Saturday, March 14, 2009

Miracle Muscari

Around this time last year (maybe for Easter?) my good friend Maya gave me a small pot of blooming grape hyacinths. After enjoying them on my kitchen counter for a while, I intended to plant them out in the garden. When they began to decline, I stuck them in a corner of the patio… and promptly forgot all about them.

A couple days ago, during a brief warm spell, I made a circuit of my gardens to see if anything was sprouting yet. And… yippee!...there are many signs of life, including crocuses...Photobucket
daffodils...

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and species tulips.
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I took note of myriad clean-up jobs that await me, once the weather warms up for real: dried stalks and stems to be cut back, misplaced mulch to be returned to its proper place after our recent heavy rains, windblown leaves and debris to be raked out of corners…

But what’s this? Where did this little pot come from?
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I picked it up, pulled the dried plant stuff from the top, and found this:
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Puzzled, it took me a minute to dredge up the memory of that pot of muscari from last spring. It must have been rolling around out there in the wind all winter long—and we get some mighty strong winds off of the reservoir behind us, as I’ve mentioned before. How these little bulbs survived—or even stayed in the pot!—is beyond me.

The pot is a very thin plastic, and there’s not much soil in it. It would be like setting a package of bulbs on the ground for the winter and expecting them to sprout. All I can think is that they must have had just enough snow cover to protect them during the worst parts of the winter.

It’s a humbling sort of experience for a gardener. We plan and prepare to get our precious babies ready for the coming cold, yet these forsaken and unprotected little miracles did just fine on their own. Who do I think I am, that they should need me?

“Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower—but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.”
—Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

16 comments:

  1. I love the leaves on that species tulip - very very cool. I always love it when a plant has leaves equally as stunning as the flowers.

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  2. Those muscari are survivors! Tell us in summer how they do, OK? Sometimes, I suspect that plants do better without our interference.

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  3. Isn't that great? What a nice surprise. I'm amazed at just how tough some plants can be. I hope they multiply for you this year and next spring you get to enjoy even more!
    I bet you're glad to see all those signs of spring!

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  4. How nice is that! I am wondering about my
    bulbs, no signs of life, I wonder if something
    happened? we did get a slight flooding in my
    garden. Glad yours is coming up!

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  5. Hi, Chiot's Run--Aren't they pretty? It's a Greigii tullip--deep red 'Ali Baba', I think, though there are some dark pink 'Toronto' in the same bed. Won't know for sure till they bloom! Enjoyed your recent post about tapping maples. Thought about trying it till I got to the part about needing 40 gallons to make 1 gallon of syrup. I only have two maple trees... :)

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  6. Hi, Tatyana--If the muscari make it to bloom stage, I'll probably post a pic or two. Stay tuned. I think you're right about the interference--and the ones that NEED it are often not worth the trouble!

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  7. Thanks, Catherine, and yes I am glad to finally see some happy signs. After weeks of drooling over photos on your blog and others, it's nice to finally have some plants of my own to enjoy!

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  8. Hi, Cathy--Only my bulbs on the warm south side of the house are coming up. None are up yet on the other three sides--even the same species as the photos above. I'm sure yours will be on their way soon--unless you had standing water for a good while? I like your new plant stand and terrarium. Very nice the way you set them up. I'm off to Menard's now... :)

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  9. It's so encouraging to see all those green tips sprouting. I love the foliage of your Tulips. Muscari are pretty tough. Too bad I don't like them. I have them out front & they send up foliage in the fall, which looks absolutely terrible by the time they bloom in spring.

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  10. Hi, MMD--I know exactly what you mean about the fall foliage of the muscari. I have some right in the front too. They always look so straggly and messy that I want to pull them right out. I do enjoy the flowers though.

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  11. Hi Donna,
    Your flowers look like they're coming up good.
    It is exciting isn't it? Even with the snow coming down alternating with downpours of rain I still know spring is gonna get here sometime!;-)

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  12. Oh Donna, what a great story. I've read that bulbs hold all the nutrients the plant needs and after the flowers fade, the green leaves absorb nutrients from the sun and replenish the bulb. So by putting the whole pot aside you were allowing nature to take its course. Can't wait to see them bloom.

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  13. Hi, RainGardener--Yes, it is encouraging to see flowers, even knowing full well that April will very likely bring at least one more snowfall. There's no stopping spring now!

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  14. Hi, Grace--You're right, and that's just one more sign that nature doesn't really need us. She's well equipped to take care of herself, if we'd just stop messing things up for her! :)

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  15. Isn't that the way? As I've said before, plants want to grow - it's what they do. The will to survive extends to plants, too! I love it. Your photos say it all! :-)

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  16. Hi, Kylee--You are so right about the will to survive! And thank goodness for that--it makes up for a lot of my ignorance, oversights, and boo-boos!

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