Heirloombulbgirl

Category: Heirloom Bulbs for the South

  • A Crinum Named Ellen

    Ah, Miss Ellen Bosenquat. What a lovely name for an even lovelier flower bulb. When all the other summer flowers are laying limp on the garden floor, Ellen rises up after a little rain and stately declares “All eyes on me!” Ellen steals the show every time. She is a bright, striking shade of dark pink and is definitely a Crinum worthy of catching. This month I’ve decided to showcase each wonderful Crinum. Ellen screamed pink the loudest, so she is featured first.

    Ellen Bosenquat Crinum, as with all Crinum, are extremely low maintenance, and easy flower bulbs to grow. These old-time flowers will flourish in your summer garden long beyond your years in the garden. My favorite fun fact about Heirloom Bulbs is that they will outgrow your children’s Grandchildren. In fact, I lay awake at night wondering what I’m going to do with all these beloved bulbs. Heirloom Bulbs just keep growing, growing and growing…..multiplying like rabbits, while I keep growing older, achier and tired! Bulb gardening with large bulbs like Ellen Bosenquat is like having a cute little petting zoo with elephants. If I’m not careful, Crinum will soon eat the studio for an afternoon snack.

    Ellen is a hearty bloomer and is currently showing her stuff in Southern gardens everywhere. I enjoy planting my Crinum in places near Paperwhites, which are dormant in the summer. I also whimsical wildflowers to grow near the larger bulbs for a nice texture, as well as Frog Fruit, and other native ground covers to spread out around the bulbs. Another wonderful attribute of Crinum is the shade they supply to the ground where spring bulbs can be co-planted, just remember where you plant your bulbs so they won’t get lost in a sea of Crinum.

    It’s June. A beautiful time of year for Ellen. May your gardens scream pink as loud as Ellen does. There are plans in the works for a monthly “pop-up” shop at the Agape Haus Studio and Garden. Heirloom Bulbs, natives, wildflower seeds, vintage china and flower pots will all be available. The first “pop up” sale will be over Labor Day Weekend. Limited large blooming Crinum will also be sold….including Ellen. Details to come. 🙂
    Happy Gardening, my friends!


  • Crinum…The Queen of the South

    Few flower bulbs stop a person in their tracks quite like a Crinum. These flowers are bold, passionate, unique, showy and intoxicating. I find myself unable to even write due to the sheer amount of time I’ve spent in the garden Crinum-gazing (and weeding!). There are simply no words to convey the true beauty of an Crinum, so I’ve decided to use this little blog as a picturesque look at the Southern garden in early summer. Crinum bloom joyfully throughout the summer after a nice rainfall. Some Crinum even produce hearty seed pods to collect and share with fellow gardeners and friends. There are hundreds upon hundreds of different varieties of Crinum. I mainly grow old “found” Crinum, rescued or salvaged from teardowns, so the pictures I’ve chosen to showcase are all collected or gifted to me by fellow gardeners. Enjoy your photo-walk through my garden with the Queen of the South…Heirloom Crinum.

    Happy Gardening, my friends!

    for more information on Crinum, please email me at heirloombulbgirl@gmail.com 🙂

  • Restoration Complete

    This is the year of restoration.
    This is the year that the gardens won. The wildflowers beat the odds, through drought and early heat, and still flowered on. The beauty of the meadow has finally appeared, and the wildflower seeds that were collected and sowed last year have begun to flourish. After 10 long years of grueling sticker-thorn and weed pulling, the land has be *finally* been restored. By no means is my job tending this incredible little “Garden of Eden” over. Now I get to step off the hustle-bus and simply enjoy the garden’s beauty within itself.

    No more hauling rock.

    No more digging out garbage.

    No more pulling out a bucket of daily thorns.

    No more chopping down invasive trees.

    No more tearing down a drug-house eye soar.

    No more digging endless stone out of the earth.

    No more hauling countless Heirloom Bulbs from the flooded house.

    No more tears over lost beloved plants during times of drought.

    Restoration complete.

    Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of compost to be continually hauled, straw to lay out, veggies to tend, poppy heads to dry, tomatoes to pick, Heirloom Bulbs to dig, plants to muddle around with and weeds to tend to…but the beauty of restoration after 10 long years is complete. (I detailed more of the restoration process in a blog titled The Fallow Ground, in case anyone is interested in the process of land restoration)

    *breathe*

    *exhale*

    God is good.

    HAPPY Gardening, my friends!

