Month: January 2018

by

In a Vase on Monday – Tulip Time!

It would be easy to say it was all Cathy (Rambling in the Garden)’s fault that I’ve become passionate about growing and forcing tulips into early flower to cut for a vase; but it wouldn’t be true.  I’ve loved tulips for a long while now and learning how to force them into flower by chilling the bulbs before planting is just a natural progression.

If the greenhouse were warmer they would flower much more quickly after they’ve been chilled and planted.  Some I may experiment with next year – there’s always a “next year” in gardening, don’t you find?

Let me show you how Tulip Daydream that looked a very elegant yellow when I picked it last Tuesday but that I thought might have been miss-labelled has opened fully now and is showing the apricot/orange colour that was shown on the pack and in the description.

Tulip ‘Daydream’

T. Daydream

It has also grown hugely – the flower is now a full 15 cm in diameter (that’s very nearly 6 inches).  I wasn’t expecting that!

T. Daydream

For my vase today I was able to pick more of Tulip Van Eijk.  There are more yet to flower but with the addition of some Senecio (old name, I know) they have made a very pleasing vase.

In a vase on Monday Tulip Van Eijk

Tulip Van Eijk

I often prefer tulips on their own but I’m happy that the Sececio allowed the tulip stems to have their own space in the vase.

Do visit Cathy to see what treasures everyone else has found today.

by

Daydream

Tulip ‘Daydream’

First tulip, just about to open.

Tulip ‘Daydream’

Put into fridge on 4th September.  Planted into a pot and placed in my frost free greenhouse on 4th December meaning it had 91 days at below 8°C.  So 50 days from planting to first flower.

This is the only bulb of the 12 which is flowering; some in the same pot are only just pushing through the soil.  I don’t know why this is.  It will be interesting to see how this compares with other varieties.

It is a good name for as I have been daydreaming about my tulips flowering for at least a month!

I’ll share it with you when it opens.

by

In a vase on Monday – a little bit of this and a little bit of that

This past weekend has been glorious; sunshine that was actually warm; too hot for a fleece!  I weeded and tidied the evergreen shrub beds and while doing so discovered the shoots of tulips pushing through the earth.  I think the tulips in the garden will flower earlier this year because they have had their period of chilling before Christmas rather than having to wait for January and February.  But sadly no tulips yet for my vase although next week – maybe. Continue reading →

by

Brightening my day today

As I wrote yesterday in my In a vase on Monday post yesterday, when I was walking around the garden looking for things to pick for a vase I was very surprised to find that the yellow Crocus were flowering; as there are so few flowers around at the moment they made my heart jump with pleasure. Continue reading →

by

In a vase on Monday – thank goodness for evergreens!

I had a few things that needed to be done first thing this morning and I wasn’t convinced there would be anything to pick for a vase to today so I wasn’t sure I would join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden‘s Monday challenge to find something in our own gardens to cut and put in a vase to enjoy in our homes. Continue reading →