Thank you smart hubby for your brilliant idea of placing plastic over the screen panels of the screen house to convert it to wonderful winter storage, keeping my treasured garden ornaments, patio furniture and summer games free from winter's ravages. The plastic even held tight against the very winds which brought down many a tree branch! Fabulous! It is time, when I get time, to turn it back to a screen house in which to sip a summer glass of wine and enjoy an evening breeze free of mosquitos after a hard days work.
For about eight years now, every summer I place a bulb order with Van Englen Bulb Co., mostly for daffodils although some alliums, hyacynths and tulips do also make their way into my order. I always plant at least 250 daffodils which are quickly going from being single bulbs planted just how you're NOT supposed to do it, to clusters at least a foot around. I think of it as a savings account. I diligently make a "deposit" every fall and the "interest" yields me beautiful spring gardens! I tend to stick to a simple palette of mostly King Alfred traditional, hardy, yellow daffodils... but have enough "egg faced" ones to offer a good sparkle in the garden. Once in awhile, I will order up 25 or so with pink centers or orangey-red centers. Now the end of the first week of May, the daffodils are about at their peak. The areas where the snow was slower to melt, still hold many that have not blossomed as of yet, so they will no doubt make great companions for the rhodies and the bleeding hearts when they begin to blossom. After such a tremendous winter, they say we are about two weeks behind. That makes the show of spring blossoms an especially great sight to behold.
Why I love the State of Maine, by Pam Allen. Sometimes I feel like I could do a whole thesis on this.
The change of seasons is so dramatic in Maine. The bitterly cold winds of the winter months slowly give way to the warm, gentle breezes of springtime and the mounds of white snowbanks give way to the mounds of beautiful yellow daffodils. The maple trees are covered in their springtime red blossoms which before we have tired of the warm summer days, will turn to red autumn leaves. But each season has its own special flavor. I particularly love spring... rebirth, fresh, deserved!
