Home of the Practically Perfect Pink Phlox and other native plants for pollinators

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Lilac Tommies On A Hill Need No Prose

You must enlarge these photos for full effect!












I do wish you could see these stunning Tommies*. It's raining, so there's no going back with a tripod to get more shots. ( editor: This is a private residence in the Bellemeade neighborhood in Nashville.)

Gail

*Crocus tommasinianus possibly 'Lilac Beauty' and squirrels and chipmunks don't like them!

45 comments:

  1. What a stunning effect - love the effect of mass planting a single variety, though I don't have the discipline to do it myself!

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  2. I love to come upon a carpet such as this. It does lift the spirits. Amazing how they can create such large colonies. I often wish I could take a magic carpet ride right over the tops of them so as not to smash them and be right in the middle of such a display. I have never heard them called Tommies.

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  3. Now THAT was a beautiful sight! A crocus that squirrels and chippies don't like....that's an added reason to plant them.

    Luv the Plz Make My Dreams Come True sign on your sidebar.

    donna

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  4. Oh Gail I would love to spread a light blanket in the middle of this with you and have a toast to Spring!

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  5. These are instant happy-making photos, Gail. Utterly wonderful. Just what I needed with my morning coffee, a reminder that spring IS coming. The sun is out for the 5th day in a row, though it's currently a bit chilly, and the snowdrifts ARE receding. So I hope to see crocus in another six weeks or so.....

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  6. Oh how beautiful, just like England!!! More tommies are going on the list right now. I didn't know the critters avoided them, what a public service you have performed here Gail. Is that at Cheekwood?
    Frances

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  7. Like Frances, these shots remind me of something you would see in England. Thank you for sharing.

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  8. It does look like a public garden but, it's a hillside in the Bellemeade neighborhood~ just off a busy rd. Aren't they stunning! They've been there for more years then I can remember~they've naturalized, but a whole bunch had to have been planted originally. Gail

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  9. Gail girl , some of the most beautiful "spots" are the ones that people actually don't look at or "see" they pass by them almost every day and have no clue as to how gorgeous these little scenarios are : )
    I wish I had room for a mass planting : ) that was so pretty !
    JOy

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  10. Spectacular, Gail! It does give one reason to hope, especially when the forecast holds more snow/rain for us over the weekend. :-? Officially 9 days until Spring! Then again, as the saying goes, 'there's a big difference between the first day of Spring and the first Spring day'. :)

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  11. Indeed stunning, Gail. If not tasty morsels for chipmunks and squirrels, I must have them! I had 3 crocus bloom in my garden last spring but many spotteded in my neighbor's yards.

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  12. What a spirit-lifting display! I have some planted but clearly need to get lots more. They have to be one of the smallest bulbs I've ever planted. You sure need a lot — 100 is barely noticeable!

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  13. Awesome Gail! The mass effect is what makes it so great!

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  14. Gail, there is a lesson here for all bloggers: do not skim through posts! I've been busy the last few days and am trying to catch up on reading missed posts. I wasn't skimming, but my eye was focused on the lovely tree scenes, thinking you had a little snow on the ground:) I am so glad I realized what I was missing and took your advice to enlarge all the photos. What a gorgeous carpet of crocuses! Beckie and I just got back from the Chicago Flower and Garden show, and this scene rivals anything we saw there. Hope you're having a great day and enjoying all the signs of spring!

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  15. Gail - perfect spring landscape shots!

    It is sprinkling this morning, but I got in several days of hard gardening!

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  16. Did you hear me gap when I enlarged your pictures? Stunning!!!
    This is the way that bulbs should be planted.

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  17. Helen Yoest @ Gardening With Confidence™March 10, 2010 at 8:17 AM

    Beautiful Gail. I have them planted in my front lawn, about 500 hundred. Last year, the show was nice. This year, I see one. Very sad. Your photos were my vision. Maybe next year.

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  18. You're absolutely right, Gail. They need nothing except themselves and camera to take their pic. Thanks.~~Dee

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  19. WOW! That's so beaytiful!!! I just love the masseffect /gittan

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  20. What a lovely sight!