  • The Heirloom Garden

    When I started gardening, I never intended to become an “heirloom gardener”. It just somehow happened. I became drawn to the history. The story behind the flower. My early years were spent in Rabi and Mrs. Horowitz’s rose garden. The rose arbor in the tiny backyard was magical, and each rose had a special story attached to it. I was hooked. I’m not sure whether it was the inherent beauty of timeless flowers, the uniqueness of each flower story, or the simple fact that my mind could wander and question endlessly about the past. Feeling “rooted” to past traditions is important and vital, especially in our quick, throw-away society. Heirloom gardens preserve the past for the future of tomorrow’s gardeners.

    Heirloom, by definition, is “something of special value handed down from one generation to another.” In plant talk, an heirloom is “a variety of plant that has originated under cultivation and has survived for several generations usually due to efforts of private individuals.” Mike Bollinger, executive director for Seed Savers Exchange (a non-profit focusing on stewardship and education around heirlooms) had a great explanation for what Heirlooms truly were in Cooks Magazine. “Heirlooms tell stories from the past that may have been lost if it were not for their existence.” Heirloom plants are in “contrast to modern cultivators used in large-scale agriculture”. You might say that heirloom farmers are dedicated in maintaining a lifestyle their Grandparents or even Great-Grandparents had. I find the idea of growing a flower bulb that was deeply loved by someone who lived at the turn of the 20th century utterly fascinating. There is simply no substitute. So how does one go about creating an heirloom garden? For me, it’s all about preserving the gardener’s story.

    Here are a few very practical ways to start an heirloom garden…

    *Join an old-fashioned garden society or garden club. You will learn a lot of gardening wisdom from older generations of gardeners. You will also be able to drink tea and listen to some fantastic stories. A lot of garden clubs host plant or seed swaps. This is a wonderful way to hear about “Mema’s Yellow Iris” or “Aunt Thelma’s Daffodil”.

    *Visit the older part of your town and become friends with the folks with beautiful gardens. Gardeners love to talk about their flowers. Don’t be afraid to compliment a stranger with beautiful Daylilies or gorgeous old roses….he might just spontaneously dig a special flower up just for you.

    *Invest in some flower bulbs or antique roses from notable sources who invest their time in preserving heirloom plants. A few of my favorites are Old House Gardens, Southern Bulb Company, Seed Saver Exchange and the Antique Rose Emporium. Great folks with amazing selections of charming old-fashioned flowers.


    Heirloom gardens aren’t flashy, nor do they keep up with the last trends in garden culture. Heirlooms feature the past and quiet ways of a lifestyle long gone. Unrushed and simple. Moment to moment savored by the stillness of the garden. I walk through my gardens each day, with gentle remembrances all around….my husband’s Grandmother’s Iris, Danish bulbs passed along, gardening friends’ Snowflakes, Byzantine Gladiolus, Daffodils and Iris, my in-laws’ original “William Allen land grant Iris”, my Franklin Iris that traveled from England in the mid 1800s that settled on a Texas ranch that shared the land with Native Americans, and tear-downs saved like the beloved Oxblood Lilies, Spider Lilies and Crinum of Miss Margaret and Eugenia. The cherished list of heirloom flowers in my beloved gardens with a story attached goes on and on. I only wish I had a cutting of Rabi and Mrs. Horowitz’s rose garden, but their memory is rooted in every Antique Rose I have.

    There are two types of flowers…quick color that lasts a season and heirlooms that will out-live your Grandchildren’s Grandchildren. I pick the latter.

    Every.

    Single.

    Time.

    Happy Heirloom Gardening, my friends!

  • Old Churches, Cool Fences and Snowdrops with Snakes! Oh My!

    One of my all-time favorite places to dig is in the small, rural town where my in-laws live. I am always amazed at the unbelievable amount of flower bulbs that grow in this area of Texas. Even throughout remote alleys, filled with cluttered debris, Oxblood Lilies and Narcissus grow wild. The sandy loam is perfect, the trees are grand and my salivating glands go in hyper drive while driving around looking for demolished houses with unwanted bulbs. Typically, it’s an adult scavenger hunt…

    ”Excuse me…do you happen to know who owns this property?”

    ”My nephew’s Father’s brother, who is in prison, owns the house. But he don’t care about them flowers.”

    ”Oh yes. I remember Miss Margaret quite well. I saw her every day when I walked by. She sure did love her flowers. I miss seeing her smiling face after the fire.”

