The sweet smell of success!

Yesterday, I mentioned that Son and I mucked around in the marshes hunting for Swamp Lily bulbs.  I am happy to say that we found a good many and that a few were in places that could be dug.  Contrary to popular belief..digging in mud is not particularly easy!  I am sure glad Michael is strong!  Each shovel full of mud was heavy and the water made a suction that gripped the shovel.  When he would lift up that suction would make a huge slurping sound.  Eww!  Not to mention the foul smell that Bayou mud contains!  To get an idea..think wet, decaying matter.  Yep..it smells!  But living on the Bayou, has made me a bit oblivious to this odor and, so, it was not bothersome.  What was bothersome were the gnats!  Even though it was coolish when we went into the marsh, the gnats seemed to dislike our disturbing them.  They took the opportunity to grab a bite to eat whilst we played in the muck.  

The Swamp Lilies were plentiful!  In the back of the Bayou where it literally turns into a swamp, there were thousands of the bulbs!  These are just starting to shoot up their leaves making it easy to find them.  Michael dug about two dozen of the long, slender bulbs before we decided to make our way back up the hill.  I had brought a large, plastic bin to haul the bulbs but decided that we should at least put some of the mulchy mud in around the bulbs to help them acclimate to the new soil.  Again, I was glad that Michael was along for the hike!  This thing was heavy!!!  I carried the shovel..he carried the bin, mud and bulbs!

These bulbs will soon be on their way to Missouri to be planted in my cousin, Helen's, garden.  She and her sisters, Ann and Margie, will soon be here to visit.  They will tote the bin and bulbs back home with them.  (I sure hope that swamp smell doesn't cause queasy stomachs on the long ride back! Perhaps I better find the lid to this bin!)  Knowing Helen, she will most likely share the bulbs with her sisters and then a little bit of the Bayou will not only be in Missouri but Georgia and Virginia as well!  I am thinking these bulbs might better be potted instead of planted in the ground!  My Swamp Lilies from the Deep South might find cold winters a bit rough!  Oh...and about that foul odor?  Once the lilies bloom, the sweet yet spicy scent will make my cousins forget all about that Bayou mud stench!