I am seriously chuffed with my tulips this year despite the colours not being quite what I expected. It is all very pink and girly and the flowers are really working well with the blossom on the prunus and amelanchier. I think my Cottage Garden Border is beginning to look good.
The variety in the foreground (I have lost the name) has been flowering since the beginning of the month which I think is wonderful value for money. They are looking a little bowed today due to the rain we have had. In fact some of them are looking like they won’t be flowering much longer
I have been braver and more exuberant with my tulips this year as a result of a talk I went to last May by Fergus Garrett at Coton Manor. Fergus explained about adding out of season interest to a border with tulips. He talked about planted the bulbs around perennials so that as the perennials reappear their leaves hide the fading tulip leaves. Of course it helps if you choose tulips without large leaves and as you can see I have failed in this respect but I do like the lushness of the foliage.
There are still some gaps probably because I couldn’t remember what was planted in the border when I was bulb planting. I shall follow Fergus’s advice and make a note in my garden notebook to add more for next year. I think I need something as an antidote to the pink. I had thought I had bought Spring Green so maybe that’s what I will go for. It is my experience that in the second year the flowers are often smaller so it will be interesting to compare these photos with next years.
