surprised the tulip thrive... in those huge clumps of hosta roots ...

ken

ps: uhmmmm.... lancifolia with a white edge??? .. bottom left top pic

Is there an elephant ear in there?

Ken, the lancifolia would be the ones prolifically blooming purple now.

Yeah, that is an elephant ear in there. I have so many elephant ears wintered over I stick them anywhere I can find a spot of bare earth!

Tulip bulbs are so cheap sometimes at Menards I plant them as annuals. Treating them as annuals is probably best anyways as I'm always happy with the newly planted blooms and not so much with the dwindling blooms from older plantings.

Wow that's a lot of beautiful lavender blooms! Are they fragrant too? What a windfall!

I love elephant ears and I'd love to hear your method for winter storage. I know it's off-topic so if you'd rather not post here, I'd understand.

Last Fall, I planted about 200 tulips in pots and then sunk the pots down in the raised bed where I grow veggies in the Summer. I covered them with wire trash cans to keep squirrels out and added some dried leaves. It was fun to move the pots into planters in the Spring and have all those lovely tulip blooms. But then I felt this huge sense of obligation to try to plant them out in the garden and not waste them. Whew that was a lot of work. Not doing that again! If I do them again, I will take your lead and treat them like annuals and toss the bulbs after bloom!