Heirloombulbgirl

Category: Heirloom Bulbs for the South

  • Snowflakes in the Garden


    A few days ago, the delicate blooms of Summer Snowflakes began to appear. A nice part about present is the ability to see subtle changes throughout the garden. Bulb gardens are one of God’s little ways to keep our eyes fixed and focused on things that truly matter. If we get too busy in day-to-day life, we might miss a flower bulb that blooms just once a year. Imagine if you miss it! This moment by moment journey of a bulb gardener resembles what God desires from each one of us…..to be truly present, with our eyes fixed on Him. What a beautiful allegory.

    I received my first Summer Snowflake bulbs from a dear friend. Mia lived down the street from our family in a cozy little “Leave it to Beaver” kind of neighborhood. Our children grew up together, playing endlessly. The kids ran back and forth between houses, enjoying the natural world of a lovely tree-lined street with beautiful gardens everywhere. Mia was from Sweden and our parenting styles were very similar….natural. We had many bulb swaps and old-fashioned pass-along plant exchanges. Our little street was filled with elderly couples who raised their own children in the small 1950s cottages. It was a quaint and humble street. Mia and I were privileged to get to know the older generations on the block, and we enjoyed learning life wisdom from their unique perspectives. We sadly watched our cherished neighbors pass on, and the little cottages turn into McMansions. I truly cherish my memory-filled Summer Snowflakes from Mia, and think of those early-childhood days each time the Snowflakes bloom.

    My second batch of Snowflakes came from a much different set of circumstances. A moment of sheer motivation and determination to salvage beautiful bulbs from their unfortunate ratty existence. I think the thought in my brain was “Omygosh! I *NEED those bulbs!” and I quickly flipped a quick U-turn on the highway. My husband says that my “super-human power” is to be able to spot bulb foliage in random places while driving 80 mph. Yet, most days I can’t even find my car keys. Go figure!
    The bulbs were on the side of the highway, in front of a junky old fence. The owner was thrilled to give me a shovel and a bag to remove “the weeds” from his yard.

    ”Sir, those aren’t weeds. Those are bulbs.”
    “Whatever they are, just dig ‘em up!”

    So I did. Quite happily. It’s always nice to help someone out….AND salvage some Heirloom Bulbs!

    The Summer Snowflake bulbs happily resided in the gardens at the flooded house, nestled comfortably under large pecan trees. After the flood, all bulbs came to the studio, being dumped anywhere an open space existed. The poor Snowflakes ended up in a full-sun, barren piece of yuk. Needless to say, I had been too busy in my own frantic world to notice (or nurture anything) in the garden. I tried to be present, but I was still on “salvage mode”, a necessary place to be but not a good place to stay. We all have those “salvage” moments, whether by a rescued flower bulb or stray dog, a time-consuming casserole that burnt to a crisp (or in my case, blew up), a failed exam, or a family situation that is simply falling apart. We turn our brains into “salvage mode”, to save what we can.
    After a salvage, nurturing begins….and boy did my little Snowflake Bulbs need some love. A few weeks back, I dug up all the Snowflakes and relocated the bulbs to their “forever hone”. The bulbs now have morning sun with afternoon shade, avoiding the full heat of summer. The ground also has nice, rich soil that I have tended to for quite a while. A beautiful spot for Snowflakes in the garden.

    Spring is a time for renewal, and I pray that your eyes may stay focused on what truly matters. If you are in “salvage mode”, I pray that you may see the beauty that awaits on the other side.
    “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad…” -Psalm 16:8

    Happy Gardening, my friends!
    Love, Keenan @heirloombulbgirl

  • The First Daffodil of Spring

    New life.
    New beginnings.

    I love Spring.

    Last year, Spring was engulfed by hard, late freezes that froze everything back, plunging the gardens into triple digit temperatures. The plants and bulbs had little time to recover from the stress of the freeze, and immediately were taxed by the extreme early heat of summer. The heat was enough to do the gardens in, but then came the drought. I think I complained daily…..just ask my husband.
    Every Single Day… “Why do we have to live in a desert where nothing grows?!” (Human nature is to play a blame game the minute life gets hard, and boy did I play it! Why is it so easy to forget about the wonderfully beautiful moments in life when we are in a drought?)

