Spring-Blooming Bulbs Poll

For our November 2012 Washington Gardener Magazine Reader Contest, Washington Gardener our prize was passes to the Brookside Gardens’ Garden of Lights display.

   Brookside Gardens’ Garden of Lights is a half-mile walk through a landscape of almost a million twinkling colorful lights shaped in imaginative displays throughout the gardens. Enjoy the four seasons illuminated as giant summer sunflowers, autumn leaves, winter snowflakes, spring flowers, rain showers, and more.

   The show runs from Friday, November 23, 2012 through Sunday, January 6, 2013 (with the exception of December 24-25 and January 1-3). The hours are 5:30 to 9:00pm, with the last car admitted at 8:30pm. Entry is by car/van and is $20 on Mon-Thurs and $25 on Fri-Sun.

We asked the reader contest entrants to tell us: “What spring-blooming bulbs you planted this fall?”

They responded with “none yet” to long lists of select bulbs. Tulips, Daffodils, Crocus, Dutch Iris, and Alliums topped the list. Minor bulbs such as Chionodoxa (Glory of the Snow), Camassia, and Muscari (Grape Hyacinths) were mentioned by a few. Some vegetable gardeners mentioned Garlic as well. Not very popular were regular Hyacinth, which got hardly a mention in our unscientific poll. What bulb are you planting for blooms next spring?

Congratulations to the Brookside Lights Pass Winners chosen at random from among the submitted entries! They are:

~ Sarah Lawler of Hyattsville, MD

~ Vineeta Anand of Alexandria, VA

~ Annie Shaw of Greenbelt MD

~ Sheila Walsh of Silver Spring MD

~ Stephanie Richard of Rockville, MD

~ Kristine Punga of Silver Spring, MD

~ Wendy Bell of Takoma Park, MD

~ Peggy Cairns of  Silver Spring, MD

PS It is NOT too late for Mid-Atlantic gardeners to get your spring-blooming bulbs in the ground! Try to get them in by mid-December, but you really have until the ground freezes.