In a vase on Monday- changing tulips

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.

In a vase on Monday – preemptive action

The flowers in my vase today were picked on Saturday as like most of northern Europe we are forecast snow and temperatures in the range of minus 5 to minus 11°C.  I don’t know if the temperatures will dip so low but the 50 km per hour winds from the north are very likely indeed; my garden is windy at the best of times and when the wind is from the north or northeast it is not unknown for my heavy caste iron chairs to be flung from the terrace onto the gravel.  

In a vase on Monday – Thin pickings

I was very much hoping that my Mimosa tree would be in flower to include in today’s vase for Cathy at Rambling in the Garden‘s meme where she asks us to find something in our own gardens or surrounding area to pick and bring into our homes to enjoy.

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.

A busy gardening week

Since last Saturday it has been perfect gardening weather.  I have taken full advantage; I weeded and mulched the two evergreen shrub beds and weeded and cut back the now combined circular rose bed and small island – still haven’t thought of a proper name for this bed yet!  

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.