I decided to repot my giant pumpkin, which is getting absurdly tall because of the lack of light. I figured it could go into Planter #9, where nothing else is happening. So I thought. #9 was supposed to be a holding tank for some of my perennials: one globe thistle, the "blue" geranium, and the Stargazer lily. But they seemed to be all quite dead. So I started digging. The old Stargazer stem is fully dead and had just a few spindly dead roots, as I thought. But to get the pumpkin in there, I had to dig almost six inches, and at the bottom, I found a lily bulb.
Seriously. It looked just like the other lily bulbs I had in the fall. Very fresh and healthy, as far as I can tell. Though of course I don't know much about bulbs. What I do know, is that it never looked like that when I planted it, or when I transplanted it, and it's much, much deeper than I ever planted it. So somehow, it dug itself down several inches, and then separated itself from the dead stem, and lay in wait.
These plants are getting creepier every day, I tells you.
In any case, I dug the bulb into the other lily planter. I hope it will flower this year, as the others aren't looking good. The one that bloomed before won't bloom again until next year. One of the other two got broken, and presumably won't bloom either. And the last one is extremely tall and convoluted. It's on a four-foot stake, but it looks badly scoliotic, and there is a hairpin turn near the top. I'm sure that's all just lack of light, and shouldn't prevent it from flowering, which I hope it will do in black, as it's supposed to, but I don't trust it. So, the Stargazer may be my best hope so far. I do have three more coming from my advance order of spring bulbs, and if I ever get my new credit card, I'm hoping to get another two.
(My credit card expired and the new one got lost in the mail. I had a new one sent, but haven't received either. So I can't shop online, until further notice. Maybe I should send a money order.)
Now the best thing about this isn't so much the Stargazer, but the hope that my peony might be also be lying in wait. You may recall I got a Shirley Temple peony root in the fall, and I put it in a planter. It hasn't done anything at all. No growth, but no decay either. I keep meaning to dig it up and see what's going on below ground, but that wouldn't do any good. And likewise Deng Xiaoping has been doing nothing ever since its leaves died off in the fall, but the branches are still flexible, therefore probably still alive. So I'm thinking, if the Stargazer can dig itself deep into the ground and lie in wait for months, so can the peony, and certainly a deciduous tree can do the same.
Seriously. It looked just like the other lily bulbs I had in the fall. Very fresh and healthy, as far as I can tell. Though of course I don't know much about bulbs. What I do know, is that it never looked like that when I planted it, or when I transplanted it, and it's much, much deeper than I ever planted it. So somehow, it dug itself down several inches, and then separated itself from the dead stem, and lay in wait.
These plants are getting creepier every day, I tells you.
In any case, I dug the bulb into the other lily planter. I hope it will flower this year, as the others aren't looking good. The one that bloomed before won't bloom again until next year. One of the other two got broken, and presumably won't bloom either. And the last one is extremely tall and convoluted. It's on a four-foot stake, but it looks badly scoliotic, and there is a hairpin turn near the top. I'm sure that's all just lack of light, and shouldn't prevent it from flowering, which I hope it will do in black, as it's supposed to, but I don't trust it. So, the Stargazer may be my best hope so far. I do have three more coming from my advance order of spring bulbs, and if I ever get my new credit card, I'm hoping to get another two.
(My credit card expired and the new one got lost in the mail. I had a new one sent, but haven't received either. So I can't shop online, until further notice. Maybe I should send a money order.)
Now the best thing about this isn't so much the Stargazer, but the hope that my peony might be also be lying in wait. You may recall I got a Shirley Temple peony root in the fall, and I put it in a planter. It hasn't done anything at all. No growth, but no decay either. I keep meaning to dig it up and see what's going on below ground, but that wouldn't do any good. And likewise Deng Xiaoping has been doing nothing ever since its leaves died off in the fall, but the branches are still flexible, therefore probably still alive. So I'm thinking, if the Stargazer can dig itself deep into the ground and lie in wait for months, so can the peony, and certainly a deciduous tree can do the same.
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