This years garden has truly been a wonder. It’s the first time I’ve really put much effort into the garden. In the past I’d always been working and had little time to do much more than buy a few plants to grow in pots on the patio. This year was the first year of my retirement and I dug up a new area out front between the house and the driveway. It’s a mix of flowering plants and the natural wild plants of our area. Some are considered weeds by many, but they’ve been here since before our house was built and if they aren’t too “weedy” like I’ve allowed them their natural space too.
Anyway, this year my children decided to give me plants and flowering bulbs for my birthday. The birthday was back in April when we still had a lot of rain. I had about 400 bulbs to plant and by golly, I did it. During those non-rainy moments I furiously pulled the weeds out front making room for the bulbs. Several have flowered and many have not but I expect them all to be in bloom next year once they’ve had a chance to mature in the garden.
Some of the newest flowers to appear are the amarylis. You know how they are in stores at Christmas time for gifts for those you don’t know what to get. My son and his girlfriend gave me one last Christmas and you “force” bloom it in a vase in the house. I also had two others I’d buy in the after-Christmas sales and just put them in the ground. One I’ve had for years but it’s never produced flowers. I realized this year I had it in the wrong area and it wasn’t getting sun so I moved it into the garden.
I’ve had three come up and bloom. The amarylis has the most beautiful large flowers. Since red is my favorite color I usally go for the red flowers but I think I’ll pick up a white amarylis for next year.
Those pretty buds open into this.
and this 
Other bulbs that the kids gave me were the tigridia bulbs. They’ve finally begun to bloom but you have to enjoy the flowers quickly as the tigridia blooms for one day only. Still it’s a pretty addition to the garden. Mostly I’ve had yellow tigridia but there has been the orange or peach colored ones as well.
There’s my red, speckled inside! These really are gorgeous flowers, I wish they’d stay around longer but I’ll enjoy them while they’re open for view. 
