Favorite garden quotations: a day in the garden

Today's blogging challenge was to choose "a favorite quotation" and write about it. I decided to tweak it by choosing two interesting quotations, all about the garden in winter and early spring. Today, I was outside, planting bulbs, which carry the promise of spring. So, here are the quotations, which are about gardens and the experience of winter and spring.

"The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size" -- Gertrude S. Wister

"Springtime flowers bloom like colorful arrows piercing their way to the sun" -- Terri Guillemets

Today, I was busily at work in a neighbor's garden, planting bulbs. It's one of the last gardening activities of the year, done in the autumn, when the growing season is almost over.

One of the things that I love about gardening is the whole instant gratification thing. I plant the annuals or perennials, I dig up the weeds, and I prune the shrubbery. I see the results while I'm working. There's no waiting or wondering if the project is going to work. It does work... right away. Planting bulbs is a whole other story. They are planted in the autumn, and there is no sign of growth until late winter or early spring. Once I plant the bulbs, I try to forget about them. When little shoots start popping out of the ground, it is a pleasant surprise because months have passed since I've planted.

Here are a few helpful hints about planting bulbs.

First of all, make sure to choose your bulbs carefully. If you live in an area that has a high deer population, don't plant tulip bulbs. During the winter, the deer will visit your garden and will polish off the bulbs. Deer consider tulips and tulip bulbs to be a great delicacy. They don't like daffodils, though. I guess that daffodils taste bad to them. You are more likely to get a bright yellow garden by planting daffodils. They are a wonderful early spring flower because they are such a happy color, which is pleasant after a long, gray winter.

Plants that grow from bulbs include hyacinth, grape hyacinth, day lilies, amaryllis, lilies, narcissus, iris, and more. They can be planted any time in the autumn before the ground freezes and becomes too hard to dig.

You will see that your bulb has a rounded side and a pointy side. After you've dug your hole, place the bulb in the ground with the pointy side up.

More bulbs, ready to plant.

Here is a smaller bulb, that I interspersed with the large ones, to get a variety of spring plants.

All in all, it was a good day in the garden, albeit a little cold. It was a day to remember that the coming winter season will not last forever and that the promise of spring flowers, which bring such joy, is just a few months away.