Since moving into this house I have not planted much except shrubs,
trees and perennials. But now with a lot of the shrubs and trees in
place, at least in the front yard, I have areas where I know I can
plant bulbs and leave them undisturbed. And so I started ordering. I
bought mostly species tulips but also some crocus bulbs (both
spring/fall bloomers), fritillarias, alums, and some other stuff...

A lot were out of stock of course, but with what I am definately
getting from several different places, I will have a few hundred bulbs
to plant. Didn't cost very much though, I guess that is the upside to
ordering so late. Everything is on sale.

Plus I just sold a bunch of junk on eBay and to celebrate I bought a
big (9ft + in height with a nice spread) kousa dogwood and a much
smaller but very attractive sourwood tree. I won't tell you what I
paid for the dogwood. *shakes head* I am a sad, sad man.

I wanted to buy a Japanese maple to add to my rather pathetic maple
garden (three Japanese, a "flame" amur maple, a vine maple) but the
tree was about one hundred dollars more than the much larger dogwood
and equal-size sourwood combined. Along with all of those unusual and
lovely evergreens that are three hundred dollars at two feet of
height, all but the most common Japanese maples are just too expensive
for my taste. When you can buy a couple dozen shrubs for the price of
one shrub or tree, it just doesn't make sense to go for the single
item. Maybe when space becomes more of a commodity for me I can look
at buying one or two expensive plants per year or something. At this
point I am still starting new bamboo groves and planting trees that
will eventually be quite large.

Also, paghat is a horrible influence. I wouldn't have bought half of
what I did, had I not been able to look/read about a lot of the plants
on her site. Several searches brought up her site as the only result
with images or useful information. Tulipa vvendensky might have to
wait until next year though, as it looks/sounds marvelous but I have
only found one place that might have it and they are in Candada and I
do not wish to pay the extra costs for importing plants, so...

Oh well.