Wednesday, June 17, 2009

More Mid-June Tulips

I see that my so-called "May-flowering tulips" are nicely blooming now in mid-June. They have been opening quickly over the last few days, with lots of sun and heat over extremely long days. Our frosts of the last two weeks have been replaced by cries for air-conditioning.

Two unwelcome new arrivals in the area include forest fires and carpenter ants. The forest fires are an annual summer reality here, though the giant ants all over the yard (also reported by many other people in town) are a bit of an anomaly. I wonder what they are doing? I've heard that a few people are having their cabins invaded (and eaten) by these little beasties.

According to the U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department website, these our our current daylight numbers:
    Begin civil twilight      03:22             
Sunrise 04:21
Sun transit 13:02
Sunset 21:44
End civil twilight 22:42
Here is a little tour of some of my tulips as of this morning:
Lily-flowered tulip "Claudia" looks so elegant:

I attempted to solve the problem of unsightly ground at the bottom of my tulip pictures by planting an "underlayer" of shorter flowers around the tulips. I started these blue and pink-flowered forget-me-nots last year, and I'm sure they will seed themselves and spread around my raised beds from now on! They are planted in front of "Florissa" single late dark pink tulips.

I was inspired to do this after seeing the amazing display at Butchart gardens in Victoria, BC last spring. They often underplanted their tulips with forget-me-nots or pansies.
Here is "Jackpot" Triumph tulip, planted 2008:

Blue forget-me-nots, white double late tulip "Mount Tacoma", "Claudia" lily-flowered tulip, and others:

These Primula saxatilis are very easy to grow. I got these seed from another local gardener. They were started last year and are currently putting on a nice show with various shades of pale violet flowers. They get afternoon shade and an average amount of water. They also apparently seed themselves, though mine have yet to do that.

8 comments:

Barbarapc said...

It's so terrific to see all the colour in your garden. That wall is just amazing. When I went to Alaska, I was surprised to see how the colour of the light changed throughout the morning - we got up at about 3:00 a.m. just to watch. Of course we were just foolish tourists - does the abundance of daylight change your day?

Cicero Sings said...

Your flowers are looking lovely.

TheManWithNoName said...

How are your jack pines going from the mini bonsai set? I am wondering because I am trying the same mini bonsai set.

Chookie said...

I had a look for your max temp and saw it was about 29C. Does it normally get so high so fast? I must say we Sydneysiders have a very short spring because we can easily get days like that in September, and our spring flowers immediately go to seed.

Gardenista said...

-Barbarapc - yes, I find the long afternoon and evening produce night lighting especially for photography. I'm rarely up and outside for the 4 am light though!
-I'll have to post on the bonsai soon.
-Chookie-I think these high temps are a bit above normal average temps. Locals are still not ruling out some cool days and nights again. I think we get rain for a few days now, which is welcome!

Philosophical Karen said...

Your tulip show is amazing. The underplantings are beautiful. Bravo!

Clayton said...

Wonderful display. Good on you!

Sylvana said...

I arrived here from Google. What a fantastic shot of your garden with the forget-me-not under planting! That's what I want in my garden!