It was almost ten years ago, that I planted bulbs in my backyard. I\u2019ve written about this before. Those bulbs grew every year and made my little patch of dirt radiant! I did nothing to help them, and yet they graced me with hyacinths and daffodils every spring.<\/p>\n
What a return on the effort!<\/p>\n
For the last few years, though, the flowers have been fewer. So, when my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I said \u201cBulbs.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was thinking hyacinths, to fill in the ones that were fading. I figured that bulbs must have a lifespan, and my bulbs had done a great job for 10 years. Time to lay in a new crop.<\/p>\n
I did get bulbs for Christmas. So many! However, none of them were hyacinth. I was glad to have new ones to try, but I really wanted more of the hyacinths that had entranced me so.<\/p>\n
I went down to the local nursery, thinking I could find some hyacinths and plant them all at the same time. I did find the bulbs, which were half off (yay!). No hyacinths, though.<\/p>\n
I asked the clerk, \u201cDo you have hyacinth bulbs?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh no, those have to be planted earlier. We don\u2019t have any now.\u201d<\/p>\n
First, I was totally dismissive in my mind of his assertion that hyacinths must be planted earlier. My ten years of blooms were planted in January so I knew something of how to be successful.<\/p>\n
I explained to him that my bulbs were dying out. He nodded, and asked if they had shoots of leaves year-round, but no blossoms.<\/p>\n
Huh. The daffodils did have that problem. A year or two after I planted the daffodils, I noticed that they didn\u2019t die off like they used to. The flowers fell off, but the leaves remained. And they stayed up all year.<\/p>\n
I respected him a bit more now.<\/p>\n
He went on to explain that the bulbs were reproducing, and were crowding together. This resulted in leaves but no flowers. If I went in, dug up the bulbs and discarded, or broke up the bulbs and planted them with more room they could bloom.<\/p>\n
So. I did just that. I bought the rest of the half-off bulbs, no hyacinths but I am willing to see what Freesia can do for me.<\/p>\n
I planted them all, dug up the crowded daffodil bulbs and replanted what I could. 100 bulbs!<\/p>\n
Now in February they are starting to bloom.<\/p>\n
For the first time in years, I see a daffodil.<\/p>\n
Somehow, I thought the daffodils were doing fine. The leaves looked perfectly healthy. And if all I wanted was leaves, they did a great job of being leaves.<\/p>\n
I have done that. I have been in places in my life when I was almost what I wanted. Fine. No problems, not really. But something missing, not my full potential.<\/p>\n
These bulbs needed room. They had been so successful that they had crowded themselves out of blooming.<\/p>\n
My cousin said something to me a couple weeks ago. \u201cYou can\u2019t use the same skills that got you here to take you forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daffodils had something to show me about that. It was horrifying for the daffodil to get the cure. I dug them up, tore off their leaves, ripped apart the roots and stuck them into a new patch of dirt to make of it what they would.<\/p>\n
And for me to tear myself up and do whatever it is that will take me to the next level feels horrifying too.<\/p>\n
And I see one has made a flower already.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the season to bloom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was almost ten years ago, that I planted bulbs in my backyard. I\u2019ve written about this before. Those bulbs grew every year and made my little patch of dirt radiant! I did nothing to help them, and yet they … Continue reading