Six on Saturday 20 April 2019

/ karen

A quick whizz around my garden today. I’m busy watering, watering, watering. We have had no rain for weeks and the water barrels are low.

Amaryllis. Planted in October. Should have flowered at Christmas. I did all the right things, watered it, pampered it. I’m happy it is finally flowering in time for Easter. It was sold as Lemon Star. As with many spring bulbs, they sometimes turn out to be different from the name on the packet. Very pretty though. A table centre on its own, I think.

Tulip Mount Tacoma. Also just in time for Easter table arrangements. Fluffy, very double. As beautiful as a swan, wouldn’t you agree.

Forget me nots make a lovely ground cover for Mount Tacoma here.

Still on the theme of cream and white, new tulip Exotic Emperor. A delight to watch opening from a tight bud. I love the flashes of green on the edges of the petals. One I will grow again next year.

Here they are growing in a large Italian pot by my back door. A north facing position suits them well. They last longer out of the sunshine. Above them, the lime green new leaves of an Acer Palmatum Dissectum are just starting to unfurl. Perfect to complement the stripe in the tulips.

In the Exotic Daylily Border, my favourite quince is in flower. Chaenomeles speciosa Kinshiden starts off the colour of Devon clotted cream and fades to white. A lime green eye adds a simplicity to this beautiful double flower. 200 Tulip Orange Emperor form a backdrop. A recommended tulip for reliably coming back each year, and good for planting between low maintenance daylilies. I hardly ever have to work this border. It virtually looks after itself.

Wishing you all a very and happy and peaceful Easter. I hope you are getting some lovely sunny weather, as we are here. It’s 21C today- and 38C in the greenhouse! I have opened all the doors and windows! And now I must get back to that watering…. Enjoy your gardening.

Links

Dalefoot bulb composts https://www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk/products/bulb-compost.p.aspx

Six https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2019/04/20/six-on-saturday-20-04-2019/

Lemon Star : https://www.sarahraven.com/flowers/bulbs/amaryllis/amaryllis_lemon_star.htm

Mount Tacoma https://www.peternyssen.com/mount-tacoma.html

Tulip Exotic Emperor https://www.farmergracy.co.uk/products/tulip-exotic-emperor-bulbs-uk?gclid=Cj0KCQjwhuvlBRCeARIsAM720HpBjLnKuSBteZOYQAoqbVUBnXKLyKYitNQifojAteMGWV5JVRSKz2UaAt9oEALw_wcB

Quince Kinshiden https://www.shootgardening.co.uk/plant/chaenomeles-speciosa-kinshiden

karen Gimson on Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/kgimson?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

karen Gimson Instagram https://www.instagram.com/karengimson1/?hl=en

Facebook https://m.facebook.com/pages/category/Local-Business/bramblegarden/posts/

30 thoughts on “Six on Saturday 20 April 2019”

  1. It has been very pleasant here too, a bit hot even, but I managed. 6 days more or less all spent faffing about in the garden, back to work tomorrow. 😕
    Your Exotic Daylillie border sounds fab! I dont have any hemerocallis, have tried to grow from seed with no joy. Will have to buy some I suppose, although I ought to be under a self-imposed plant moratorium. ( as if that’s going to happen…!)

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  2. I have had the hose out twice in the last week – the water butts at the bottom end of the garden are all empty and everything is so dry and the stream is losing water from evaporation every day. The forecast looks hiopeful for rain on Weds – hurrah, although others may think I am a killjoy! Your white quince is gorgeous! I have dug my variably coloured one out and it will be on my plant stall in June!!

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  4. I’ve been watering as well as I’ve been planting out – in the early morning shade! – and then giving the plants a good drink to see them through the heat of the day. Hard work but so satisfying. I grew Exotic Emperor under the cherry tree in the veg patch but after coming up faithfully for a good few years, they finally weakened last year so I dug them out. I’ll replace them next winter as they’re such a lovely tulip, so graceful even when fading. Hope you’re well – Will you be at Chelsea this year?

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  13. Karen you are watering and here we have 4 days without stopping to rain in Spain, a luxury that we urgently needed. The photos are fantastic. I love the Amaryllis. Tulip Mount Tacoma is wonderful. Tulip Exotic Emperor is a jewel. The flowers of your favorite quince have been converted to see them in my favorites too: I love them, I love them and I love them. Tulip Orange Emperor among lilies are a wonderful combination. I love your phrase “He takes care of himself virtually.” I wish the whole garden did it! Karen I wish you and yours a happy and collected Easter and a very happy Easter. I am very happy that you have fabulous weather and magnificent temperatures to enjoy your wonderful garden and gardening. Here the weather is crazy. This morning it rained but in the afternoon no and it is less cold than yesterday. There will be showers all weekend in Madrid, but next week nothing is known. Thank you very much for the walk in the garden. Thanks for the links, I’m already a follower of Instagram. Love, health, strength and joy for all your family and for you. Take care and rest. Loving greetings from Margarita.

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    • Thank you Margarita. I truly wish the whole garden would take care if itself too! I’ve tired myself out today emptying and sweeping out the greenhouse. What a job it’s been. But it looks lovely now. I MUST NOT buy any more plants this year!!! I have far too many. I become too fond of them when I should throw some out. I just can’t- and then they all need watering and taking care of. *sigh. Have a wonderful happy Easter Margarita. Love and best wishes to you and your family xx

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      • Karen, do not load yourself with so much work and so many plants. It’s for your good. Caring for them requires a lot of work and you are in poor health. You need to rest and not do hard jobs like plants. I know that plants and flowers are wonderful, I love them as much as you do, but I have understood that what can not be done can not be done. That means you have less, the ones you like the most (I know that’s very difficult to decide) or a little bit of all, but this year do not buy any more, please. Forgive me for giving you this scolding if I’m nobody, nothing more than a friend who cares about you. The same thing happens to me, I would like to have many plants and flowers, but the excesses of three and four years ago have taken their toll and I am in a lot of pain and unable to bend over. I do not want that to happen to you. This year I will buy flower plants and I will put them in pots with drip irrigation. So I do not have to remove the weeds. And when we get to the country house, the first cut of the grass I’ll hire someone to do it. Then the others if I can I do them, if not, I contract someone. I will not force myself. I’m just going to do it by taking Dutch Iris bulbs from under a Canine Rose and planting them in a place where they can see each other: I’ll do it little by little, unless you give me the madness of a gardener and do it all at once and then I spent a week in bed hahahaha. You see Karen I give advice and then I plan to do barbarities. Happy Easter. Greetings and memories of Margarita. 🙂 🙂

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      • Good morning Margarita. All your words are true! The “madness of a gardener” that’s me! But I’ve realised I must have fewer plants to take care of. I must reduce the workload, or like you, invest in drip irrigation. What a good idea. Our journey, yours and mine, is so similar. We are coming to the same conclusions aren’t we. I love gardening, but I too can’t stand the pain that follows. It’s a very good idea to employ someone to help out at your country house. We are also making plans to get help. I love the idea of Dutch iris and rose. I too have Dutch iris for the first time. I always appreciate your good advice. Enjoy your weekend. Belated Easter greetings, and memories. Much love, karen x 🙂

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