Cathy at Rambling in the Garden invites us to join her with a vase on Monday, to begin our week with the pleasure of flowers cut from our gardens or nearby.
I think I may have said last week that I was a little under whelmed with the Tulip ‘Miami Sunset’ – well I should have waited before passing judgement. It is a tulip that ages beautifully; growing taller, the bloom becoming larger and the colours, deepening, changing, becoming like shot silk.
Here’s the vase as you saw it last week
In a vase on Monday 4th February
Here on the 6th February
In just two days the tulips have grown to be taller than the Teucrium that was almost hiding them.
Yellow at the throat, orange , magenta – the colours of the sunset I posted yesterday, Sunday
I actually took so many photographs as the tulips developed I think they will deserve a post of their own.
Here on the 10th February
By Sunday, they are shrinking again, drying a little, but still worth their space on the sideboard.
Just look at the petals – aren’t they gorgeous? Like a watercolour
But there were of course more blooms to pick (I usually plant 25 bulbs to a pot but I have decided this is too many, even allowing for the fact that they don’t all mature at once I think 15 would be enough and it would spread the time I have them to enjoy.
Freshly picked in the middle of last week, more T. ‘Miami Sunset’ with Tulip ‘Daydream’
Tulip ‘Daydream’
Tulip ‘Daydream’ begins a soft yellow and then becomes suffused with peachy apricot.
T. ‘Miami Sunset’ with Tulip ‘Daydream’
The second picking of T. ‘Miami Sunset’ seem to have a slightly different colour which must be impossible as they were all planted together in the same pot! But the petals appear to be slightly flamed reminiscent of T. ‘Princess Irene’ but much taller.
A couple of days later the stems have grown considerably
Two vases in the kitchen, yeah! The vase of T. ‘Exotic Emperor’ hasn’t quite finished yet.
On Saturday I was invited to meet a friend’s new granddaughter, a very special occasion so I found a few fresh blooms and improvised with a cut down plastic bottle (I don’t have many of those now as we buy our water in glass and take them back to be re-filled).
A vase for a friend
There were a few more stems f T. ‘Daydream’, ‘Exotic Emperor’ and ‘Miami Sunset’, I added a stem with the seed head of Fatsia japonica and Iris unguicularis, plus a stem of Lonicera fragrantissima for perfume.
The kitchen worktop with one vase behind the other
Sorry about the mess on the worktop, I was in a rush by the time I photographed the vase.
T. ‘Daydream’ with the seed head of Fatsia japonica
Lonicera fragrantissima
Iris unguicularis
What have you found to put in a vase today to share with us?
I hope you have some good gardening weather this week.
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
That is interesting about the development of colour both from the same blooms and different blooms from the same planting. Tulips never cease to amaze me. I love their textures as they ripen and then go over. You are getting me excited for our tulip season!
I don’t understand the different colours here at all but I’m enjoying them non the less.
You certainly have a way with tulips…they are beautiful. In your arrangement the fatsia had me fooled for a moment…I thought it was ivy!
Yes, I’ve never thought about it before but I noticed too that the seed heads are just like ivy so I’m not surprised you thought that.
I definitely have tulip envy. They are all so beautiful.
I never tire of tulips; I’m longing for them to flower in the garden too, but that is just wishing my life away.
Oh what a worthwhile record you have made of the progress of these tulips, Christina, and what a joy it must have been to watch them change. I am eagerly looking forward to my own tulips which will of course be much much later and will definitely plant some in the greenhouse for next year. What size pot do you use for yours? Your friend will no doubt have been delighted with her gifted flowers and I hope her granddaughter continues to thrive. I often forget about my fatsia flowers because they are way above my head level!
I’ll measure the pot for you. It’s strange but every year I forget how much tulips change after they have been picked. Few other flowers die so well.
Yes, and you are extending the season with your greenhouse reared ones so can prolong their pleasure. The ones I planted in tubs are pushing their noses through now but it will be all foliage for a couple of months at least, I expect
The tulips I planted into tubs (again after chilling) are pushing through; it will depend on how warm the weather gets as to when they’ll flower.
