I have real live blooms from the ground today! Woo Hoo! The warm temps and sun the last couple day and poof – blooms are starting to appear.
This is the Monte Carlo tulip:
It doesn’t look like a traditional tulip and when it is in full sun during the day, the petals spread out almost flat. It’s actually fragrant as well.
The next tulip that has started to open is the lily flowering tulip:
It’s called Claudia. I bought the majority of my tulips from Tulip World last fall. And if you are interested, they have a 50% off sale for fall bulbs going on right now. You order them now and they will ship this fall. Not saying I bought a bunch or anything… I’m just mentioning it for all of you 🙂
I also have some daffodils coming up. These were already in ground when we moved in, but only 1 bloom showed up. When I dug up the clump, there were tons of bulblets all stuck together. So, I separated them and just put them willy nilly wherever and wouldn’t you know it, I’ve got blooms this year!
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I don’t usually have luck with daffs, so this was nice to see. And free — other than buying the house, of course.
Hummingbirds have been sighted very close to our area, so I have my feeders out. I bought a new one as well.
Right now it’s just the early males zooming through to the breeding areas and then the resident ones will follow shortly.
The garden bed up front is seeing some progress. John’s been helping me dig out the ground cover and roots and what a job that is. It’s going to take another week or so to get that out. Unfortunately, there are 2 stumps that are just too deeply rooted to get out, so those will get cut down and left to decompose. Anyway, we thought a sitting area would be nice and had thought about a bistro set, but then brought up my bench (my $8 garage sale bench!!!) and put it in.
The slate is just laid down for planning right now. It needs the barrier and gravel. Not to mention the perfect bench placement. I was moving it around, backing up, viewing, moving it around, puttting it back in the same spot LOL. John just patiently waited for me to figure out where I wanted it. Then we will lay some stones. I think we have enough that we could have the stones under the bench if we want. This picture doesn’t show it, but there is also enough room to walk behind the bench. I may plant some foxglove back there or something.
Lots of root digging this weekend and more blog fiddling because the pictures are driving me insane! I’m going to copy the exact setup of my garden blog and see if that works since I have no problem with that one.
Monte Carlo tulips are really pretty! That is one thing I don’t like about the tulips out here. Usually by the time they bloom, it is too hot, and they just open all the way out, flat like you described. I have better luck with daffodils! Yours are really pretty!
I like some of the unusual shapes of tulips, but the traditional shape is what I plant the most of – those should be starting in the next few days. It’s amazing to me how I look in the morning and nothing and then by afternoon the blooms have popped open!
Blooms, yay! I love that Claudia tulip – the color is gorgeous, and the sharp tips are so interesting. And your blue bench is a great pop of color and will look great when it’s nestled among your plants.
Or … you bought some VERY expensive daffodils and got the house for free. 🙂
I love that Monte Carlo tulip as well … I have just a few tulips across the front, and it looks as if the previous owner plunked one bulb in, walked 3 steps, plunked in another, walked 3 steps … I’m not the best gardener, but maybe I should check out that bulb sale and expand my tulip display.
Good thinking both when you bought the bench, and realizing how well it would work there.
Beautiful Lori!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love your blooms!!!! Good luck with the blog stuff. I am useless with that stuff! 🙂
These are so so beautiful and entirely why I cannot help but adore spring here as well…..even if I CAINT breathe during the beautiful spring here as well.
🙂
Lovely to see flowers on your garden post. The daffodils were early here this year and are already mostly dead by now. But the tulips are starting to grow here too now.
I have even more blooming that opened this weekend. The trees are budding now, too. It’s so exciting!
Thanks for the tip to save on bulbs – I’ve been looking!
I can’t wait to see what you do with that front bed. I’m sure it will look great as you are so talented with putting flowers together.
P.S. I am pretty sure you posted this on Friday, but my reader is saying it went live on Sunday.
I don’t know what the delay is. I posted last night and it showed up in my reader right away. And the pictures showed up — without me having done anything! There must have been some server issue on my hosting side that got fixed or whatever, but I hope it stays that way.
By the way, REALLY THANK YOU for that savings tip. I just ordered two kinds of tulips, some crocus and some daffodils!