    But, as always, the rain did finally come, and the Oxblood Lilies bloomed. The promise of the cooler temperatures of Fall makes every gardener ecstatic….kind of like way we all feel when Spring finally arrives.

    I don’t know about you, but every day I’m out on my hands and knees looking for new life. Yesterday I spotted blooms of Golden Crocus, Grape Hyacinth, Oxalis and the first purple bloom of Spiderwort. Foliage of countless bulbs are hinting that this Spring will be spectacular. Three years is a long time to wait for anything, let alone Spring blooms!

    A wonderful part of this year’s Spring is the undergrowth of weeds. I know that sounds bizarre, and it probably is, but stay with me. Non-seeding weeds are actually a benefit to your soil. Pull them up and simply create piles of rotting goodness where the weeds used to be. The nutrient-rich piles will deter future weeds from taking over, while the rotting process will encourage microorganisms to find a nice habitat to live in. Worms in the soil will enjoy the incredible benefits of the entire process, while your soil is kept insulated and protected from the elements. Last year, there was no undergrowth due to the drought. My gardens started off the drought with bare soil. I was scraping together any organic material I could find to pile on the earth….Live Oak branches from neighbors’ brush piles, hay, newspaper and cardboard and leaves from empty lots. I even went as far as taking my little lawn mower to an open field with Live Oaks, and mowing to collect the fallen leaf debris. Like I’ve said many times, the soil at my studio is AWFUL….but this Spring, I have hope in all new beginnings. I have found earthworms for the first time in some places, and the mere fact that I have an undergrowth of healthy, non-thorny stickers is a huge step into the land of a healthy garden.
    They say it takes 13 years to establish a garden. In some parts of my garden, I am on year two. But then, combine that with the lack of good soil and mathematically, I am x=13-2ps+kw(5th). That is, 13 years-2 years, subtract the years of poor soil, but adding Keenan’s work to the 5th power. In other words, I have a lot to do.

    Spring.
    New Beginnings. New blooms. Every single new beautiful day is worthy of rejoicing.
    Happy Gardening, my garden friends!

    Love, Keenan at Heirloombulbgirl

  • An Oxblood Lily from Miss Margaret’s Garden

    I spent the last few days moving Oxblood Lilies. Typically when I salvage bulbs from a tear-down, I stick them anywhere I can find an open spot in the garden. Later, I might go back to “decorate” the garden landscape with the bulbs in their “forever homes” (or at least, their home until I get bored). Each clump of Oxbloods is unique due to the age of the bulb or the growing conditions. One particular clump of Oxbloods caught my eye. The original parent bulb was in the middle, warmly surrounded by a beautiful family of healthy bulbs….nine offshoot bulbs, to be exact. Some clumps look like the bulbs are being suffocated….but not this clump. It looked perfectly happy to share its life with the offshoots, and all 10 bulbs were happy and healthy.

    The sheer vigor and fortitude of the Heiloom Oxblood Lily is truly untouchable by other lily bulbs. Scott Ogden once said that the Oxblood is the hardiest of all Southern Bulbs, and I absolutely agree with him. I’ve seen Oxbloods grow through cement rubble of house tear-downs, compacted earth from bulldozer tracks, drought-stricken land, and the list goes on and on. Oxblood Lilies are survivors. Let’s face it….we all need survivors in our life. Over the years, I’ve learned a lot from the Oxblood Lily. Through seasons of drought, gardeners throughout the South are reminded of the redemptive beauty found after the first rain of Fall.

    Oxblood Lilies originally traveled to the United States by way of their German immigrants. These lilies can still be found growing alongside old homesteads throughout the South.
    It is simply incredible to see a flower bulb survive throughout the 1900’s. Old gardens become a direct link to the past…to the days of pass-along plants and quiet cups of tea shared among garden friends.

