Winter Gardening-Planting Beautiful Bulbs, Seeds & more

Even though it is chilly out and we are in February and not into spring yet- we are planting a few things in the garden and doing a bit of garden planning. Today we are talking about winter gardening & planting bulbs, seeds and other plans.

Winter Garden- Bulbs & Plans

Oh how I miss the beautiful blooms in the garden. Those layers of pretty purple and white foxgloves, peonies and garden roses make for many happy garden moments. Of course, in February- the garden is looking a whole lot more like leaves and layers of browns than green and blooms. With a lot of dried plants -winter gardens can feel pretty uninspiring but they can be pretty in their own way. The garden in winter allows you to see where the hardscape might need some extra oomph or where there are spaces to tuck in a few pretty faces. And it is exciting to see the buds starting to swell a bit – and to realize that under all those brown layers- there are blooms that are growing and just waiting to happen. You can see more of our garden last year after we planted it HERE

What are we planting now

Right now it is all about those bulbs. We have already planted a bunch of double tulips- which you might be more familiar with being called ‘peony tulips’. They are a fall/winter planted bulb so you may not be able to order those for this year- but they will ship in fall if you order now. Though we did find some on Amazon a couple weeks ago that were pre-chilled- meaning that the growers had stored them in cold enough temperatures to keep them okay to plant late. So if you decide you have to have them- you might give those a go. (linking below)

We also are adding more Allium bulbs – if you aren’t familiar Allium are fun balls of tiny blooms. Some are huge, some are small -and there are various shades so you can choose what works for your garden.

Dahlias are perfect for ordering right now. I am loving Cafe au Lait (below) but there are so many beautiful dahlias, shades and sizes to choose from.

Ranunculus are another spring planted flower bulb. I have ranunculus on repeat often over here- they are favorites. Ranunculus look kind of like mini peonies or garden roses- lots of layers of ruffly goodness.

And there are an abundance of colors and types of ranunculus to choose from.

Anemone are also on the list. I love the varieties of white anemone – but they do have beautiful shades of pinks, reds, blues and even a green tinted white. (mixed in with hellebores below)

Plans

Aside from planting bulbs currently- we have some upcoming garden plans this spring. As you know we had that crazy winter storm come through a couple of years ago when I first wrote this blog post and unfortunately it did a lot of damage. To the trees, buildings and the plants in the the greenhouse garden area. And then last year again, another doozy of a winter storm that was unlike anything we have had here since we have lived in the area. It really did a number on our trees and garden areas again. We have recently had to have another 5 old growth cedar trees cut down – they were probably over 250′ tall each and are doing yard clean up and splitting and stacking wood as we speak. With the garden, we are going to be rejuvenating those areas as we see which plants pop up and where we need to replant.

On the list for planting this spring- surprise, surprise- foxgloves of course. They are favorites of mine and you need to plant them 2 years in a row to get blooms every year since they only bloom every other year. Though sometimes they surprise you and bloom beautifully again and again.

Also planting more Lavender and catmint- 2 of my favorites for their foliage and blooms. We need to fill in some of the bulk in areas and they do a wonderful job of filling out and filling in bare spots.

I just ordered 8 more of one of our favorite roses. All Dressed Up have blooms and grown so well- so the cutting garden is expanding. We have been impressed with the size of the bare root roses- and the amount of blooms they provide. They start out bright and saturated and fade beautifully as they open. You can find those HERE.

Of course, lots of other plans on the agenda for this area- so will share more as we get going.

Shop the Look

You can shop for beautiful bulbs at your local garden center or places like Eden Brothers, Michigan Bulb and Holland Bulb. I also have ordered them on Amazon from garden shops there. Linking a few favorites below- just click the photo to shop.

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