Bluebells in a Row

Bluebells next to a basement window.
dwm photo

Last fall, while looking out our living room window into grassy area below, I remembered a particular yard in my home town of Janesville.

Each spring, this yard would come alive with flowers for a few days, maybe a week.  Soon after, the flowers faded and it soon looked like every other yard.

The owners planted dozens of Crocus flowers among the grass.

Frankly, I wasn't that ambitious.

So, in late October I headed to the local hardware big store to see if I could find some bulbs that might greet the spring for us.

There were only two bags left.  The price was right and I headed to the cashier.

Ring in Spring!
dwm photo

It must be said, two bags of 30 bulbs each doesn't look like many when you are standing at the check-out counter.

However, pick up one of those small garden shovels to start digging and 60 bulbs is quite a lot of work.

Since I wasn't very experienced at this sort of work; I started to dig.  At first, I used a ruler to make sure each bulb was 3" below the surface.

29 holes later, I realized my rookie mistake... no gloves!  Ouch. A blister, a little larger than the top of a pencil was glowing red.

Being a guy, I pressed on, trying to hold the miniature shovel a different way to avoid contact between the end of the handle and the center of my palm.  I was unsuccessful in the attempt.

Eventually, the job was finished.  Long lines of covered plantings under two edges of our deck and three lines in front of the basement window.

This past week, those plucky little blue bells of happiness are adding color to our green space, very soon it will return to green.