    This lovely Oxblood was one of the bulbs rescued from Miss Margaret’s former home in Rockdale, Texas. Years ago, I wrote an article about the house in Heirloom Gardener Magazine entitled Saving the Gardens for Miss Margaret. If I knew how to link the article, I would….but Sorry, folks. This is about as tech-savvy as I get. Needless to say, Miss Margaret’s lovely gardens are now a parking lot for the police station. The beautiful historic three story house was torn down to make way for the police station. The original stained-glass filled house was built in the 1800’s. After Miss Margaret passed, the house deteriorated beyond repair. Before the tear down, I dug countless times. I was able to preserve thousands of her treasured Heirloom Bulbs. It makes me almost physically ill to watch century old flowers like this end their beauty, trapped under cement lots. Unfortunately, that happens frequently through the modern progress of rural development. I’ve been determined to save as many Heirloom Bulbs from old homestead tear-downs as I can.

    Each Heirloom Oxblood gives redemption to the garden. If you would like to have an Oxblood Lily from Miss Margaret’s garden, please let me know. I’m happy to share with you. Or you can order flower bulbs from Heirloombulbgirl on Etsy. All proceeds go directly back into the gardens. 
    Happy Gardening, my friends!
    Love, Keenan at Heirloombulbgirl

  • Bloom in the Freeze

    Another hard freeze came our way…just in time to wipe out all the Paperwhites that are in bloom. Nature is funny that way. If I had a dollar for every time a flower bulb was *just about to bloom* but nature stepped in and wiped it all out, I’d be rich. It’s hard to watch precious flower bulbs have set backs. It’s hard to watch people have set backs too. I suppose we all have moments in our lives when life’s uncontrollable events hinder our instinct to bloom. I read once that people are like stained glass. It is easy to be beautiful when the sun is out and everything is shining. It’s hard to actually shine in the darkness.

    For the last three years, Winter has delivered hard freezes at the exact same time my Paperwhites bloom. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that nature is trying to teach me something. This year, I got wise and covered many of the blooming bulbs with large plastic flower pots. Two days ago, I removed the covering pots to find the bulbs were happy and snuggly….blooms perfectly healthy. What I didn’t realize was that another hard freeze was scheduled that night. The freeze proceeded to wipe all the bulbs out. Nature is funny. Although the heirloom bulbs won’t die from a freeze, I lose the beautiful bloom that happens only once a year. What exactly is the moral of this story? Dig up the Paperwhites and throw them in the compost heap? Give up? Be like dingy stained glass, refusing to bloom in the freezing darkness?

    I don’t think gardeners plant flowers for the moments of perfection. I think most of us like to watch things grow. We learn about ourselves through nurturing our gardens. Our hearts delight in watching a prized cabbage rose bloom for the first time after a long battle with thrips, and our hearts break in the loss of a cherished heirloom bulb, eaten by gophers. Gardeners stay the course, for better or for worse and against all odds, simply to bring natural beauty to dark, technology-driven world. Gardeners are stained glass folks who *choose* to bloom in the darkness. Maybe that’s why I grow flower bulbs….I need to be reminded each and every day to bloom in spite of my circumstances.

    ”The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
    His mercies never come to an end.
    They are new every morning.
    Great is Thy faithfulness, oh Lord.”

    This morning, the weather is in the teens. All Paperwhites have frozen back, but my heart is not defeated. My thoughts are already planning to rearrange the areas with Paperwhites, to make the covering-process more accessible. I am also gearing up for the Spring Bloom, hoping to order some more daffodils from Southern Bulb Company, and some heirloom dahlias from Old House Gardens. Life continues on and next year, I won’t be caught off guard for the surprise freeze.

    Happy Gardening. my friends! Keenan at Heirloombulbgirl

  • To Pull or Not To Pull….That is the Question

    I’ve gone back and forth for years, trying every new and hip way to deal with spent plants and weeds. Do I pull? Do I trim? Do I cut? Do I yank? Do I compost? Do I throw it down?
    Do I pull or not pull…..That is the question.

