Planting and Hoping

Yesterday I finally planted most of the bulbs I had purchased back in August when our offer on this house was accepted. The temperature was in the 50s and I knew that it was going to drop today and stay low for a while (we've had sleet and now have some freezing rain out there). As I usually do with any gardening tasks, I enjoyed doing it very much. I think that planting bulbs is like magic, you put this tiny (well, sometimes fairly big) bulb in the earth and in the Spring it becomes a beautiful plant with a colorful flower. I didn't plant as many as my friend Jody did two years ago and last year (how many again, Jody, like 600?), I planted around 200 and I still have around 30 to plant. I'm thinking I could "force" some of them in vases, have you ever done it with tulips? I think one of my gardening/ house plants books (I have only four, and I certainly will need more if we get to stay in this house) explains how to do it.

(I'm "illustrating" this post with photos from last Spring of some of the bulb flowers I planted three and one [hyacinths] year[s] ago in our former home. They were the same kind ["brand"] as those I planted here, purchased at this European/worldwide "bargain" chain store -- it's one of my favorite places to shop since everything is good quality and prices are extremely low).

Now that I planted them I'm hoping, not so much that we stay in this house for a few more years. I hope...
...that these tiny little promises sprout and flower in the spring
...that the rodents don't devour them
... and that the deer leave them alone while they display their beautiful colors.

These are bigger challenges that the bulbs will have to overcome in order to survive for future bloomings. Many of those I planted are disliked by those creatures, but some are prized (tulips and crocus). And now we 'll wait until Spring for the surprises they'll bring (yeah, silly rhyme, but the feeling is genuine).