When I first started this blog, having scrapped any that had gone before, it was mainly as a brain exercise, plus, not a little, nostalgia. I came across the Six on Saturday meme run by Jim Stephens at Garden Ruminations and, through that, organically increased my presence on the web. This has prompted me to re-publish some of my old material some of which is updated. These posts are purely about the plants that I have grown and photographed, mainly in my previous garden, unless otherwise stated.

Tulips Part 2.

Another picture post, dealing with the remaining tulips I have grown and also have pictures of.

Double Earlies

Flowering early to mid spring some of these tulips such as T.’Peach Blossom’ have the extra benefit of being scented which, along with the exquisite double flowers really enhances the early part of the year.

Double Lates

Following on from the earlies some of the Late Doubles such as T. ‘Angelique’ are also scented.

Miscellaneous.

The main pests and actually my nemesis are grey squirrels, they take absolute delight in rooting out the bulbs, whether in containers or in the ground. One memorable Christmas Day, I spent some time moving my pots into groups and spreading netting over them. The assault of the squirrel army had begun, eventually this led me to stop growing the Dutch tulips. I later hit upon the idea of putting a piece of heavy metal netting about an inch under the surface of the compost until this in turn was dragged out. I don’t find it worthwhile to keep the bulbs for another year, but use tulips like bedding plants, in the past I have kept the bulbs for replanting, but have found the results to be inconsistent. One advantage of using fresh bulbs each year is that it avoids the diseases to which tulips are prone.

Botanicals

Just a quick footnote regarding the botanicals or specie tulips, these are generally the dwarf spring flowering tulips, usually found in a rock garden setting or container, with which everyone is familiar. I have grown many of these such as Tulips kaufmanniana, greigii, praestans and their hybrids and also Tulipa tarda although I don’t have many pictures.

See more bulbs I have grown on my next post.

Tulips Part 2.

Another picture post, dealing with the remaining tulips I have grown and also have pictures of.

Double Earlies

Flowering early to mid spring some of these tulips such as T.’Peach Blossom’ have the extra benefit of being scented which, along with the exquisite double flowers really enhances the early part of the year.

Double Lates

Following on from the earlies some of the Late Doubles such as T. ‘Angelique’ are also scented.

Miscellaneous.

The main pests and actually my nemesis are grey squirrels, they take absolute delight in rooting out the bulbs whether in containers or in the ground. One memorable Christmas Day I spent some time moving my pots into groups and spreading netting over them as I noticed the assault of the squirrel army had begun, eventually this led me to stop growing the Dutch tulips. I later hit upon the idea of putting a piece of heavy metal netting about an inch under the surface of the compost until this in turn was dragged out. I don’t find it worthwhile to keep the bulbs for another year but use tulips like bedding plants, in the past I have kept the bulbs for replanting but have found the results to be inconsistent. One advantage of using fresh bulbs each year is that it avoids the diseases to which tulips are prone.

Botanicals

Just a quick footnote regarding the botanicals or specie tulips, these are generally the dwarf spring flowering tulips, usually found in a rock garden setting or container, with which everyone is familiar. I have grown many of these such as Tulips kaufmanniana, greigii, praestans and their hybrids and also Tulipa tarda although I don’t have many pictures.

See more bulbs I have grown on my next post.