Underwhelmed

This is about the gardener's ever-present disconnect between the imagined and the real. You plan for a garden that is a pumped-up, hyper-real, sensory-assaulting tornado . . . and end up with a few drops of warm spit. In a rusty bucket.

Case in point: a spring bed that would punch together "Apricot Impression" and "Black Parrot" tulips. See that tiny dark flower in the lower left corner? That sad little punctuation point is a "Black Parrot" tulip. It looks like it's crouching in fear and trembling next to the taller, more vigorous "Apricot Impression" flowers. These guys definitely do not play well together.



The bed of "Mount Hood" daffodils running along the back property line has now dwindled to a single flower, blooming in solitary splendor.



Yes, it's lovely but . . . just one? And with all that daffodil foliage from other bulbs?



A few other spring bloomers have stepped in as consolation, like this pheasant's eye narcisssus Narcissus poeticus . . .



and these little fellows, perhaps "Tete-a-Tete" from a grandmother's Easter basket. Small is just right for them!