    All these nonsensical time-sucking thoughts about weeds have brought me back, full circle, to the heart of the matter….Soil. Different garden conditions require different gardening techniques. There is not a “one size fits all” concept in gardening. English Cottage Gardens grow and behave differently than the Desert Native Gardens of the Southwest. I didn’t want to accept this truth for a long time. I grew up in Montana with lush, rich soil and Peonies.Now I’m in the Texas Hill Country….gardening in 112 degree granite gravel, sand and rock. The idea that my flower bulbs were forced to live in nutrient-depleted rocky soil was a horrible reality that I didn’t want to accept. Even the previous owner of the studio property told me truth. “Gardens? Here?” (He laughed) “You won’t be able to grow anything here. The soil is TERRIBLE!”
    I felt that the soil comment was a direct challenge to my gardening pride. Now I *had* to grow things at the studio. After the 2018 flood, all the flower bulbs had to relocate to the studio grounds and I was *forced* to put my money where my mouth was….plant gardens in terrible soil.

    So how does soil relate to whether or not to pull, cut, compost or ignore the weeds in your garden? Because my friends, soil is life. Anything that grows in the ground becomes potential nutrients for your flowers. Some soils are rich enough that it’s ok to pull up a weed or spent plant, and toss it in the compost. But other soils need as much help as they can get. Some soils, like mine, are desperate for the rotting process, allowing the earthworms and other microorganisms to do their job…bring life back to the soil.
    Over the past few years, I’ve shifted my focus from forcing gardens to grow, to growing beautiful soil. The change in my garden speaks for itself…..although I still have rocky soil, I now have earthworms. A beautiful first step into a land flowing with milk and honey (and flower bulbs). Here are a few natural techniques that have helped improve my soil. 

    First, I have started to cut the spent annuals and wildflowers down to the ground and leave the root ball to rot under the earth. I read that the number one problem with modern American gardens (besides the obsession with Miracle Gro) is the lack of decay that is allowed in the garden. Decay is a natural process, and as far as I’m concerned, nature does it way better than I could ever dream of. The cool part about letting the root-ball rot is that it prohibits other weeds to take over the area. The roots can’t compete with what is already there, even if it’s rotting under ground. I started this technique during the hard summer droughts, and so far, I really like the result.

    Second, seed-free weeds are pulled and simply thrown down into the garden using a piling method. Piling weeds and other debris creates mulch for the garden and a natural composting habitat around your plants. The garden debris also inhibits other weeds from popping up in that location. Disclaimer… I don’t not pile during the summer. The clippings dry out too fast, and the overall process creates too much heat, which is not good for your soil or plants. The idea of piling is to protect the soil from the elements, not create an oven environment, hot enough to fry an egg.

    Third, I cut the seeds and either collect, or throw them in the trash. There is misinformation out there that the seeds won’t germinate in compost….False. I’m not a composting expert, but when I get lazy and throw seeds into the compost, they ALWAYS germinate. Now,I simply walk around with a bucket and a pair of scissors.
    A lot of these techniques can be found in the gardening classic Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza. This book changed my life. Lately, I’ve been reading Grow your Soil by Diane Miessler. I love her philosophy about nurturing the soil. My flower bulbs seem to really appreciate the benefits.

    To cut or not to cut…..That is the question. I hope you find your own techniques that help your gardens flourish. Remember, one size doesn’t fit all. There’s no right and wrong if your soil and plants are reaping the benefits of your labor.
    Happy Gardening, my friends! Keenan at Heirloombulbgirl


  • To Nurture a Garden


    There are two types of gardeners in this world……organized, neat and tidy, everything-in-symmetry kind of gardeners, and then there’s everyone else. If you know me, you already know which camp of gardeners I fall into. Let me just pull back the curtain of Oz a little bit more. I have no fewer than 25 unfinished gardening projects going on at any given time. The word “frazzled” is my middle name in Greek, and it fits like a ripped up, dirt-stained glove. I am the complete opposite of any type of “garden influencer” you might read about. In fact, there’s probably a psychological study that could be done on my gardening style, but that’s beside the point. Let’s just say that I am extremely fortunate to have these beautiful Heirloom Flower Bulbs that make my gardens worthy enough to talk about. If it weren’t for the flowers, I’m afraid I’d be forced to be the world’s worst golfer. Thank goodness for the gardens!!