    ”Eugenia lived in that old house until she was 90. It was her parents who planted the original gardens.”

    ”The lady who lived there passed away years ago, and the house is scheduled for demo. She loved those Snowdrops. You should take some. No one will mind.”

    So I did. Gratefully.

    There is something about saving the flowers from these old homesteads that preserves the memory of the gardener. In some way, it feels like preserving their legacy. I do hope that one day, the flowers that I have pulled from these old homesteads will continue to live on in other gardens.

    This past weekend, my husband joined me on a rare “spousal” scavenger hunt. I had spotted some very old Victorian wrought iron fencing that had been ripped up and discarded into a brush pile. (I know! I couldn’t believe it either!) We went through four people to finally locate the owner of the empty lot. We finally found “Bobby” at a convenience store. We asked him about the fencing and he looked at us like we were crazy.

    “The stuff in the trash?” Yes.

    Then, my husband being the superstar that he is, asked if I could also dig some flower bulbs near the brush pile. (Again, crazy)

    ”Sure. Take them all.”

    Somehow we wrangled the 17 foot iron fencing panels into the trailer. I started walking around the brush to start digging and a snake slithered near my flip flop. After all these years, I still don’t dress appropriately for digging. You’d think I would learn. I offered my Mother-in-Law some of the fencing, which she said an unfortunate “Yes!” 🙂

    It was a very good weekend. The old church still remains. Someday, I might drive by, the same way I have for the past 30 years, and find that it has fallen down. I certainly hope that the community will step in and restore it to its former glory. Until then, I will continue to just keep digging, and tell the
    stories of old gardeners who once loved their old gardens.

    Happy Gardening, my friends.


  • The Moment Defined

    There are moments in life that define us, for the better or for the worse.
    Moments that change everything in us and all around us. The moments I have seen in the devastating fires of California have flooded my thoughts. I can’t seem to look away. I understand all too well the complete and utter loss of “losing everything” in a single moment. There are no words.

    I see them.

    I hear them.

    I know them.

    I remember standing in line at the Red Cross on the morning after, with all the other “flood victims” (as we were politely referred to). An older woman standing in front of me had been visibly shaken. I found myself trying to comfort her. She sobbed and talked, and I simply listened. She told me about the boat rescue, the 7 inches of water that flooded her house and her fear of the water that came up so fast. She finally took a breath, looked up at me and asked “So what happened to you? How much water did you have in your house?”

    “Seven feet of water in less than 10 minutes.”

    She said nothing but just stared at me, as if to apologize for her own “lesser-than” trauma. I smiled, hugged her and said
    “There is no measurement of loss. It’s all the same.”

    Right then and there, I learned a very important life lesson….Loss is loss. Trauma is trauma. There is not a measurement of trauma as if “Mine is worse than yours”. Trauma holds no competition and takes no winners. We are all in the same boat together. Each one of us has our own story, but what we do *after* that defining moment is what truly matters. Will we let bitterness set in? Will we become callus or envious? Will we become trauma “victims” or trauma “survivors”? I do admit, standing in the pouring rain with only the clothes on our backs was a very humbling experience. Where was I going to get clean and dry panties? (A real-life concern) How could I comfort my family when I, myself was going through so much? Where would we even live? How can one simply start over and rebuild from scratch? All overwhelming thoughts, so all I could do is live moment to moment, salvaging anything I could. I poured into salvaging my gardens, digging bulbs at the “flooded house” every single day. The gardens saved my sanity.

    One day, as I walked along what-used-to-be my beloved “Garden of Eden”, I looked down and saw my Grandmother’s broken china with her Bible memory verse “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.” It was that moment, out of all my moments, defined me…

    Everything I had lost, He would provide.
    Everything I needed, He would provide.
    Everything I wanted, He would provide.

    I had been over and over those gardens for months, salvaging bulbs, but somehow I missed that little treasure. Maybe I hadn’t been ready to fully rely on the Lord’s provision the way sheep rely on their shepherd. Maybe I was looking for comfort in the wrong place or maybe I was just too caught up in my own minutia of trying to rebuild. Whatever the reason, I found my moment.

    ”The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake.

    Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. For You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

    You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23

    If anyone has specific loss that you’d like prayer for, feel free to email me… heirloombulbgirl@gmail.com I don’t have all the answers, but I’ve walked through this walk and there is hope on the other side.

