The Saving Grace of a Northern Garden

I often find myself wishing that I lived in a warmer zone so that I could grow more perennials as perennials and not annuals. I'm in an area where the zone actually can fluctuate from zone 5 to zone 3- does not make for easy gardening. We also don't usually get real snow until late December and we have over the years often gotten 70 degree days in January and February. It's that wacky Wisconsin weather. At least twice in Wisconsin in the last 120 years it snowed in July- over three inches each time! So you could say that gardening here can be quite a challenge and you would be so understating it.

Even so, there is one saving grace of living in the North- spring bulbs! I love them! I can't get enough of them! And I don't really have to do anything to them but plant them. The winters are so long and unpredictable. After months of cabin fever, seeing the spring flowers braving the receding snow to show their beautiful little selves is just wonderful.

I have over the years planted literally thousands of spring bulbs, but my favorites are my tulips. Although I do have many of the common red and yellow tulips, I like to find unusual tulips. I have quite a collection and always have my eye out for new varieties to try out. And there is always room for more spring bulbs!