Green Acre: Spring Bulbs and . . . Budgies

Photo by Stephanie Cavanaugh.

By Stephanie Cavanaugh

IN THIS ISSUE of Do As I Say, Not As I Do, I certainly hope you bought your spring bulbs last month and didn’t foot-drag until now and try to scramble Spring together. I might add, you won’t have much luck finding small ornamental cabbages either. Though the big frillies are still abundant.

Neither Lowe’s nor Home Depot has a bulb in sight; and forget Costco, where it’s
already Christmas. Halloween? Pfft. So last month.

Buying bulbs in October is like trying to find a bathing suit in June. In this zone, at least,
Spring bulbs can be planted into December, or as long as the soil is workable. Plant
much earlier than now and you’re disturbing the last of summer’s blossoms, which is
tragic.

Colorblends, my go-to for buying tulips online, was sold out of all the pinks and purples,
offering only a meager selection of reds and oranges, which just won’t do beneath the
cherry blossoms. I had more success with Van Engelen, the Connecticut-based Dutch
bulb importer, grabbing up a few hundred bulbs of the trust-us-we-know-what-we’re-
doing-grab-bag variety. At least I’m assured that the colors are shades of pink. I think.

If you like mums, of which I’m not a great fan, there are still plenty to be had in garden
centers and big-box stores. Huge pots and small ones in the usual yellows and purples
and pinks. Enjoy them for a week(end) or so before some combination of heat or cold or
animal does them in—though they’re lovely as a host/ess gift (thank you, MK).

On the positive side, there are still pansies. Yesterday, I lucked into a ridiculous sale at
Home Depot, or maybe Lowe’s, I never remember. Out front there were four-packs of
spriglings for $4.99 while out back, on the sale racks, they were selling six-packs for two
bucks each. They were a little leggy, but nothing a pinch here and there won’t fix.

Yesterday I started redoing the window boxes, pulling up the caladium bulbs (I should
have gotten the green and white, which look fresher than the burgundy and pink, which
are a tad dusty- and depressing-looking, though they’ve had plenty of sidewalk admirers)
and plonking in the pansies.

I really should water more frequently.

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In an aha! moment (these tend to happen while I’m otherwise occupied) I suddenly
understood what the phrase Feather your nest means. Cooper, my pure white budgie,
mother of Kamala and paramour of Goldie, has been dropping feathers in her coconut
shell, giving her three new eggs a softer cushion than the floor of the hard shell.
It’s been nearly three weeks since she dropped this clutch (as they’re called) and the
babies should be appearing momentarily. The shells are increasingly pink—could that be
blood flow?

I have no clue what I’m going to do when they’re grown—which takes mere weeks. But
they are already named: Coco, Doug, and Tim.

Do let me know if you’re interested. Please.

And VOTE!