Saturday, March 23, 2013

Ring! Ring!

When I was younger, my sister and I would race to answer the ringing telephone.  No cell phones back then!  There were several rules regarding telephone usage.  The first person that reached the phone got to answer it.  But we never answered it until the second ring.  We had to answer it "R's residence."  (R being our last name.)  The telephone was mounted on a wall in the kitchen.  It had an extra long cord from the telephone to the receiver, and we stretched it out to talk on the phone and sit at the dining room table.

All conversations were monitored by our parents.  Who was calling.  What they wanted.  And, of course, our side of the conversation was overheard.

Ah, the good old days before texting!

I now race to a different ring.  A ring of blooms.  Every morning, I race outside to see the Peruvian scilla that is blooming in my garden.  Every day is a new discovery.  Every day there are more blooms in the ring.  Just look!

Day 1:


Day 2:


Day 3:


I wonder how many rings of blooms tomorrow will bring!  And how many days it will take for the blooms to reach the top!


Portuguese squill, Peruvian scilla, or scilla peruviana is hardy from zones 7 through 10.  This is the first time it has bloomed since I planted it, three springs ago.  I read that it hates being transplanted, and takes a while to bloom afterwards.  I hope it is finally happy, and that it blooms again next year.

If it does, I'll be racing to see those gorgeous rings!

59 comments:

  1. We LOVE Scilla peruviana and thinking of introducing them in the garden this year! Not surprised that its 'ring' makes your heart 'sing' :)

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    1. I hope you put some in your garden. It is so beautiful!

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  2. Hi Holley, I love, love, love your Peruvian Scilla! Last weekend I saw some at HD, but didn't buy one because the plants were not in a good shape and I have still to get too many plants into the ground anyway. I am so glad that your is blooming for you. You are really patient to wait three years for it to come into its own! Happy Spring!
    Christina

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    1. Every year I would wonder if I needed to divide it, or move it, but I was so lazy - I mean busy - to do anything to it. Now I'm glad I didn't!

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  3. What an absolutely gorgeous plant! I've not seen one of those before. Just stunning. I remember back to those days of answering the house phone in a particular way! I was just talking to Adam about that the other day in fact. Funny memories :)

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    1. Yes, we had very specific phone manners back then. Not at all like today!

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  4. Love the blooms! They look well worth the wait!

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    1. I agree! It has been such a pleasure going out there to see it every day!

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  5. So funny, I remember the days as kids we too would race to answer the phone. It was such a treat to chat on the phone, I spent hours on it with friends. Nowadays when the phone rings often both my spouse and me pretend we don't hear it. Too many sales people and scam artists to bother.

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    1. Oh, we had rules about how long we could talk - 15 minutes per conversation. And we couldn't just call someone 'to talk' we had to have a specific reason to call them! No phone calls after 9:00 p.m., either! :)

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  6. What a pretty bloom! Very neat on the telephone etiquette. Boy how things have changed.

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  7. I planted some Peruvian scilla in the fall of 2011 which I had ordered from Brent & Becky's Bulbs. They all came up and bloomed last spring. They were so colorful and unusual! This year there is a lot of foliage but no flowers yet, so I'll just be patient. Yours are so pretty. I love that blue color!

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    1. I thought about ordering more this year, but since mine was so slow to bloom, I decided to just enjoy the one I have. I hope you have better luck with yours!

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  8. sometimes, the memories that flowers excite are better or at least a big part of our enjoyment of the flowers. I like the squill!

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    1. And my flowers do spark a lot of memories! One of the reasons I love gardening!

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  9. I race outside also---but not yet. Winter is hanging on here BIGTIME.... Guess we'll have to wait longer for some spring blooms....

    Funny how we used to love to answer the phone... NOW---I hate to hear it ring!!!!! ha

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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    1. Our phone number is similar to one of the local stores, so we get a lot of wrong numbers. Those are frustrating, but funny, too. Sometimes they just can't believe they dialed wrong!

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  10. I love love love the progression of photos!!!! It is so beautiful!!! I hope you get many rings!!! You deserve it for waiting for 3 years!!! And as for the phone it was the same in my house...I miss those days...my folks still have the same phone in the kitchen with the long cord!!! Maybe I will put one in when my kids get to that age....there is something to be said about knowing who is calling and knowing how long your kids are on the phone!!! Have a great weekend looking at your blooms... They are calling for snow here tomorrow! I think I may need to move!!!

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    1. I think going back to the corded kitchen phone would be a great thing for parents these days!

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  11. Hi Holley, I'd rush out to see those 'rings' too! That's a beautiful flower. I love blue.

    We had a party-line when I was young and a nosy old neighbor lady who listened in on every conversation and sometimes forgot to stay quiet and offered advice. It was NO fun, lol!

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    1. Ah, the party line! My grandparents had one! So frustrating!!!

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  12. Ahhh the old style telephone where you had a round dial and it took an age to dial a number. We always had to answer the phone saying "Hello, Notingham 634666" lmao. Privacy was totally out of the question unless you could stretch that twizzled cord to a room where you could shut the door lol.

