crocus

I planted more crocus bulbs in the bottom lawn today, one hundred each of Crocus tommasinianus 'Ruby Giant' and 'Barr's Purple'.  I planted a couple of Cyclamen hederifolium in the border as well, and the ground is still dry.  Two hundred divots of turf is enough to lift in one day, to avoid ending up with a blister on one's palm.  It looks a bit pink anyway, and I was trying to grasp the handle rather than press down on the end.

I used to have a good population of crocus in the borders at the bottom of the garden, mostly named varieties of C. chrysanthus, but they were badly attacked by voles (or mice, or something) last winter.  I don't know if that was because the weather was so particularly harsh, or whether the rodent population is simply increasing as the garden matures.  I find a lot of little holes in the borders when I'm weeding, and we disturbed a couple of voles (or something) when we were scrantling the long grass.  One of them got scrantled, so they must not be as good at ducking under the blades as the toads.  The rodents dig down to find the crocus bulbs, which they eat, tossing discarded stems around.  Unless it was the muntjac.  Some of the few surviving clumps were tucked in close the the base of shrubs and under the protection of their stems, which I wouldn't think made any difference to a vole.  The crocus in the grass fared better for some reason.  Maybe they were harder to find, or harder work to dig up.

Two hundred bulbs spread over a large lawn don't really go very far.  My hope is that they will spread and multiply, since Crocus tommasinianus are supposed to be excellent naturalisers, and that if I add some bulbs each year, nature will increase them and do the rest.  That has been my policy with the snowdrops, and the cyclamen, which are not cheap to buy.  This year there is a good crop of cyclamen seedlings, after many years when I didn't seem to get any, so perhaps the plants appreciate my annual applications of leaf mould, or perhaps it helps that the current generation of chickens don't go into the back garden.  Some people advise you to pot up cyclamen seedlings and grow them on in individual pots in the greenhouse, which sounds like an excellent policy if you have the time.  Given how frantic it gets in my greenhouse, and how crowded, I suspect they would be very likely to be over or underwatered, or get too hot at some point in the summer, and that they are better off taking their chances in the border, under the shade of the wild gean.

Still to plant, or pot up, is the bag of Anemone blanda (blue) bulbs.  I much prefer blue to the other colours when it comes to Anemone blanda.  The bulbs are funny little black, knobbly things, which are supposed to be soaked in water overnight to rehydrate them before planting.  I keep forgetting to put them to soak on an evening when I'm going to be working in the garden the next day.  They don't last well in the garden, dwindling after a few years, and I don't know if that's because the growing conditions don't quite suit them and they die, or whether the rodents are eating them as well.

The only other unplanted bulbs are the tulips, which don't want to go in until November anyway.  I have tried to be restrained this year in my bulb orders, since they are fripperies in comparison to getting various bits of the borders sorted out.  It was such a beautiful day today outside.  Fingers crossed we have a good October and run up to Christmas, so that I can have a proper go at the things that still need digging out, and get the areas replanted, or ready for replanting in the spring.  Which is ridiculous, since what I hope for will make absolutely no difference to what the weather does.