    I've meant to grow Tommies ever since I saw a photo of them planted in a heart shape in a lawn. Maybe this fall...

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  21. So very pretty!!! They have really naturalized that area. I didn't know they would grow in the shade of those big old trees.
    Marnie

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  22. Clicking on the photos was well worth the view. The crocus are amazing to see. What a wonderful sight it must be to come upon them.

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  23. What an amazing site!! Those are beautiful!

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  24. Oh wow! Enlarge the photos indeed! Thank you for showing us such beauty :^)

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  25. Perfect example of how beautiful naturalizing can be ~ these are just gorgeous Gail. I have to say, it's looking like spring there! You have to be happy about that!

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  26. Gail, thank you for sharing these. I would love to see such in my gardens, but will gladly look at these instead(I know my limitations!)I will have to look for some of these though. Know a good source? Spring looks as if it has come to your area in a big way.

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  27. Beckie, I am so glad you came by....I miss you bunches and know you are being kept quite busy with work and family. Aren't Tommies great! You can order them at Brent and Becky's Bulbs later this summer...gail

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  28. How beautiful! To see so many blooming together is amazing!

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  29. Wow, what an amazing sight. Is that in Nashville? I love it.

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  30. Oh, wow. I love seeing all the swathes of naturalized bulbs in this season. Those are so pretty!

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  31. Your beautiful scenes are making my soul blossom, Gail...you charming gardener, you :)
    I'm sighing with delight here.
    Thank you, thank you!
    We're expecting rain too, 4 days of it, but the sunshine this week has been a glorious spirit lifter. It seems to me the approaching spring is doing the same for you. Sorry you've had such a hard winter. I can empathize. It takes so long to get to the other end of it, doesn't it? But there's a very bright light now at the end of the tunnel!
    I hope your hand will be back to normal soon and that you'll be digging in the dirt with both hands!

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  32. They look beautiful. Planting that many must have been backbreaking - unless there is a Crocus planting machine I don't know about!

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  33. Wow, such a stunning sight! I can only imagine how long it took to plant all those beauties. The back aches just thinking about that one :-) A bulb a squirrels does not like, how awesome is that. Now the big question, do the Voles like them? They are more of an issue in my yard then the squirrels…

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  34. Gail,
    I'm looking and saying to myself, "look there's still snow where Gail is - that's amazing!" And, it would be if it were true. How delicious to have so many crocussss that from a distance it looks like a dusting of snow in the shadows. So very pretty.

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  35. Gail,
    Wow, what a wonderful display of crocus! Understory plantings of flowering bulb create evocative landscapes to be sure, whether they're crocus, daffodils, scilla, or something else.

    Wouldn't it be lovely to see some of these in their natural habitat, too? I'm hoping to visit Greece, Turkey, or Crete someday at the right time of year!

    Lisa

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  36. Gail~~ I love the Tommies. And by enlarging the photo I could see the stacked rock wall. I'm photographing rock walls around here. They appeal to me right now for some strange reason. And the arching bridge, and the creek... very beautiful.

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  37. Amazing. Mass planting little Tommies rocks!

    Isn't it the most uplifting and prettiest sight ever? Thanks for sharing Gail, it's the bestest way to start the day with pics like yours.

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  38. Grace, If you love stone and rock walls this is the place. There is enormous history with many of the stone walls. At one time this entire area was part of several brother and sister plantations and there are remnants of the original rock wall property boundaries. Not sure about the ones in the photos...gail

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  39. Love the wonderful rivers of tommies! Gorgeous! But what about rabbits and groundhogs? That's who eats my crocuses.

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  40. Magic words! Squirrels and chipmunks don't like them! Then, I want them.

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  41. This answers a question I have had about the spread of lilac crocus in my catmint garden-they are plentiful, while other colors have been planted many times -white, gold, cream-and they don't seem to thrive, while the lilacs ones spread out into the grass. I don't have many chipmunks left and have never seen the squirrels in that area, but I do have resident groundhog.

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"Insects are the little things that run the world." Dr. E O Wilson