Last Wednesday was a glorious day and yesterday (Tuesday) and today are the same; but the days in between were horrendous. Strong cold winds and three days of continuous rain spoilt the weekend and Monday; it really hard to believe on a day like today that it can be so different!
The light was amazing again on Tuesday and lasted late into the afternoon, some of the images were taken at about 5.30 pm, I’m so happy the days are becoming longer; I get so much more done and not just in the garden.
Of course it is still tulips that are making me smile the most; an added bonus that I hadn’t thought about is that because the chilled tulips flower so much earlier the temperatures aren’t so high and they last longer in the garden. Comparing the image I showed last week of T. Exotic Emperor to those taken yesterday, they really look just as good.
Tulip Exotic Emperor (24th February)
Tulip Exotic Emperor (1st March)
Tulip Exotic Emperor (1st March) Later in the day
Sorry, I sound obsessed with EE, but I’ve never grown it before and it behaves so well and is very beautiful.
Clematis Armandii is just beginning to flower
Anemone coronaria The Bride
I should pick a few of these to enjoy indoors too; there are so many flowers!
T. Purissima
The yellow blotch at the base really shines in the late afternoon sunshine.
Muscari – rather overcrowded
Crocus Tommasinianus Lilac Beauty
Tulip Purple Peony I think, they look pink here but I think it is the bright light, these were in bud last Wednesday but have only just opened, they make a good combination with Anemone Sylphide.
I realised Hyacinth Miss Saigon was flowering because I could smell her perfume before I could see her.
Maybe I should plant some more hyacinths, these have returned regularly since they were planted in autumn 2012.
Tulip Ballerina has reached the end of its vase life but it has been fun watching it slowly fade away. As a follow-up to yesterday’s post here are two more images, then I’m afraid they are for the compost.
Tulip Ballerina (Day 11 in the vase)
Tulip Ballerina (Day 11 in the vase)
On the kitchen mantle shelf there are more tulips and this pot of Leonastris – more about this another day
What is making you happiest in your garden this week?
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
Those tulips! What a show! You don’t seem to have my slug damage in your garden. My hyacinths are looking a bit ragged from the pesky little devils.
Gales and hail here this morning. My house was shaking.
There are slugs (enormous ones) and snails but both seem to have natural predators; I often find empty snail shells which I think have been infested with nematodes. I do have to watch carefully in the greenhouse where just one slug or snail can reap havoc!
I really enjoy seeing what’s growing in your garden. You are about three weeks ahead of me for flowering. So for me, it’s a nice preview of what’s to come. I am definitely going to try that Exotic Emperor tulip. You can be as obsessive as you like- because I am doing the same! 🙂
It is good to share information about what grows really well. I’m glad you’re enjoying my garden, you are very welcome.
Great that you’ve had a couple of nice spring-like days. Is it unusual to have the cold and wind also at this time of year? Your anemones are so prolific–mine have just one or two at at time. The weather is shifting here too and the days are noticeably longer. Sigh.
It is often windy where we live; either icy cold Tramontana from the NE in winter or hot from the west in summer; the recent wind was from the SW and was wind and rain together which isn’t so usual. I was weeding one border this morning that has different soil to the rest of the garden (imported by a previous owner) it has some clay in it and was so much wetter than everywhere else.
You have lots of lovely flowers blossoming now. I feel that I will be missing the final flourish of the daffs as we are off for two weeks. I miss the garden when I am not here. Amelia
I miss my garden more than the house when I’m away too Amelia; the first thing I do when I come home is to walk around the garden to see what has changed.
I love the thought of you knowing Miss Saigon was in flower, just by its fragrance. That must of been a lovely moment. My Ballerinas are still just leaves poking slowly above the ground, I think we have your weekends bad weather here, hopefully your sunshine will head our way too! Your Clematis Armandii photo is really lovely btw.
I’m experimenting with the macro lens for my camera and sometimes I’m happy with the results as with the Clematis but there are always many I just delete! The Hyacinth moment was special as I was truly surprised it was already flowering. My ‘Ballerina’s’ in the ground from past years are also only just showing while those that had been refrigerated are almost flowering in the garden only a week or so behind those planted in pots in the greenhouse..
Beautiful tulips Christina. We’ve had some spring like days too but much more in the way of wind, snow and rain today! I left my tulips in the ground after they flowered last year so I am looking forward to see if they survived the wet weather and marauding squirrels!
Hi Gillian, some varieties of tulips will reflower in English gardens, it depends on how much summer rain and how water retentive the soil is. I hope yours flowers for you; it is such a lot of work lifting and replanting tulips that I always planted them in pots a nd treated them as annuals when I lived in the UK.
Lovely!
We are bouncing between cool but sunny spring-like days and shudderingly cold, ridiculously windy, still winter days. And the ground is still sodden because we’ve had more rain. Despite this, the garden is looking very Spring-like, with primroses and daffs joining the crocuses and iris reticulata, and the hellebores still going strong. I couldn’t pick just one of those, it is the promise inherent in the combination that is making my heart sing.
Yes, it is the combination of all the spring flowers together that make it such a joyous time. I envy you the Hellebores, maybe when I have more shade I’ll be able to try some again.
