Happy Bank Holiday Monday! I hope you are all managing to get some gardening done today. It’s still cold and windswept here. Only 11C, but feels much colder due to the biting north wind. Rain and high winds have caused some damage here. The beautiful lime green beech tree leaves have been blown into the paddock. They only opened a week ago. So soft and delicate. It looks as if someone has laid them as a fine velvet mulch everywhere. Some of the fancy double tulips look as if they’ve been cut with a scythe. They are all cleanly sheared off half way down their stems. Heads just too heavy for gale force winds. So today, I’ve made table arrangements with the casualties.
Mount Tacoma looks pretty in three glass jars in a row. The short stems don’t matter for this garden table arrangement.
This late-flowering double tulip is a favourite . I love the flash of green on the outer petals. The flowers remind me of feathers.
If I could re name it, I would call it Swan. Beautiful, simple table arrangements for a laid-back bank holiday.
I’m cutting some branches from the orchard for tonight’s dinner table. Flower arrangements don’t have to be complicated. Especially on a bank holiday.
Here’s a view of the garden today. The hawthorn hedge looks like seafoam in the wind. Looks like there will be more rain, judging by the colour of that sky.
Half an hour later, the downpour has passed. There’s some blue sky and we can see for miles from the top of the garden. Skylarks are singing overhead. Always a good sign.
Links : IAVOM In a Vase on Monday. https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/2019/05/06/ina-vase-on-monday-delicate/
Mount Tacoma tulips : https://www.gee-tee.co.uk/bulbs/tulips/double-late-tulips/tulip-mount-tacoma
Alton Cedar greenhouses : https://www.altongreenhouses.co.uk/
The view in the distance from the top of the garden is : https://www.nottinghamshirewildlife.org/nature-reserves/bunny-old-wood-west
Bramble Garden 
They look like peonies, don’t they? They are so wide and billowy!
Hawthorn sure are pretty. We lack them here.
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Thank you Tony. They look just like peonies. The hedgerows look like billowing sails today. So pretty
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So beautiful!
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Thank you š
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Seeing you gorgeous T. Mount Tacoma makes me realise that non of mine glowered this year. Very sad as they are one of my favourites.
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Oh thatās a shame. Iām going to plant some more in the autumn, just in case these donāt come back. Some of the old favourites, Negrita and Burgundy flower every year. Black Parrot is also reliable. Iām glad I spotted the half price offer at gee tee bulbs at Christmas. The cutting garden selection theyāve sent is really stunning. Many new varieties I hadnāt tried before.
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Sadly I need to pre-chill tulips if I want them early for cutting as it doesnāt get cold enough here in autumn so I need them early and canāt wait for the special offers.
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I never have much joy with tulips but Mount Tacoma is one that I’ve had success with and what a beauty. Amazing to see how quickly those dark skies cleared.
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Iām making my list for next year already. Some of the bulb suppliers are taking orders now! Iāll definitely grow Mount Tacoma, Exotic Emperor and Peaches and Cream again.
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Those Tulips look Divine. I think the weather is set to improve greatly next week. It sure has been temperamental of late.
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Thank you. The cold weather has suited the tulips. It hasnāt suited me though. Itās been perishing here. Sunny today though. Hurray x
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I like the seafoam in the wind. A Japanese friend has told me that they call seafoam sea flowers
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Do they really! Fancy that. The hawthorn was billowing and crashing in the storm. Thatās what I thought it looked like. All calm today, but the garden is like a wedding . Thereās blossom āconfettiā everywhere.
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What a greenhouse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lovely white tulips simply arranged, to showcase their beauty.
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Thank you Noelle. We bought it second hand for Ā£260 and repainted it black. Itās my little sanctuary. I could spend hours lost in there šš±
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Those tulips might be mistaken for peonies. I love that you put the windfalls to such beautiful use.
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Thank you Rickii. I canāt let anything go to waste šx
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Those tulips are gorgeous, especially when showing the green streaks on the petal’s underside. I guess the up-side of the fierce winds is the elimination of any guilt that might otherwise be associated with cutting the flowers to fill a vase. I hope you enjoyed your holiday despite the weather.
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Thanks. Thatās true, Kris. I probably wouldnāt have cut them otherwise. Next year Iām going to grow a whole row- just for cutting. Hopefully we wonāt get such awful spring storms next time, although itās becoming the norm.
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How effective those 3 tulips are – proving again just how attractive a simple vase(s) can be. Thanks for sharing (even though you didn’t share your rain with us…)
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Thank you. The rain was too terrible to share. The garden looks like itās covered in confetti today. All the hawthorn blossom has blown into the paddock. Looks like thereās plenty more though as the hedge is coming out in stages. Have a lovely week. xx
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Shame about the blossom š This week has been damp here but pleasantly so – the garden needed it!
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Hello Karen, I am a new follower to your blog; I came across it while reading your comments you left on the “Flower In A Vase” @ Cathy’s Rambling in the Garden blog. I love those double tulips….your right they do look like feathers!! I’m a newbie bumbling gardener from the States; but I try and love all kinds of gardens! Thank you for the inspiration and for sharing your garden with us! Blessings!
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Thank you. And welcome to my blog. How lovely to have a new follower! Enjoy your gardening adventures!
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Karen I feel the cold, the rain and especially the north wind that has destroyed your garden. And me here in Madrid at 25ĀŗC and with sun. The Tulip Monte Tacoma I love for its beauty and for how well they are in the glass jars on the table: the brown accentuates its white and the jewel that it is is better seen. The greenhouse and behind the hedge so high and the dark gray clouds is a wonderful sight. The hawthorn in bloom I love it, it’s magnificent. Larks sing, you have to listen to them. What party is today in Britain? Have a great time on holiday Monday: caress Meg and your cat on my part. Karen love, health, strength and happiness for your whole family and for you. Take care and rest. Keep the heat. Loving greetings from Margarita. š
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Thank you Margarita. Iāve reverted back to my winter fleece lined trousers- determined to keep warm. I think it was warmer here in March than it is in May! Today we have some sun and me and the cat and pup are sitting in the greenhouse. Grace has allowed the pup to share her space. She is a one in a million cat for being so patient and calm. The pup has to know her place and Grace is queen here. Loving greetings, Karen xx
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Karen, I’m glad you put on wool-lined pants. Yes, today it’s cooler here in Madrid too. I love that Grace, Meg and you are together in the heat of the Greenhouse. Keep the heat. Loving greetings from Margarita.
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Thank you Margarita xx
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Beautiful!!
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Thank you š
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