April 15, 2007
Bulbs (2)
We also have a few of these coming up in the back. I'd grown up calling them dogtooth violets, and was told that they were hard to establish, but (a) I think that ID is wrong, and (b) they seem to like us - maybe they took pity on us. Or maybe not - I see four out of an original 20 bulbs coming up.
They're strange little bulbs - they're shaped like little circular acorns, have to be soaked overnight before planting, and then planted the right side up, which is harder than it sounds, since up and down are hard to tell apart. I remember my father saying that if I was totally baffled, planting them sideways was better than nothing. But it is tricky, and perhaps that's the root of the problem.
There's a well-established clump of them in Jville, and last year I took a trowel and transplanted one or two clumps as they bloomed, which is not at all by the book, but both clumps are blooming again and seem quite happy. They're pretty definitely Eranthis hyemalis, or winter aconite.