Those exotic emperor tulips are gorgeous. I planted tulip purissima last year and loved it. This year I am looking forward to seeing tulip angelique and mount Tacoma bloom for the first time. I love the vivid purple colour on your hyacinths too. You are quite a bit ahead of us and it is still cold here. This week though I enjoyed the very first daffodils blooming and some lovely hellebore’s. Signs of Spring coming!
‘Purissima’ is in the same group as ‘Exotic Emperor’ although I think their forms are quite different.
It’s warmed me up just reading your post Christina after the most windy March day peppered with snow, sleet, hail and rain. We did see the sun briefly at some point. EE looks so well behaved!
The weather seems to manage 2 good days together then reverts to the season. There are more clouds this morning but I don’t think it will rain.
You have such a nice display of flowering bulbs, Christina! Instead of killing off my bulb blooms, our recent heat seems to have prompted more blooms. The Narcissus are blooming all around my garden, as are the Freesia, Sparaxis, and the tiny Ipheon but the biggest surprise (because I thought the early February heat surely did them in) was the discovery of a few anemones just poking their heads up!
Good news about your bulbs Kris; I’m surprised you can grow Narcissus, which ones do you grow; here I find they need more summer irrigation than they receive and so die, the only ones that are doing well are planted with the dahlias in the cuttings bed and so receive water.
Your Anemones remind me how much I always loved A. blanda in my earlier garden. Bulbs and their relatives have been tricky here; do the coronaria types work well for you? I shouldn’t complain about bulbs, however, as at the moment I am very, very happy to have the first garden bud from a Hippeastrum which was planted out late last year.
Yes Anemone coronaria is the only Anemone that does grow well for me. I have some garden Amaryllis, they flower in September with just a flowering stem and no foliage, the foliage then follows as the flower dies and is still present now; it will disappear soon.
The weather is teasing us over here, yesterday we had horizontal hailstones! Today seems much better with hardly any wind. You have so many lovely flowers at the moment, spring has certainly arrived with you.
Each day there seem to be new flowers to find; I love that about spring; the anticipation but also the surprise!
Christina your clematis armandii photograph is very beautiful. I loved seeing all your tulips as mine are still barely poking through. The hyacinth miss S is a beauty, I shall have to try those next year. Fresh!
I’ve been surprised and pleased at how long the Hyacinths have been in the ground. I’ll be adding more next year.
I am so jealous of all your lovely tulips & especially Exotic Emperor!! I am finding spring is coming and going on a minute by minute basis here – one minute I am weeding tucked up in scarf, hat & duvet coat – the next I am tossing it all aside only to put it back on again a few minutes later – such a waste of time. The longer days are such are a relief – like you I just seem to get so much more done.
I’m glad you like Exotic Emperor as that’s one of the tulips I like to use in the experiments next year. I think if I can get the tulips delivered early enough it might be possible to have tulips for Christmas, wouldn’t that be wonderful?
I’m glad it feels like spring somewhere. What’s made me happiest in the garden this weekend is going back inside out of the cold!
Even that can be nice if it’s cosy inside.
Exotic Emperor really is lovely, and your photos of Ballerina make them look pretty even when they have gone over. Love those pink hyacinths and tulips! The light in my garden is what I am enjoying this week… as the sun gets higher my rockery gets more sunlight and the moss is looking particularly fresh everywhere with all the damp weather we have had!
Oh, I agree about the light, even tough we’ve love here for over 12 years I’m still surprised by how high in the sky the sun is in winter! This morning is very cold, I think it might have reached minus 2, and very sunny.
Sigh. You are making me impatient for spring.
It won’t be too long now Jason.
Cold again here. The local community garden in Totnes is having huge trouble with slugs this year. They are stripping away the leaves of tulips as they emerge so a very odd looking leafless flower is all that is left.
I’ve never heard of that; but at least they aren’t eating through the stem.
Hi Christina, I do love the soft bright light of spring! It is so welcome after the gloom of winter. Spring will soon be coming into full bloom, and our cold nights can’t stop it. I love your glorious Emperor tulips!
Plus the longer days are give us more time to enjoy all the new blooms.
When my tulips bloom, I know it is really spring.
I love those spring-like days too!
The pleasure in your tulips and the other bulbs is so evident in your writing Christina – thank you for sharing your joy. Look forward to hearing about the Leonastris… My garden happiness is currently derived from all the snowdrops and hellebores, the crocus and Tete a Tete and emerging pulmonaria…mmm, lovely 🙂
Your spring is getting me excited….is is warming on some days and early blooms are popping out! Exciting times.
I love all your tulips Christina, Exotic Emperor and Purple Peony are gorgeous.
I plant my house hyacinths out each year and so I have lots blooming away everywhere. They come back smaller but I rather like them a bit daintier. Miss Saigon is lovely.
Isn’ t it a treat to be able to get out into the garden? We have had some lovely sunny days and I have spent a week out there. Heaven!
This week has felt quite cold here but it is still nice to be out in the sunshine. I’ve been surprised that Miss Saigon is still quite large even though she’s been in the ground for a number of years. I think I’ll grow some other colours next year.