Tulips

A post from Kerri on Colors of the Garden about her tulips, reminded me to take some photos too. I find they dont come up so well the next year, as I grow them in pots. So treat them as annuals, and usually indulge myself in buying a new parrot variety each autumn. I find them so exciting, compared to the ordinary types.The one above is new to me this year, I love the green that appears in it.

I think I've already posted an image of that one, also new this year. The edge of the petals is very spiky - never come across it before. It reminds me of a Venus Flytrap!


This is more purple than the photo above suggests. I really must remember to take them out of their pots after flowering this year, and plant them all in a clump somewhere for a splash of colour next year. I always try to buy early varieties, I am such an impatient gardener really when it comes to bulbs and flowers.

I think another visit to the new garden centre is called for this weekend. I have an old friend from library school visiting who is garden-less right now. She bought her "long loppers" with her on the train. sticking out of her bag. That reminded me of a recent train journey to London, when a lad in day-glo working clothes got on board at a small station, wearing safety trousers and hard hat. He was carrying a huge (and I mean huge and mean) Stihl chain saw, with a swathe of black plastic around the middle of the blade cover - like a birthday present with a bow around it! He sat behind me, and immediately got talking to the people next to him. So I listened.

He was on a chainsaw course safety course, doing the practical bit in the middle of the Dorset countryside. While waiting for his train back home, the station master (yes they had one, I was suprised for two platforms in the middle of a forest!) said that he couldnt travel with it - unless it was wrapped up. The lad was resourceful and found a discarded black plastic dustbin liner. There are no shops or houses near the station you understand. I am not sure how this made things better - everyone on the train knew it was a chainsaw, and if he wanted to run amok he still would. Still, (Stihl????) rules are rules, and everyone was happy.