Monday, 12 March 2012

Hyacinths heat up the hot bed

the most popular with slugs
I don't think I ever gave much thought to spring flowers but all that has changed since the new terraced bed was made. In an effort to correct my lack of knowledge and experience I am trying out all sorts of ornamental plants without much worry about the correctness of it all.

isint she lovely? gypsy queen
So while normally I'd give a wide berth to tender bulbs like hyacinths this year I bought a few to try out and what a good idea it was! Every time I look out and see their bright cheerful colours it really makes me smile. I think the shelter and sun here suit them really well, though as you will see slugs have caused some to keel over by eating chunks out of the stems. The best part of course is the glorious scent as you walk by, stronger these days with a bit of heat in the air . Anyway enough yapping here are some lovely pics.

standing up well to cold and weather
pretty companions -snakes head fritillary

crazy companions! I think a vodoo lilly

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2 comments:

  1. knockainey knitting & crochet circle12 March 2012 at 19:53

    Oh, your bulbs look lovely Marie. I planted a bag of snake head fritillaries last autumn but not a sign of any of them appearing yet.....SIGH! Anything I should know? I planted them along with some daffs that have happily come up, around one of the apple trees near the house.....
    Got the seed sowing bug and have lots of seed trays now around the place and wow, the heated germinator is the business! 2 or 3 days only for tomatoes, cosmos, stock, etc. No sign of the fox gloves yet but i think as yours did, they'll take longer. Fingers crossed!

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  2. Marie T13 March 2012 at 09:54

    Hi Eliza!
    from my understanding of them they are native to the UK though not Ireland and are generally found in abundance on flood plains. There is a famous one in oxfordshire called iffley meadows where over 42,000 bloom at the same time!They like moist but light and well drained soil, a bit tricky on clay where you might need to mix in compost to make it easier for them to grow.

    I am delighted to hear you are sowing like mad, its full scale production here too. The heated propagator really makes life easy, it will be the best money you ever spent! By the way out of 30 seeds only 13 have germinated so far of the pams split foxgloves. I feel if we had a few sunny days more might appear. Fingers crossed. The child of prague is already out there!

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