I was excited to arrive back at the garden and see all of the new tulips out and drifts of Thalia narcissi under the citrus trees. Friends were having a memorial so I made one vase with mostly pale colours: Tulips White Liberstar and Camargue, Freesia Symphony, Iris Apollo, Narcissus Thalia and Early Cheer, Lupins, Scilla, Iceberg Rose, and Hellebore x sternii.
Early morning in downtown Saigon is full of noise and life. After a big rain and thunder during the night, everything seems clean and fresh, although that seems a strange thing to say about a city of 8 million people.
Continue reading “Wednesday Vignette – Morning Sun in Saigon”
Another borrowed vase today, a sweet tiny posy of little chrysanthemums on a table in a Vietnam restaurant. My excuse is unpacking, jet lag, and a full on day catching up at work. To make up for this cheating I have pictures of my own chrysanthemum cuttings from bought cut flowers.
Christina who hosts GBFD every month is suffering from dry August heat, so here is some moist lush foliage from the Mekong River where it is the rainy season. There are lots of what seem to be nurseries on stilts along the river.
More absent than normal this week, I’m in Vietnam, travelling down the Mekong on a boat. Like Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, this week I’m sharing Other People’s Vases. People here may not have a lot of things, but flowers and bright colours are everywhere – I feel like I’m filling up with colour.
Many of the fishing boats have vases of flowers lashed to a prong at the bow; our guide tells me that these are for the water gods. Chrysanthemums, Marigolds, and Tuberose are popular.
Arriving this week I was greeted by lambs on the lawn and the first of the ‘new’ Dutch Iris, “Autumn Princess”. I grabbed my camera to capture both before the lambs and mothers were ushered back into the driveway to make their way back through the fence.
The new Tulips are starting to bloom too, with Daydream opening a surprising lemon colour. It seems that the honey and apricot tones I was expecting only develop as the flowers age. Continue reading “In a Vase on Monday. – Spring Bulbs and Lambs”
The morning was so sparkling that I stopped for a photo opportunity while loading the car. It was -3 according to the new thermometer – it almost never gets this cold. In the greenhouse the poblano/ancho chillies are still producing. The lambs seemed happy enough – after weeks of rain and wind sunny and cold is probably preferable.
Continue reading “Spring flowers in a Vase on a chilly Monday”
The Early Cheer and Tazetta type Narcissi are starting to flower and the Hellebores are out as well. It’s amazing that they look so fresh and unblemished when the howling gales and hail have torn half the leaves off the lime trees. The Michelia ‘Bubbles’ is covered with sweet scented flowers which are being torn up as they open so I picked a few buds in the hope they might open indoors. (not yet)
Continue reading “In a Vase on Monday – Narcissi and Hellebores”
Hail, thunder, gale force winds, and the mud that results from weeks of the same made it an interesting weekend for gardening. The rain may have softened the blow for the dogwoods which I mistakenly planted on a steep dry bank – having survived for two years their reward is to be dug up and wrestled into a wheelbarrow for transport to a wetter place.
Continue reading “Spring – hail, thunder, howling gales and lambs”
It’s over a month to the first official day of Spring, but the very first daffodils and hyacinths and the first muscari are blooming, and in the space of the weekend 3 new little lambs appeared in the field next door.
Absent Gardener 