    In honor of the New Year, I decided to toast to the fact that I most likely will not finish my gardening “to-do” list, or any of the unfinished projects that I enjoy muddling around with. But instead, my new gardening resolution is simply to nurture what I have already accomplished.


    Nurturing is a gardening concept that is rarely allowed in the mind of a busy gardener. There are so many garden chores to do that nurturing a single flower seems like a complete waste of time. Gardeners tend to focus on “important” tasks such as flipping the compost pile or spreading cardboard upon a weed-infested area. Garden tasks give us a sense of purpose, a feeling of success and a cool “badge of honor” among our gardening friends. Our society is driven by work, and that drive to work is carried over into the garden. To nurture something feels…well, less adequate. What does “naturing” even mean?

    Nurturing becomes the quiet, still moment of committing yourself to the growth of something beyond yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson describes success as “Leaving the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition.” True success is the ability to nurture life, and to be able to look at oneself and to see that you are connected with all of nature, including humankind.
    Nurturing a garden looks a bit different to each gardener, but the end goal is the same….to leave a little piece of the earth better than when we found it. Some gardeners focus on growing plants by nurturing seeds, while others focus on creating and nurturing a habitat for wildlife, such as Butterfly Sanctuaries. To nurture is to see beyond the hurried moment, and take the time to instill love and goodness into something with complete selflessness.

    Over the years, I have learned a lot about nurturing through rescuing flower bulbs from tear-downs. I have pulled bulbs to freedom out of rubble, and have enjoyed the redemptive process in watching each unique bulb grow strong enough to bloom. I have found chewed up remnants of bulbs, completely destroyed by their unfortunate events, redeem themselves to full beautiful glory. In fact, my favorite group of bulbs, my “survivor bulbs”, managed to grow out of the compacted ground of bulldozed flood debris. I lovingly dug out each remaining bulb from the hard earth, not for any other reason than the bulbs’ sheer will to live.

    This year, I decided to step off the hurried, frazzle-bus, and commit time each day to simply nurturing my flower bulbs. I am being intentional about where to plant flowers. Bulbs need to be visible and present while blooming, but non-invasive to the gardens when growing. That’s a lot to expect for any flower, but bulbs are worth it. Foliage can be a continued bother to many non bulb-loving folks. Lining garden paths, house foundations, driveways or creating specified areas within the garden will help bring an organized look within the carefree growing garden. Some bulbs, like Paperwhites, need a lot of water and sunlight while growing. Other bulbs, like the Oxblood Lily can flourish in any environment. Heirloom Bulbs are tough, but each variety of bulb has a different personality with different growing needs.

    Happy Gardening, my friends! May you find a beautiful balance in your garden between the moments of hard work, and the quiet, still moments to truly nurture what you love.

  • The Many Seasons of the Texas Gardener

    Feast or Famine.
    That’s what life is like in a Texas garden. One day, it can be 115 degrees with every plant in the garden sadly drooping, on the verge of death. The very next day, a delightful rain replenishes the parched earth and fills the garden with hope. Gardeners in Texas need to be tough, and so do their gardens. I can’t tell you how many times I threaten to throw in the shovel, and then….just like that, the weather changes (so does my attitude).

    Seasons in Texas are minimal….we have Summer.
    Light Summer, Heavy Summer and every other variety of Summer you can possibly imagine. Occasionally, we have a quick change of seasons, but if you blink, you might miss the change. Instead of moaning and groaning over the lack of seasonal change, I began associating seasons with the blooms of Heirloom Bulbs. My Texas Seasons have become Oxblood Lily Season, Crinum Season, Rain Lily Season, Paperwhite Season….well, you get the drift. 

