Another Monday, another vase – Mondays were never this much fun, were they? Cathy has changed our view of the beginning of the week, thank you Cathy.
As was to be expected more of the Exotic Emperor tulips became ready to pick during the week so I found a larger vase and just kept adding them to the vase. The tulips open beautifully, the flower becoming larger as well as the stems growing so they are a vase that one goes back to enjoy all the time rather than being arranged and forgotten.
Tulip Exotic Emperor
Delicate green markings on Tulip Exotic Emperor
During the week the first blooms of Tulip ‘Miami Sunset’ were ready to pick; as there were only 3 I used blue-flowered Teucrium to make a slightly larger display.
1st Arrangement with Tulip ‘Miami Sunset’
But the rest of the flowers soon caught up so again I found another larger vase and picked more Teucrium, in this case more to help with keeping the tulips in position in the vase; I think the delicate slightly silvery leaves of the Teucrium as a lightness to the solid form of the tulip flowers.
In a vase on Monday
I know many of you are interested in how I manage to have tulips so early in the year. This involves making sure I order my tulips early so that mine are dispatched first. They arrived during the first week of September and were immediately placed in the vegetable drawer of the fridge in the Orangery.
Tulip ‘Miami Sunset’ with Teucrium
The Tulip ‘Miami Sunset’ bulbs went into the fridge on 4th September and were planted into large pots on the 4th December so 91 days of chilling at about 5°C. They were picked 57 days later. I think that if they were placed in a warmer environment they would flower more quickly. The weather has been very cold since December and the greenhouse is only heated to keep it frost free. Other years there would have been many more days when the daytime temperature at least would have been in the high teens or even low twenties; that didn’t happen this year.
Tulip ‘Miami Sunset’
Tulip ‘Exotic Emperor’ also went into the fridge on 4th September; these were planted into pots on 15th November so had less chilling time, 72 days, but then took longer to flower 64 days.
I had thought that because T. Exotic Emperor should flower earlier than T. Miami Sunset that the slightly shorter chilling time would be sufficient, but it obviously wasn’t long enough. I will try to correlate chilling times to length of time to flowering, and check against past years timings where I have them.
Do check to see what Cathy and all the other Monday vase addicts have found today.
If you didn’t chill your tulips and had them planted in the ground, do they flower in April/May like ours?
Sometimes I think individual varieties are actually slightly later here Ali. When I show the ones in the ground I’ll say when they were planted, although with the cold winter, that started early I think many will be earlier than usual.
It’s interesting to see if there really is an ideal chilling time to work out when they will flower, but with temperatures varying so much each year I should think it’s tricky too! I do like the Miami tulips with Teucrium. We are under mounds of snow today and I can just about make out where the flower beds are!
I think it needs to be 12 to 14 weeks, but then how quickly they actually grow to flowering depends on it being warm. Next year I might bring some of the pots into the house until they start shooting.
How wonderful to see your tulips on what is a dark, wet morning here. So lovely, Spring is coming🌝
I fear there is a lot of winter left but bulbs are a great way of kidding ourselves that it spring is coming
I think it is a wonderful way to cheat winter and bring spring into the house. Do you plant them in the garden after flowering? I love fringed tulips and gorgeous Miami Sunset is new to me. They look fabulous with the teucrium.
Yes, I usually plant them out into the garden, they don’t all succeed especially if I’ve cut all the foliage off by cutting down close to the bulb. Most manage to flower though. You could do it too, yours would probably flower earlier than mine if you put them in your warm greenhouse.
Lovely. xx
Thanks
Love seeing your tulips for a trip straight into spring. The Miami Sunset trio with the Teucrium is a perfect arrangement. The Teucrium blue is a well suited match for the sunset color. Of course as I love white flowers, I must mention how much I admire your Emperor tulips as well. Have a great week.
One of the joys of tulips is watching them develop after being cut.
I’ve seldom had tulips, but did plant some bulbs this year. If the squirrels and voles let me share, it will be nice to have a cut arrangement of tulips.