What have your temps been like recently? The tulips I got from PN I chilled first but I bought several packs from Aldi too which weren’t
January was really cold and February has been almost as cold until the last couple of days.
You’ve totally put me in a Springtime mood. I love Tulips because of that continuing growth and change after they’ve been cut. Lovely bouquets all around.
I am lucky that tulips like my long, dry hot summers so that those planted in the garden usually return year after year.
The tulips are lovely as they continue to evolve. A fine bouquet you created for a special occasion. I wouldn’t have though to have so many bulbs in one pot. Is there room so they’re not touching? You do have a way with tulips!
There are a lot in the pot but they don’t touch. As all their growth is from the bulb during the first season, they don’t need much space, when I plant them into the garden I do give them more space.
What a beautiful record of the colour change in your tulips, and a lovely Springlike welcome, with scent and colour, for that new person!
The new person, Matilde, is a month younger than Jaxon and is about half the size.
I love an ageing tulip! I love the way the stem continues to lengthen, the petals become papery and translucent, and the colours intensify! You can’t say that about many flowers as they move from bud to full blown and beyond! Lovely tulips! I have daffodils in my vase this week! Amanda https://therunningwave.blogspot.com/2019/02/vases-on-monday-11-february-2019.html
Exactly! Thanks for you comment Amanda
You’re a tulip magician. Such a nice flash of color in this gloomy season.
I like that, thankx
Your tulips are glorious, Christina! My local garden center got in a shipment of pre-sprouted tulips last week and, despite a very limited selection, I was unable to resist buying some. They weren’t even named varieties – the label on those I bought simply said “two-toned tulip”. I’m hoping it stays cool enough (without any dry Santa Ana winds) long enough to allow them to bloom.
I hope they are gorgeous for you Kris. I think the tulips and then the Iris are my favourite flowers.
Fabulous tulips, the colours go so well together. What a lovely present for your friend. I have just discovered that most of my pots of tulips have been attacted by mice and the bulbs destroyed. I was looking forward to a fabulous display. I’ll just have to enjoy yours.
Oh that’s awful, so disappointing. I’ve lost some in the garden in the past but whole potfuls would be a disaster.
Wow, fantastic,you are inspiring me to take the tulip plunge next year! I love the Fatsia seed heads in the vase, love. Oddly, Fatsia is hard to grow here! And you have it in Italy. Mysteries of gardening. Happy Monday.
Italians think Fatsia is an indoor plant because it’s not hardy, which isn’t true, it grows in England! It doesn’t like sun though so I have the two pots on the terrace in the shade of the wisteria and one in the ground struggling under a tree.
I’ve never grown fringed tulips, but they are lovely up close. And I love the soft colors in T. Daydream.’ Tulips often seem to reveal multiple shades as they age, like a 3-for-1 deal!
I was reading last night that tulip stems grow the length of the flower head every day, I think that is probably right.
I really love the lemony yellow of Daydream with a hint of peach – mouth-watering! 😉 And the gift vase is a lovely collection – the fatsia seed heads make a wonderful filler.
The Fatsia seed heads need to be pruned from the plant now so I might use all of them in vases, they add a good texture.
These are exquisite. I love your tulip postings.
More to come soon.
No wonder there was tulip mania. They are fascinating things and so beautiful. I love the colours you have chosen
I think I do have a bit of Tulip Mania although I wouldn’t spend the price of a house on one bulb
No, that would be plain crazy!
Christina the Tulip “Miami Sunset” I love how it changes color and how beautiful they are. The new vase with Tulip “Miami Sunset” and Tulip “Daydream” is magnificent, I love the Tulip “Daydream”. The vase for your friend is a real wonder, divine, magnificent, I love all the flowers he wears and how you combine them. Sorry I do not explain as much as always, but I have the flu and fever. Your wonders photos and flowers have made me happy. Have a very good week with a good climate for gardening. Take care. Greetings from Margarita.
I’m sorry to hear you’re not well Margarita, do take care of yourself. This week the weather is good to be outside and I have been pruning the wisteria. Get well soon.
Christina thank you my friend for your kind words. I’m glad you have good weather. Greetings from Margarita.