Old cedar chest, Rain Lilies, chives & dogwood blooms

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We recycled a cedar chest this past weekend. It made a nice planter addition to our flower bed.One of my all time favorite flowers are rain lilies. When we moved here in 2001, I had oodles of rain lily bulbs and miniature grape hyacinth bulbs that I’d raised for many years. I planted them in the back part of the property to give them room to grow and reproduce. I had delusions of looking out and seeing an acre of them blooming in years to come. Well, it didn’t work out that way. The moles and other critters have eaten and moved/scattered the bulbs over a few acres. There’s very few of them that bloom each year now and I never know where they’ll show up. The critters keep moving them.To my delight, I discovered a few rain lilies growing where our garden usually is. I had my husband help me dig them up. I planted them in the corner of my flower bed. They look rough now, but I have hopes they’ll come back strong next year. The bulbs had oodles of tiny bulbs, so hopefully there’ll be a thick patch of them. I may move them somewhere else. I haven’t decided. I just know if we have a garden these would be tilled up and lost until next year or forever.My onion chives are blooming. They’re quite pretty blooms.I’m happy to tell you that the dogwoods are finally blooming. There’s only wild ones growing in the woodlands around here. For some reason, it seems to take them longer to bloom than the ones used in landscaping. But none-the-less, the dogwoods are finally blooming.

I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday!

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28 thoughts on “Old cedar chest, Rain Lilies, chives & dogwood blooms”

      • And I see today that you planted a lot of your vegetables, too. Now I am REALLY jealous… I noticed more trees have tiny buds getting ready to pop, but we are no where near ready for planting.

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          • It was a long winter! I looked in the garden the other day, and I think the primroses are showing signs of life, and the tulips and daffies have poked up for a look around. I also noticed the buds on the forsythia are showing some color – it is coming!

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                • Hey SalPal
                  Here in the southern USA, there’s an old saying that ‘snow lays once on daffodils’. That means that when the daffodils come-up that there will be at least one more snow fall.
                  Sometimes the wives-tale is spot-on, I enjoy the old lore like that. It’s quite humorous what the folks came up with back then. 😉

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                    • I agree SalPal
                      I had to look up that saying about snow/fertilizer. It’s wonderful how there’s a scientific basis behind it, Thanks for sharing that. You made me smile and taught me something new.
                      These sayings are good fun and add a bit more joy and charm to the seasons. 🙂

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                    • You know, I think there is often science behind the old sayings – because they came from observing the natural world. Our forbearers were smart people. 🙂

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    • Thanks so much WW
      The idea to use the chest for a planter just popped into my head and it’s a fun addition to our flower garden area. It’s great to be in full Spring finally. 🙂

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  3. Those little rain lilies are precious; I’m not familiar with them. I don’t think I’ll be doing much gardening this summer…. so disheartening to work hard to plant, water, etc., just to have the deer munch on everything!

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    • Thanks Dianna
      Rain lilies are a precious flower. I wish I had hundreds of them.
      I don’t blame you about your gardening. You put so much work and heart into growing lovely plants and I reckon they taste that much sweeter to the deer. Bless your heart.
      But at least you get some super deer photos and that’s pretty cool too. 🙂

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    • Thanks Missy
      Sounds like you had good taste for herbs as a child.
      Chives are curious little plants. I grew them to use in cooking, but they look so pretty I don’t have the heart to cut them. 🙂

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  6. Nice to see pretty blooms blooming – I love the look of garlic chives too. My parents used to get a great selection of wild garlic growing in their garden and reading your post just reminded me of it – thanks, a pleasant memory for a Wednesday morning as I sit here with a head cold when I can’t smell anything today!

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  7. It is so much fun to watch spring move from the south to the north. Here in Arizona, spring blooms are nearly over. Next week we return to Alberta, where it is still snowing!

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    • Oh my goodness, Margy
      Going from super sunny to cold snow sounds like pneumonia in the making. I’m glad you got to enjoy the Spring blooms of Arizona. They’ll be a happy thought to take with you to remember by a warm fire while waiting for Alberta to turn to Spring. Take care and stay warm. 🙂

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    • Hello Ann Whitney,
      Welcome to my blog.
      That’s a good question. We didn’t do anything to prepare the chest. We filled the bottom 1/4 way up with gravel and the rest of the way with soil. Since I didn’t plan to grow herbs in it, I didn’t give any thought to if it needed to have anything done with it. I think though, if I was going to use an old chest for herbs or vegetables, I would ask a gardening website about extra precautions.
      Our old chest did very well until 2020 when the winds of a tornado stripped off some of the laminate siding and loosened the boards so much it began falling apart. The boards began rotting, so this winter we had to say good-bye to the old chest. My husband took it apart and took it to the convenience center to be disposed of.
      Thanks so much for visiting my blog and leaving me a happy comment.
      I hope you’ll visit again sometime.
      🙂

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