    Flower Bulbs are truly a gift to the Texas Gardener. Bulbs rest quietly under the earth, sleeping peacefully through extreme weather conditions. I’m always surprised by the Fall showing of Oxbloods and Spider Lilies after a brutal summer. I honestly don’t even know how the bulbs survive, but somehow they do. I tend to be a garden “naturalist”, so I like to invest in Native Plants and Heirloom Bulbs that are proven winners. Over the years, I’ve wasted way too much money on forcing flowers to grow in wrong zones, just because of garden nostalgia. As much as I love Dutch Tulips, they simply won’t come back in Texas. Lucky for you, Lady Tulips will naturalize in our area so if you are desperate to plant Tulips, there ya go!

    Seasons change….not so much in Southern Gardens like Texas. Invest your time and energy into plants and flower bulbs that will bring a smile to your face and joy to your gardening heart. Seasons don’t have to be minimal and boring. Just ask any bulb enthusiast. 🙂

    Happy Gardening, my friends!
    Love, Keenan at Heirloombulbgirl


  • If You Give a Gardener a Flower

    If you give a Gardener a flower, she’s going to need a shovel to go with it.

    While looking for her favorite shovel, the Gardener walked right over the garden hose, and she remembered that she left the sprinkler on.

    After moving the sprinkler, the Gardener saw the beautiful Heirloom Lilac that she re-rooted last year. Seeing the Heirloom Lilac, the Gardener thought about moving the Lilacs to make room for her new flower.


    While digging up the Lilacs, the Gardener remembered the large rose bush that died in the drought. What a perfect time to move the dead rose bush and relocate the Lilacs!


    While digging up the rose bush, the Gardener got a thorn in her finger.
    While the Gardener tried to get the thorn out, she remembered the thorn she got after moving her lovely Martha Gonzales Antique Rose Bush.
    The Gardener decided to dig up the Martha Gonzales rose to plant something, although she wasn’t quite sure what.


    While digging up the Martha Gonzales Rose, the Gardener decided to move the entire bed of Ellen Bosenquat Crinum and Oxblood Lilies, which would naturally be the perfect spot for the beautiful Antique Rose Bush.


    While digging up the Heirloom Bulbs, the Gardener accidentally dug into the heavy oil cloth that had been used for the pond that didn’t work out.
    The Gardener stopped everything she was doing and started digging out the heavy oil cloth, in order to use the cloth to cover the compost to save moisture during the summer.


    While digging out the oil cloth, the Gardener got tired and put her shovel down…right next to the pretty little flower that she was given to plant.
    The Gardener reached down, picked up the flower and gave it a drink.


    If you give a Gardener a flower, she’s going to need a shovel to go with it. 
    So the Gardener picked up her shovel and walked through the garden, looking for the perfect spot to plant the flower. (True story….can you relate?!)

    Happy Gardening, my friends!
    Love, Keenan at Heirloombulbgirl

  • Milk and Wine Crinum For Thanksgiving

    I spent my Thanksgiving weekend digging up Crinum. That wasn’t my original plan, but digging is typically a common pastime when I am at my in-laws’ farm. There are a lot of run down, falling down and flattened homes in the area. Many of the homes, I have been given free rein to dig….a few I have not. I have had to jump over “no trespassing” signs, rip jeans on barb-wire fences and get into poison ivy, just to rescue a few heirloom bulbs. There are many gardeners in the area that know the secret locations of these abandoned sites, and have all taken matters into their own hands. We have no shame or apologies for our bad behavior. When a bulb lover sees a bulldozer, it’s time to hop the fence and dig.

