgeous close ups from before we left the cabin for Christmas.

It seems that growing the bulbs indoors allowed them to bloom about two weeks before the paperwhites left outside. I know people complain about the smell of paperwhites but these beauties have a faint fragrance that isn’t as smelly as other varieties.

Hope everyone had a terrific holdiay as we sure did. Best wishes for a prosperous and happy new year! Thank for your reading and bring on 2011!

We managed to squeeze in several of our own merry making activities in amongst the demands of the business. Bonfires, trimming a tree we cut down from our backyard, caroling, plenty of fires and hot chocolate, gingerbread house, stringing lights…just to name a few. This has been a first married Christmas to remember for The Bulb Hunter and I!

Busy at the farm this week, but looking forward to the weekend’s festivities!

Merry Christmas from the Red Cabin!

Didn’t have time to purchase a personal Christmas card for my family, so I made one.

Chris' book Heirloom Bulbs for Today

Thank you for helping us sell out of the Heirloom Bulbs for Today pre-order books! More to come in late January early February!

Christmas Bulb Gift Sets

Building Shelving on the Bulb Farm

Chris decided to build shelving for the sheds that could double as a short bunk bed. No, not really. Cleaning out six years of stuff from these storage sheds to make room for the new shelves has been a task. What a relief to see the end in sight!

Shopping for Christmas lights. “Oh, and chocolate kisses, what about some ribbon, wrapping paper, shortbread cookies, Christmas paper cups…” At which point Chris says, “May I go home now?”

We only put one up in the cabin.

Can you find the happy dog in this picture?

Very busy signing books and shipping out Christmas gift sets and books!

Copies of Heirloom Bulbs for Today Book shipping continued today, and we are almost all caught up!

I also took some time to survey the results of the latest freeze on the farm. The row of Crinum powellii roseum didn’t look too hot and will most likely remain dormant for the rest of the season, but the Crinum bulbispermum (noted for its cold tolerance) remained green and growing, but very limited growth at that.

Freeze Damaged Crinum powellii roseum

The Freeze Hardy Crinum bulbispermum

A reader wrote in and asked if we could include common names along with scientific names, and vice versa, when writing my blogs. I will give it my darndest, but it can be hard sometimes with so many common names floating around. Crinums are often referred to as swamp lilies, milk and wine lilies, ditch lilies, cemetery lilies, and more. We often use the scientific name of a crinum in common settings to designate the different variety types.

At the end of the day, I began to clean a shed preparing for a shipment of Ann Swan’s porcelains.

This also gave me the opportunity to pull out the infamous percolator for an upcoming Christmas gathering. My parents owned this percolator when we lived in Texas in the 1980’s. It then went to California with us and is once again in Texas. The thing runs like a champ, and just for fun, I checked to see if West Bend still made percolators, and they do! I can personally vouch that their 1980’s models will almost last you a lifetime.

My sister-in-law sent me some photos of the paperwhites blooming that she took with her camera. I think she did a better job than I did!

Paperwhite Photos by Stacy