Monday brings the opportunity to share what we have found in our gardens to put in a vase with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. This makes Monday one of the best days of the week!
Before I show you this weeks vases I’d like to show you last week’s tulips which are still filling the kitchen with the wonderful perfume of honey. Also you might be interested to see how much they have grown in a week. Tulips are one of the very few flowers that continue to grow after they have been cut.
In a Vase on Monday 30th January 2017
Look how much the stems have grown in a week in the vase
We were invited to dinner with some good friends on Friday evening and in the spirit of this meme I wanted to share some flowers with my hostess.
I had quite a few Tulip ‘Exotic Emperor’ and added foliage to make the hand-ties bouquet suitably full.
Hand tied bouquet of Tulip ‘Exotic Emperor’, Prostrate Rosemary, Myrtle and Teucrium
Tulip ‘Exotic Emperor’
Tulip ‘Exotic Emperor’
Tulip ‘Exotic Emperor’
For today’s vase I picked more tulips from pots in the greenhouse.
All had been put in the fridge when they were delivered on 21st September. T. Exotic Emperor was planted into a pot on 16th November, T. Orange Emperor and T. Double Negrita on 29th November.
In a vase on Monday 6th February
The foliage is Leptospermum Mesmer eyes, the lower side shoots that were removed to go into the vase will be used as cuttings as I would like more of this useful evergreen shrub from New Zealand.
Tulip ‘Exotic Emperor’, T. ‘Brown Sugar’ T. Orange Emperor and T. Double Negrita
Thank you Cathy for hosting; do pop over to see what she has found for her vase this week, something tells me it might be snowdrops.
Have a great week everyone.
How lovely to give your own flowers for gifts Christina, I really like the additional foliage too, I am inspired, normally I plonk in vase on their own and your use of foliage looks wonderful.
Actually I like tulips just on their own too, but the foliage helps them stay where they are placed in the vase.
I agree with Julie, your use of unusual foliage is so creative and effective. Your bouquet and vase are both beautiful.
That’s very kind of you to say do Kate.
All your planning and careful chilling of the bulbs has paid off and they are really lovely flowers Christina! Exotic Emperor is quite striking and the brownish oranges go well with the Leptospermum. Thanks for sharing!
I loved Exotic Emperor when I grew it for the first time last year, it seems to be one of the first to flower too.
I added Exotic Emperor to my bulb list for next year as soon as you first showed them – they are lovely, and your hostess will have been delighted with her bouquet. Do you use a particulat cellophane for wrapping them? I fear the roll I have would not be strong enough to reliably hold any water. Your tall vase is ideal for tulips and I look forward to seeing many more of them in the next few weeks (months?). Tulip foliage is appearing here, but flowers are still a long way off – although I planted about 80 in the shrub border but planted them really deeply and there is no sign of them yet. Thanks for sharing – and of course the others are right about foliage. In the pre IAVOM days many of us would just plonk the flowers in and not think about adding foliage but that’s all changed now!
Foliage is still a bit of an afterthought for me whereas I think in realty if you get the foliage balance right you only need a few flowers.
I think you are probably right
Without a greenhouse I have to wait awhile before I see color on my tulips. I do have some green poking up, but still a long way to go. A lovely vase this week.
It is the early chilling more than the heat that makes the tulips flower early; those that had been chilled and then planted in the garden are pushing through, those from past years – not a sign yet.
I also love when friends bring me flowers, especially when they’re from the garden. You’ve created a beautiful arrangement, Christina, and I also love the vase top right where the tulips dance so strangely in midair. Happy Monday 🙂
I like it when tulips bend and stretch; its almost as if they are performing exercises! and it always astonishes me how much they grow in the vase.
bend and stretch, oh yes, it’s like a ballet 😉
A lovely selection you have there, Christina. I love the luminous quality of tulips, don’t you?
I succumbed to temptation and bought a bunch at the store on Friday, a pale orange/yellow bicolor.
I don’t blame you with all your snow. I feel very fortunate having them
I love the way tulips change from upright to swan’s neck over ten days. They give so much pleasure and are my favourite plant for cutting. Sorry to say I am buying them currently.
I grow them because I can’t buy them, in much the same way I make my own curry pastes and baguettes – Needs Must!!
It goes to show how little personal experience I have with tulips that I’m always surprised all over again when your posts remind me that the stems continue to elongate after they’re cut and that some tulips are fragrant. I’m very jealous of your beautiful flowers!
I don’t think you are alone in not knowing/remembering about how much tulips grow in the vase; unless you are obsessed with them (like me). I don’t think I’ve ever been so aware of the perfume before; I knew that BS was perfumed but it’s never filled the kitchen with the smell of honey this it has this time.
How lovely to see these beauties already. I have planted some Exotic Emperor (after admiring yours last year) and Brown Sugar (such a winner) and they should be ready in a couple of months! The myrtle and leptospermum are brilliant foliage contrasts for them. I bet that your friend loved the bouquet!
Seeing varieties of plants that we would like to grow is one of the pleasures of blogging, isn’t it? I often note down names of tulips etc. that I want to try; although I discovered Brown Sugar and Exotic Emperor by chance.
Just lovely and particularly with the Rosemary and Germander. I haven’t seen any in years! Thanks!
Teucrium is one of the most successful shrubs in my garden; it looks good all year, it isn’t affected by the drought at all and flowers most of the winter, a star.
One of the good guys in your garden! I tried it, unsuccessfully.
I’m really surprised it didn’t do well for you.
This weeks vase is a lovely mix of colours and as said by the others your addition of foliage works really well. Your friends must love to receive your hand tied posies. I am intrigued that it is the cold rather than the warmth of the greenhouse that get your tulips so early. I should like to hear more about that.
Bulbs like many seeds need something to trigger them into growth, for seeds it can be fire, warmth or very often they need a period of cold before they will grow. Tulips need 8-12 weeks of chilling at below 10°C. In the UK they will often begin to receive this temperature from mid-October onwards, here we don’t often have those temperatures until January and then not always consistently.
Ok so you chill your tulip bulbs and then bring them on in pots in the greenhouse which I guess builds up some warmth enough to grow them earlier. Christina it works well for you by the looks of your vases the last couple of weeks they have been delightful.
Last year I planted some outside that had been chilled (this year too) and they flowered well before the ones that had been left in the ground from previous years. This year because it has been so cold and the cold began in December or even earlier I don’t expect to see so much difference.
How special to have enough to share again. Stunning tulips and so good to have them early. So far only tips poking out of the ground here. (Southern UK). Lots of anticipating going on though!
Only my pre-chilled ones are showing their tips in the garden.
Christina who with her friends brings them a bouquet of Tulips with Rosemary gift: I love it as it is. Your vase is beautiful. I like Tulips soft orange color: they give a lot of light and have a delicate color. For the next year I will plant “Exotic Emperor” Tulips I have loved. Greetings from Margarita.
Absolutely gorgeous. Your clever tulip growing technique has really paid off. What a joy to have tulips to brighten up gloomy February days.
My tulips are giving me so much pleasure Liz, I think you try it in your greenhouse too. I’m a bit surprised they don’t sell pre-chilled bulbs of tulips as they do for the Paperwhite narcissi.
Tulips already 🙂 !!! How fabulous Christina. ‘Brown Sugar’ is a most attractive shade. Do you grow all your tulips grown in the greenhouse?
No, I have lots of tulips in the ground too, and one pot outside. Now I know about chilling them here, I will try pots on the terrace. When I did that before it was a very mild winter and they didn’t flower well at all.