    On this particular digging day, my family and I were simply out on a walk, minding our own business. We came to the property where a dilapidated, old hunting cabin had been hidden within the brush. I had dug at this location before, and I was shocked to find the cabin completely gone and the house grounds bulldozed and flattened. Gardeners in the area had been salvaging bulbs for years. The sheer amount of Milk and Wine and Alba Crinum is hard to put into words. The old bulbs were the size of small watermelons. I’ve broken many shovels trying to retrieve those old gals. It was sad to see the cabin and all the Crinum completely gone. I noticed a few remnants remained, so my daughter and I decided to stay behind to dig. It actually was my weed-complaining Father-in-Law who offered to bring shovels and bags. I can’t believe my dear ol Dad-in-Law offered to be an accomplice to such a gardening crime, but miracles do happen.

    My daughter, Hollie, and I dug for hours. My husband stood guard as he sat in the mule and just scrolled through golf videos. We dug every square inch of what used to be the Crinum patch. Some bulbs were chewed up and spit out by the bulldozer. Some bulbs were so deep beneath the ground, I couldn’t retrieve them. As I crawled around on my hands and knees, locating bulb remnants, my daughter laughed at me and yelled
    “Hunt ‘em up!”
    Hollie was mocking me with her Dad’s hunting voice. “Hunt ‘em up” is a command to bird dogs to sniff out birds. In the brush. We spent a lot of time that day laughing as we dug. Hollie even made me pull out bulbs shoved into a brush pile under trees. She was surprised that I am not afraid of man-handling bulbs out a bunch of brush, yet I refuse to walk on wet grass with bare feet. I didn’t even have to mind-wrestle a rattlesnake, which actually happened the last time I dug at the old cabin.

    This Crinum dig will go down in the history of the world’s greatest Crinum bulb dig., for no other reason than my entire sweet family participated in saving the bulldozed remnants of century old Heirloom Bulbs. My heart is full.

    Happy Gardening, my friends! Love, Keenan at Heirloombulbgirl

  • Surveying the Garden

    Last night I went to the studio to “survey” the gardens. Surveying is a normal gardening activity in my world. My husband came up with the term many moons ago…

    ”Where’s Mom?”
    “She’s surveying her plants.”

    “Surveying the gardens” also became a good excuse for all the things I *should* be doing, but I’m not…

    Diner dishes? I think I need to go survey. Packing for a vacation tomorrow? I definitely need to go survey. Grocery shopping? Survey….

    You get the drift. Surveying became my out. My time to be in the calm of nature. My rest. To survey is the walk slowly, intentionally looking at each flower or treasured bulb, in order to see what the gardens’ needs are. When one surveys, it is not time to work. It is simply a time to *see*. Seeing beyond the average hurried walk-through, and deeply studying each and every little plant on your path. Sometimes I have hours to survey, and other times, just a few moments. I feel connected and grounded. Surveying is good for the soul.

    One of my favorite parts about surveying is the calm. My garden can be full of weeds that literally grew overnight, and I just quietly make a mental note to myself to pull them later. Human nature is to get in the middle of a mess and frantically start trying to fix whatever is wrong. “Surveying the gardens” is synonymous with listening to someone speak, without butting in with your own thought or opinion. I think that we have lost the ability to simply be quiet and listen, whether it is a restful survey in the garden, or listening to a dear friend express their thoughts.

    So, back to last night’s survey.

    I walked through the little garden gate and took a few steps and my left foot sank into a hole. Not just any hole, a 4 foot deep hole. The level of being totally freaked out with my imagination was at an all time high. Was the badger back? Was it a secret cavern that my entire studio would sink into? Is it an underground sink hole full of snakes, spiders and who knows what else? I put some large sticks to mark the hole so I wouldn’t fall in, and continued my survey.

    Peaceful Survey? Nope. Not a chance.
    Freaked out? You bet.

    I got home and told my husband all about the enormous hole that almost swallowed me alive. He just laughed.
    “It’s just an old septic tank”

    How disappointing. secretly I was hoping for a secret cave with buried treasure, like the lost San Saba gold, or more heirloom bulbs. Now, the work begins to fill the darn thing up. But why do today what I can do tomorrow? It’s a beautiful day to survey!

    Happy Gardening, my friends!
    Love, Keenan at Heirloombulbgirl