    Much prefer the blooms outside now though!

    Thanks for posting and thanks for the memory :)

    Linda

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    1. Since our phone was in the kitchen, there was no privacy for us! I can remember only having to dial the last five digits of the phone number. I thought going to seven numbers was SO hard - now we have to dial the area code, too!

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  13. Yes when I was young we had a black telephone with a round dial on the kitchenwall too. Old memories, but your ring of flowers of the Scilla peruviana is beautiful. It is exciting you can grow that in the garden. I had this Scilla for a few years in the greenhouse in a pot, it did quite well. I love the dark blue colour.

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    1. It's a fun plant to grow, and I can imagine growing one in a greenhouse would be just as rewarding!

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  14. Interesting flower! Love the blue color. Will have to give it a try but glad you mentioned that it doesn't liked to be moved. I tend to move things around a lot.
    About the phones--we had a party line. So if you had some chatty neighbors, you could never get on to talk and when you did, you could only talk for a few minutes. The saying at my house was, "just the facts, maam". wow--how times have changed....
    Brenda

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    1. Those party lines were the worst! We could never seem to find a time when it was free - and then someone else was always trying to get on as we were talking - it was so frustrating!

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  15. I would race outside for your beautiful Scilla! Alas, it is only 20 degrees here this morning; even the dogs don't want to race outside!

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    1. A little cold front has moved through here, too. Not quite as cold as you, but more cold than I want this time of year! Come on, spring!

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  16. Hi Holley.....I can remember those telephone days...ah the memories. This flower is beautiful...well worth the wait. The flowers kind of remind me of Pentas.

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    1. I don't grow pentas - I think they're an annual here, and I tend to try to buy only perennials. I'll have to look at the penta blooms a bit closer the next time I see one!

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  17. What an absolutely gorgeous flower! Any idea if the bees go for it? I've only got Scilla siberica and the butterflies and bees adore it. (It's on my header at the moment).

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    1. I have not seen any bees on it, although there is lots of pollen on each of those blooms! Right now the bees are busy with my hollies and the crabapples.

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  18. What an unusual flower...I have not seen this before....my sister was the pro of talking on the telephone so that no one could really hear her...never figured out how she did that...we had the same phone, cord and parents :)

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    1. haha - How funny about your sister! Mine would yell at us if we got within 10 feet of her when she was on the phone. Of course, that was only if my parents weren't around. Otherwise, she had to endure everyone hearing her conversation just like the rest of us!

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  19. Haha! Good 'ol corded telephone days! This brought back memories. Our phone was also in the kitchen by the table. We had to answer, "Hello. Who's calling please?" How I longed to be grown-up enough to answer with just "Hello". It sounds so funny now with caller id on very call.

    Your blooms are beautiful and so exotic looking. Blooms are also calling my name, but we're getting another heavy snow this morning, so it will be a while. I will live vicariously through your post!

    Keri

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    1. I do love caller i.d.! Sorry to hear about your snow. I wish winter would just go away - it's almost April!!! I think this year we're going to go from winter to summer without much of a spring!

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  20. Very pretty- I have not seen that before! I love waiting to see how plants will continue to develop! Laughing on the days of the phone- brings back memories. We had the rotary one and a Snoopy phone. Now we don't even have a phone at the house, we just use our cells.

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    1. For my sister's 16th birthday, she got one of those "princess" phones! Oh, she was in heaven! I never got to talk on it! :(

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  21. I am not familiar with this plant at all. Gorgeous Holley!

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    1. I love this little bloom! Funny how one little bloom can make one's entire day!

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  22. I am so, so jealous. Things are still frozen here. It's like lying awake in bed, watching the ceiling, and waiting (and waiting) for the alarm to go off.

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    1. Oh, that's the worst! I wish spring would wake up and realize she's late!

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  23. A really pretty and unique looking plant. I only have seen them in catalogs since they would not make our soil conditions and harsh wet winters.

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    1. It is amazing in person. I hope it decides to bloom again next year!

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  24. Portuguese squill has lovely color, it's really color of spring!

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  25. I just added Scilla to my garden last year. I was hoping it would bloom this spring, but so far just foliage. I didn't realize they took a while to get established. No worries, looks worth the wait.

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    1. I hope yours blooms earlier for you than mine did for me. But your'e right - it's well worth the wait!

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  26. That is a pretty bloom. Worth waiting for all the rings.

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    1. So glad I didn't chunk it! If it hadn't bloomed this year, I would have probably tried to move it - and I would have been in much worst shape!

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  27. Little beauties those blooms. Can't wait for Spring flowers! I have Snowdrops in the garden right now. And snow. Again. sigh

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    1. We are all tired of winter! Hurrah for your snowdrops! :)

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  28. It was such a fun surprise to see!

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  29. Beautiful! I'm not familiar with this bulb so it's great to learn something new. The flowers remind me of amsonia. :o)

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    1. And I don't know amsonia! One for me to look up! :)

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