Bulbs

The middle of December is just about the latest you can plant bulbs around here, which is why the few remaining bulbs left at garden centers are deeply discounted. What I've always heard is that you should get bulbs in six weeks before the ground freezes so they have a chance to form roots.

Some of the allium bulbs my mother was planting were so small that she couldn't tell which was the top and which was the bottom. So she compromised: she planted them sideways and then exhorted them, out loud, to sprout the correct way. And they'd better.
(The spectacular flowers pictured here are my parrot tulips, which I grow every year. I buy my bulbs from White Flower Farm in Litchfield, Connecticut.)