Everything is in place to enjoy my spring garden – everything, that is, except the weather. From howling gales to torrential rain, we’ve had it all over the last week, and I think there is more to come. Ever the optimist, I am going ahead and making preparations for sunshine and calm conditions. I have seedlings growing on every window ledge, which should be okay to go outside in a couple of weeks, and today, I took delivery of a floral parasol, a gifted item from Cox & Cox http://www.coxandcox.co.uk. I could not resist giving it a try out on the patio, and I think it’s going to be a lovely addition to the garden. I really like the dark floral pattern, and the retro fringing. It is quite a light parasol, but I have it firmly anchored in a very sturdy base from John Lewis.
I suppose one upside of the cool weather is that the tulips are continuing to put on a great display, and they are lasting extremely well. ‘Queen of the Night’, the purple (almost black) ones are particularly resilient this year, and I’ve also had good results with ‘Slawa’ and ‘Ballerina.’ I’ve teamed them with wallflowers and muscari in an old tin bath, and they look particularly good when sunshine hits them at a certain point in the morning. I wanted to create a lush, Turkish carpet effect, and I’m pleased with it.
I have some even fancier tulip varieties growing in the flower patch at my parents’ house, and I picked a bunch to bring home a few days ago. These varieties remind me of 1980s silk taffeta ballgowns, not that I ever had one, and also puffball skirts from that era (I did own one of those!).
I picked this little posy of lily of the valley over at mum and dad’s last week. I have put these on my dresser in the kitchen and the fragrance is quite incredible.
I hope everyone is doing well. Thank you for reading, I’ll be back soon with some more garden updates.