Flowers from the garden: March into April
Danny used to say that he didn’t buy me flowers because I would think that he was having an affair. Despite assurances and numerous gentle hints, his trotters were in. So I always bought my own flowers until January 2007. Then I decided to try and not buy any for a whole year. I am noticing and enjoying the flowers in the garden much more as a consequence and picking these for the house. We have been so busy lately that I missed the boat on the March Flowers From The Garden post. I picked daffodils (we have early and late) from the...
read moreHyacinths in the garden
I always plan to plant my hyacinths in the garden immediately after flowering indoors. They are put outside the back door and often forgotten. About fifty percent survive there. Sometimes I discover a forgotten pot the next year, bravely flowering, The stems pinched and weak, the bulbs nibbled by mice and slugs. If I’m galvanised, the indoor hyacinths are quickly transferred from their pots to the borders when the flowers fade. This year I cut off the dead flowers of my indoor hyacinths and put the pots in the greenhouse. I can’t...
read moreFlowers from the garden: February
In January I decided not to buy flowers for the house for a year. With a garden of a third of an acre, I should be able to find something to bung in a vase. However, I never give things up so this is a real struggle as I love flowers. I was helped this month by the freesias D bought me for Valentine’s Day. And the last of the carnations that Tony bought a few weeks ago have just been relegated to the compost bin. When I’m rich and famous I’d like a vase of flowers in every room. If this happens before December 31 2007,...
read moreMiniature daffodils (narcissus)
For years I used to be a bit sniffy about miniature bulbs until I was given some, maybe six years ago. They blossomed indoors on my kitchen windowsill. This was the start of a short affair. I planted them beside a treasured shrub near the back door and they multiplied. I noticed them very early each spring because they flowered long before the traditional daffodils in the garden. Then, after three years, they vanished. After a while I forgot all about miniature daffodils. After Christmas, I spotted a load of mixed bulbs that I had dug up...
read moreAmaryllis (Hippeastrum)
Finally the amaryllis that I bought just after New Years Day is flowering. We’ve had a lot of fun watching this giant gradually produce three thick stems with heavy buds. The stalks are well over two feet. This particular bulb guaranteed three flower spikes. I potted it up in normal potting compost in an eight inch pot. Within days the first two buds emerged. The third took a while to appear but is now catching up fast and now we have the promised three. The first bud has gradually unfurled over last two days. Here’s the flower. We...
read moreNaturalised crocus bulbs
These little fellows are brightening up a grim corner of the front garden. They pop up each spring and cover the grass with pale blue drifts. My mother called them wild crocuses when she first spotted them and dug some up to take back to her garden in Cambridge. When I mentioned to the Alpine Couple that I had wild crocuses, they shook their heads and explained that there was no such thing. They claimed that they were commercially available and had just naturalised in the garden. I have never seen these for sale. “Normal” crocuses...
read moreFlowers from the garden: January
Driving to the supermarket to do the Big Shop on Sunday I worked out that we spend over £500 a year on flowers for the house. A chilling thought as I love flowers. A house without flowers just doesn’t sing. As I squeezed the car into a tight parking space I hoped that an excuse to continue with this magnificent expense would come to me. It didn’t. As I strolled with my trolley, I’d decided that it might be fun to try and find flowers for the house from the garden. This is the first post in a series of twelve, one each month...
read moreHyacinths in The Waste Land
There’s something very sexy about hyacinths. Their fresh, heady exotic scent draws one way beyond the waxy flower heads and squeak of constraining leaves. Danny buried his nose in a pot of them and glanced up at me, “Mmmmm. Lovely. They smell of spring.” And they do but the scent has a deeper resonance for me. Each year the hyacinth draws me back to T.S. Eliot. When the flowers have finally come into their own and the house is heavy with their sultry perfume, I’m searching for my copy of The Waste Land. Somehow the...
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