    If you know friends or family members who lost everything…give gift cards or Venmo for a great starting place. Be listeners not fixers. Be present through their grief and allow them time to process the loss. Their lives will never be the same, but may we all be defined in the moments after…relying fully and completely on The Good Shepherd.

    Ps….Oxblood Lilies will be shipped out to anyone who is starting over, at no cost, When you are ready, your “Redemption Lily” will be ready for you.
    Happy Gardening, my friends.

  • The Christmas Crinum

    I’ve had my eye on this lovely little lady for the past few weeks, obnoxiously posting photos and video of this slow growing gal getting ready to bloom. It’s not surprising that Crinum bloom on their own time after a good, hearty rain. What *is* surprising is the timing of her extravagant entrance….Christmas Day, 3 weeks after a freeze. I’ve never heard of such a thing! In fact, I don’t even know what variety of Heirloom Crinum this is, I just know she’s old and apparently a Christmas lover, much like myself!
    I have searched the internet in a quest to find her proper name besides Christmas Crinum. I have even “reverse Google-searched” with her photo (didn’t even know that was a thing) but all I could come up with was Jubilee. I like the name, but she doesn’t quite match the description or photos. Swamp Lily also came up, but that’s too ugly of a name for her. If any of you Crinum lovers out there have a hunch of her true identity, please let me know. There’s a Crinum collector in Florida who I hope to connect with over the Holidays. Maybe he will know. For now, her name shall remain my Christmas Crinum.

    I have heartedly enjoyed watching the bloom cycle of the Christmas Crinum. It feels like the entire month has been consumed with thoughts about what she’d look like and when she’d actually bloom. I went outside more times than I care to admit, just to see if any progress had been made. I counted the actual bloom stems, pulled them gently apart to see if they made it to 12 blooms per stem (12 Apostles) but 10 seems to be the number she will sport. Another little fun fact about the Christmas Crinum is that she’s blooming in the ugliest part of the whole garden. I have upwards of a thousand Crinum (all at different stages of growth) at the Agape Haus Studio and Garden, but nothing is blooming. But yet, in the poorest rocky soil, in the grossest part of a neglected patch near the garage, the Christmas Crinum blooms. So lowly a place for such a beautiful reminder of endurance and hope during the first Christmas without my Dad.

    This beautiful Christmas Crinum has reminded me about the Christ Child, and the moment the Lord reached down to all humanity, providing the gift of Salvation in a lowly manger. A manger that held redemption in human form, which became the greatest and most beautiful gift of all.

    “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

    Happy Gardening, my friends! Merry Christmas!

  • Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!

    So iconic. The question Charlie Brown asks is still true to this day…

    ”Doesn’t anyone know what Christmas is all about?!”

    The greatest part about this simple, sweet cartoon is that the answer is pure and simple…coming from the mouth of the youngest of children in the cartoon, who happens to still carry his blanket everywhere for comfort.

    ”Sure Charlie Brown. I can tell you what Christmas is all about.”

    ’Now there were shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord came upon them, the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were so afraid. But the angel said unto them ‘Fear not. For behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the of David, a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord. And you will find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there with the angel a multiple of heavenly hosts praising God and saying:

    “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards me.” “

    ”That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s your favorite cartoon?
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  • Something Special This Year?

    I was honored to have my studio gardens featured on the 2024 Texas Horticultural Society garden tour.
    The Agape Haus Studio and Garden is a full-time music studio that also features heirloom bulb and native gardens. Studies show the inherent benefits of spending time in nature. Children in the 21st century are bombarded more and more with a fast-paced technological world. I am proud to provide a safe space for day-dreaming, adventuring and exploring, butterfly-watching and flower bulb planting…all while coming to the studio to learn music.

    Daily writing prompt
    What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?
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  • The Wild Life of Cleaty-Bird

    I had the rare sighting of a wild house dog in his native surroundings this morning. Wolf-like instinct took over this calm, gentle soul as he shredded his new “purple puffy” to pieces. Cleaty-Bird’s actions were quick and efficient, as he left no stuffing behind. The lack of any sort of howl was accompanied only by a “dazed and confused” far-off stare, as he sought to understand exactly what he was doing and why.
    I’m privileged to have caught this wild house dog’s natural behavior on camera, if only to vindicate the assumption of guilt upon his sweet litter-mate sister Ellie. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the quiet and utter destruction of his innocent puffy prey, but his sister did get the extra treat for the day.

    Daily writing prompt
    Do you ever see wild animals?
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