Ah bulbs. Mystical, magical. Bulbs, like seeds, sprout incredible plants and flowers from lumps that look like nothing, but add the magic of doing it every year. Alas, I haven't found very many bulbs that I can grow here in So Cal without digging them up every fall to stick in the freezer. That's just out. I've tried it a couple of times, and ended up with nearly unrecognizable, dead lumps that I pull from the freezer several years later. Nope. I need to be able to leave the things in the ground. My freesias come back and bloom beautifully year after year, and so do these delightful pink things that you see below. I have no idea what kind of bulbs they are, but I love them. I took this picture when they were in the height of their summer bloom last year. The leaves for these darlings are tiny, thin, insignificant little things that just lay there. The flowers, as you can see, stand straight up, are a couple of inches in diameter, and are vibrant. If you know what they are, please send me email! The bright blue blossoms to the left are my favorite shade of lobelia, there's a mother of thyme plant behind the bulbs and up a level on the rack, and more stems of those crazy succulents to the right. Oh, and yes, this is the same pot that has the baby yellow freesia blooming in it (shown on the benefits page) in a different season. I'm too lazy to get out new pots, so everybody has to share. They don't really seem to mind.
I found it!
Wait, wait! Just proving that you never know what you'll find when you go digging around in a drawer around here, I actually found the label for these lovely bulbs! The package says these are Zephyranthes Robusta (no wonder I couldn't remember). There were 10 bulbs in the package—I clearly have more than that now—and they're supposed to grow to 8 to 10 inches in height. That sounds about right; at least the flowers get that high. The package also says they're easy to grow (correct there), and they're good for containers. No wonder I bought them! They like full sun to part shade. Sounds like a match made in heaven, and the way these babies perform for me year after year proves they like *something* that I'm doing.More info on my bulbs!
A very kind person has responded to my pitiful query with more information about my pretty pink bulbs. Evidentally, they used to be called Zephyranthes, but their current name is Habranthus robustus. Thank you J.S.!Bulb tip
For all you bulb lovers out there, I'm sure you know this already, but remember to let the leaves stay on the plant while they're dying back. I know it can be a bit unsightly, but if you let all that glorious energy from the leaves go back into the bulbs, then you will surely have more beautiful flowers again next year. Cutting the leaves off before they've had a chance to go brown is a good way to disable your bulbs and keep them from performing. Sensitive bulbs may never recover, and you don't want that! Depending on where they are in your garden, it sometimes works to loosely tie the dying leaves together in sort of a low bundle until they are fully brown and ready to be removed. If you have other plants nearby, this can help to hide the dying leaves so they're not so unsightly.
The trouble with gardening
is that it does not remain an avocation.
It becomes an obsession.
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