This Easter Monday I am joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her weekly meme, and must thank her again for the focus it gives me.
It has been gorgeous weather here recently and the garden is really coming to life, so I had fewer qualms than of late about picking a handful of flowers to bring indoors.
The later narcissi and early tulips all started opening on Thursday which meant I could enjoy them while working outside on Friday and Saturday. The sweet fragrance of the narcissi every time I passed was a joy, but indoors they are making us sneeze!
The deep orange tulip on the left is Ballerina. Only about half of the original bulbs have flowered so I must replenish them. The larger peachy tulip on the right is Apricot Emperor. I love it in combination with Narcissus Actaea and planted a huge clump of them together in the herb bed. Actaea is the white one with a striking orange ‘eye’.
The dear little Narcissus at the front of the vase is Hawera. It is spreading! I don‘t think that has ever happened with any other Narcissus I have grown, so it gets 10 out of ten for its delicate appearance and yet durability. The petals curve backwards as it ages and there are usually at least two flower heads to each stem. The graceful yellow botanical tulip is Sylvestris. I do like the botanical ones for their natural and yet elegant looks…. sort of Audrey Hepburn style! 😉
Other Narcissi I used are Cheerfulness, Thalia and a yellow one I have forgotten the name of. Possibly Tamara. I had to include one of my parrot tulips too. They are just so cheeky! And I added a sprig of fresh birch growth. (The trees are all turning green as you watch here!)
Well, as we all enter another week of lockdown I wish you all the best. Stay calm. Keep smiling. Enjoy your gardens. Focus on something you can look forward to. I will be sowing seeds again today.
🌱🌻🌱
So pretty Cathy! So glad you are having lovely spring weather and everything is popping out. It is such a joy to watch everything turn green. Thank you for sharing your bright and cheerful vase of spring.
Hi Cindy. It is still very cold and frosty at night, but the spring sunshine has been more welcome than ever this year! 😃
The Narcissi have a similar effect here…they are still lovely, and after photographing have left them on a neighbour’s doorstep.
A lovely idea Noelle. This vase may be banished to another room yet, although the scent has faded a bit now. I think it is Thalia that smells so strong.
So lovely to see spring blooms! It won’t stop snowing here, LOL….
I heard you got some more snow Sheryl. Hope it‘s the last and you get an early spring!
Such perfect Spring flowers. I especially like the tulips, as we can’t grow them here.
The tulips really are special aren‘t they. As a child my drawings of flowers were always tulips! 😉
Me too! I grew up in the northeast and my Dad always grew tulips. Down South tulip bulbs rot in the summer.
I love parrot tulips and yours is a cracker! All those lovely colours swirling around together. And Ballerina is an elegant lady isn’s she! Amanda https://therunningwave.blogspot.com/2020/04/in-vase-on-easter-monday.html
Thanks Amanda! Yes, more tulips in a vase this week too! 🙂
Very pretty, I esp. love the parrot and ‘Apricot Emperor.’ It may be the birch pollen that is causing you to sneeze – it is notorious for allergy sufferers.
I know birch is aggressive, but we had more problems with the hazel this year as it has been so dry too. We are pretty sure it is the scent that we are sensitive too, but we have persevered and the vase is still standing in the living area!
The parrot tulip was a great addition to link the other components together – the whole vase has such a soft peachy ambience. Thank you for explaining what all the different elements were too
Parrot tulips are allowed to clash, but you are right… it draws everything together here. 😃
I am going to look for tulips like this for next year – I think they look great!
I love these salvias, and have both growing away nicely
My tulip envy started with Cathy’s post and now has amped up another notch with yours! I love all your tulips, especially your flashy parrot. I’m glad that Mother Nature is doing right by you in the floral department.
Mother Nature has indeed been very kind this spring with plenty of sunshine and warmth. A little rain wouldn‘t go amiss though! 😉
Very pretty spring delights. Hope you have had a happy Easter Cathy. Lots of love. Karen xx
Thanks Karen. We had beautiful sunshine but still very cold frosty nights. 🙃
Cheerful and colorful. Your Tulips are spectacular.
Thanks Susie. I need more tulips – they make me happy and last so well in vases! 😃
The birch have long catkins. Is that a native species?
