Shades of Tulips

The single late tulips are looking wonderful, with the exception of the very slow Skagit Valley which has yet to show any colors. I can't help but post lots of photos. The tulips have to be one of the most impressive things I grow up here. Resident-lawnmower-man's brother claims he didn't know tulips grew in this province. Ha! His own mother grows them in southern Saskatchewan. I guess I educated someone today. However, that isn't as bad as my neighbours who thought my tulips were plastic! I also wonder at the people who think I take the tulips indoors for the winter and then plant them out in the spring. What are they teaching in primary school these days anyhow?

Pink "Menton" single late tulips in the center raised bed.

(Front to back) "Florissa" (pink single late), "Negrita" (purple Triumph tulip), "Menton" (light pink SL), and "Maureen" (white SL) tulips.
"Florissa" single late tulip, my new favourite color. So delicious-looking, you'd want to eat it. Definitely preferred over the lighter pink Menton, and it blends with the purple tulips better.
Yellow (Darwin hybrid?) and white "Maureen" tulips, with blue oat grass at right.
Again, "Negrita" purple Triumph tulips in the larger raised bed. As you can see, the single late tulips are monsters when it comes to height and bloom size. They probably wouldn't be good in a really windy place, but their stems are pretty strong and they stand up well under ordinary conditions.

Phlox and New Spirea

Because I'm excited about this new purchase, you get to see one of my new shrubs. I bought four of these Spirea "Mini Sunglo" shrubs. They have tinier leaves than the regular spirea, and have bright yellow-green foliage. Resident-lawnmower-man laughed and asked what it is about my predilection for things miniature. (That never crossed my mind when I bought these, but I did get into bonsai a few years ago). The foliage color looks good next to the blue grape hyacinths and I'm hoping the tiny shrub will help disguise the fading glory of the bulbs.
The rock gardens are replendent in carpets of the pinky-purple flowers of creeping phlox (Phlox subulata), one of my favourite hardy evergreen perennials. I have been dividing a couple plants that already existed in the yard when we moved here in 2004, and these plants are all products of that cheap propagation method. They are quite showy and I get lots of comments about them.
Another view of the "rock garden". I grew about 50 new dianthus "rock garden mix" from seed this year and planted them in the spaces. I am hoping that it will finally fill in next year.This is one of the stacked stone wall raised beds with pink "Menton" single late tulips. The wall of green in the background is sedum that will flower yellow in July. It is very hardy and spreads, so I beat it back where it creeps over and under edging into the perennial border. I also walk on it to get at the occasional dandelion or to take photos. As you can see, the mountain ash tree (top right corner) is not yet blooming.

Finally, we have tulips!

(Left) My Lewisia cotyledon "Little Plum". I love this little perennial so I recently bought a few more of them for the rock garden by mail order. I haven't had the ability (or was it patience?)to grow them from seed. The flowers look so delicious and exotic -- pink mixed with a hint of orange -- and the rosettes of leaves are so perfect and never scraggly.

The long-awaited large tulips are now blooming. The botanical tulips are all done and my single late variety tulips are in early bloom while the Triumph and Darwin hybrid tulips are in full bloom. I was out in the flower bed digging and weeding until 10 pm last night. The long days are nice and the plants are growing at an incredible speed.


These are the purple "Negrita" Single late tulips, with a single "Menton" peachy pink tulip at the left side. The Saskatoon berry shrubs are blooming in the foreground and background.

I picked up a few shrubs (Nest spruce, Spirea mini sunglo) at distant garden center yesterday and I'm still working on their final placements. I also got some additions for the rock garden, including hens and chicks and woolly thyme. This is part of my shift towards smaller, more appropriate plants for the little rock garden, which is a bit overpowered by some taller plants. Oh yes, thanks to resident-lawnmower-man who got me the gift certificate for the garden center!!!


These peachy pink "Menton" single late tulips are flowering for their second year. They grow very well here in the raised bed, where they get several feet of snow cover in the winter. We don't bother with shoveling any extra snow or mulch onto them. They are not the most "perennial" of the large tulips, and are said to only flower well for a few years. I don't especially like the peachy hue of the flowers, which clashes with the purple and blue flowers that are nearby.

Resident-lawnmower-man balks when I discuss these horrendous "clashes", but to me, the technicolor dissonance can be enough to cause nausea, or even insomnia (I must not have enough other life issues to worry about). I am hoping "Florissa" (single late) is closer to what I am looking for, but those were planted last fall and are not yet flowering. I am also still waiting for the bicolor "Skagit Valley" single late tulips to flower. If one of those last two tulips blow my socks off, I'll dig up the "Menton" tulips and replace them.



Finally, this is my tropical touch in the yard. I brought my cannas (this is "Stuttgart") indoors last fall and overwintered them as a houseplant in my bedroom. They started to flower again a few weeks ago. I put them out in two barrel planters and hope they'll thrive out in the long and warm days. This particular one has had a long battle with aphids, but it seems to be holding its own.