I do hope they grow for you, but you might become addicted like me.
Indeed! Cathy makes me happy when Monday’s arrive because I love all the blooms and the takes on various arrangements! Yours look beautiful and make me so happy there are various hardiness zones so we can enjoy the images of what is growing in other places. Your arrangements are just beautiful!
Thank you, and welcome to My Hesperides Garden. I so love to receive comments from my readers. I’m glad you liked today’s arrangements.
It is nice to be able to have them for winter days, especially when you grown them yourself.
Yes, there is a certain satisfaction.
Thanks for the description about how you do your Tulips. They certainly look lovely this time of year. I have to agree with you that Cathy has made our Mondays a day to anticipate!
Yes, we have not just our own vase but everyone else’s to enjoy.
You’re right, Cathy has made Mondays much more enjoyable. Your tulips are lovely and, as the snow is coming in sideways outside putting an end to our warmer than usual winter, they’re a nice glimpse of spring.
The bulbs and winter flowers are what keep me positive in winter, I don’t know how I would manage without them.
You will build up a good record this way and be able to plan your plantings to even better effect – even if the winter weather sticks its oar in as far as temperatures go! I think I shall make a note and try growing some in the greenhouse next year too. Exotic Emperor really is a delight and I think the trio of Miami Sunset with the teucrium looks even more elegant than the larger vase. Thanks for sharing and for your kind comments about IAVOM
Not kind Cathy; you really have changed the way many of us view the start of the week. Even if sometimes the vases are made on other days, it is Monday when we share them.
And it is indeed wonderful that we all now feel differently about picking blooms from our gardens – such a pleasurable habit to get into to and I feel blessed in hosting the meme
Christina, your two vases are fabulous. The “Exotic Emperor” Tulips are divine, I love their pure white with tiny green markings. They are so elegant. The Tulips “Miami Sunset” are wonderful with their petals finished in curly shape and their color so beautiful, I love them. The Teucrium accompanies them so well that the vase remains divine. Thank you very much for bringing us so much beauty. Christina saw in the news the snowfalls and the overflow of the rivers in the north of Italy. I hope that bad weather does not come to you. Have a very good week. 🙂 Take care. Greetings from Margarita.
So far we are just having very strong winds but it is sunny so it feels better. I hate the heavy cloud.
Your tulip posts always make me want to try tulips again, Christina. I love the combination of ‘Miami Sunset’ with the Teucrium. The Teucrium seedlings I got from a friend appear to be doing well and I hope to plant them out in a month or so. If we get another winter as cool as this one’s been, maybe just maybe, I could get some tulips to bloom after pre-chilling too.
I think if you pre-chill the bulbs you would definitely have tulips, they just might not return for a second year so it would depend how expensive the bulbs are. I love them so much and I can’t buy anything special ready grown from the florists so even if some of the bulbs are thrown away it is still worth it.
I love your tulip choices. Shame that I didn’t remember Exotic Emperor when I ordered. The teucrium makes all the difference to the feel. Well done!
Lovely and the Tuecrinum is a perfect foil for the peach and white colors. That does not seem like a lot of trouble to have tulips in February, I may have to try it. I could probably just plant them in pots outside after chilling. They would certainly be annuals here.
All you need is for the bulbs to arrive early enough and a fridge to store them in.
Seems deceptively simple!
I’ve always planted bulbs into pots and then put them in the garage to cool, but your method sounds much easier. I’ll have to try it. The varieties you chose are very attractive!
But your temperatures are cold from early in autumn so you probably don’t need to chill them for so long.
True, but I think it’s the internal clock that we must satisfy. Probably why I choose to force the earliest bloomers, they tend to be quicker, shorter and not so leggy when forced.
That makes sense.
Exotic Emperor is so graceful in the vase, but I love those warm sunset colours too.
The Miami Sunset has more colour now that it has opened more. I is a tulip that looks better close to than at a distance so ideal for picking.