Hi Tony. Our native birches are Betula pendula and they do have very long catkins – about 7 to 10 cm I imagine. One of my favourite trees. 😃 The leaves come out at the same time as the catkins and only need a day or two to completely change the view!
Oh, of course. They were trendy here in the early 1970s, and there are still a few at work. They are so pretty with redwoods that we dug a few that grew from seed to put back into other landscapes.
I love the dainty little Hawera too. I have it growing through ‘Georgia Blue’…would be acstatic if it would multiply.
That sounds like a lovely combination Ricki. Mine are in a very hot and dry spot on a slope, which they clearly like. 😉
Beautiful examples of spring flowers – love that little narcissus.
Thanks Sam. The foliage appears very early and I have to be patient for them to flower. But the wait is worthwhile!
Love those little yellow touches in the water ❤ Ballerina is gorgeous.
Oh yes, that is my Forsythia vase with yellow flowers printed on the glass. 😃🌻😃
OH how cool love it!
Love your sweet little violas on the header, Cathy! And how wonderful that Narcissus ‘Hawera’ is spreading. Definitely one to treasure! A lovely vase … distilled spring.
Hi Cathy. You know, those violas were planted as tiny plants last autumn and looked dead all winter but then suddenly they came back and are fantastic now! They never cease to amaze me. 😃🌺😃
They are perfect!
Cathy, I am so glad you have such a wonderful climate: I sincerely hope that you continue to have much more time to garden in your garden, which has woken up and grown by throwing the fantastic flowers in the vase. I love all daffodils and tulips. I like the Tulip Ballerina very much. Narciso Hawera is beautiful and stretches … I love your Tulip Parrot. Maybe you sneeze because the birch branch gives you an allergy: it is a tree that gives me an allergy but I love it. Stay safe. Take care. Happy Easter Monday, although one day late. Very affectionate greetings from Margarita.
Thank you Margarita. There is a lot of pollen about right now – our windowsills are white but in spring they turn yellow from the pollen! Have a good week and take care! xx
So no wonder they give you sneezing attacks, with so much pollen !!!! Take care of yourself too. Good weekend. Very affectionate greetings from Margarita xx
I just love this vase; it really makes me smile! It has some of my favorite sorts of bulbs–those botanicals and tiny narcissi! I didn’t know Hawera was quite so prolific: that will push it up a notch on my to-grow list! And your big parrot tulip adds a lot of excitement. 🙂
Your birch foliage is lovely too. The trees are just greening here as well, starting with the willows, of course, but a lot of other trees have thin green halos over the tops now. Everything got a hearty wait-a-bit warning from two very cold and windy nights though. Hopefully most of that is over! Glad you are staying well and the gardens are certainly keeping us more occupied as the weather warms, aren’t they?
Thank you for such a lovely cheerful comment Amy! We are literally watching the countryside turn green and the plants growing! It is amazing how quickly everything is moving now it has warmed up! 😃
What a delightful vase that certainly does speak of spring. It must give you so much pleasure to not only be able to enjoy the flowers out in the garden but to be able to enjoy them indoors as well…except for the sneezing. 😊
😉 The scent has faded a little and we have stopped sneezing thankfully as I would not have wanted to banish the vase to a spot where I can‘t enjoy it! You are right Karen, it is so nice to have spring flowers indoors, especially as we had a much cooler day today. 🌷🌷🌷
Goodness, they are all gorgeous and I love the colors. Sneezing here as well. Time for all of us to appreciate the flowers and antihistamines!! Hoping for sunny days and some rain to wash the pollen away.
We have decided it is the birch making us sneeze. Just as the hazel had gone over. Still, at least it should rain at the weekend to settle the yellow dust a little. 😉
Can’t believe you already have ‘Ballerina’ and all those other late spring bloomers. We just got 3″ of snow! Oh well. Beautiful arrangement.
Oh my goodness, so much snow! Hope that is the last of it for this season! We have had a very warm March and April and the tulips are all galloping along. 😃
Your vase really pops with colour Cathy. Sorry to read that the pollen is getting you. My nose has been twitching when I’ve been out in the garden over the last few days.
Hi Anna. Yes, the scent of the narcissi s unpleasant indoors, but it possibly is the birch outside making us sneeze after all. Everything is coated in yellow dust as the birch and conifers start producing their pollen. Hoping for a bit of rain soon to settle the dust!