Thursday 12 April 2018

Tulips, Irises & Sweet Violets

The many tulips planted last November continue to dazzle. Species and Darwin hybrids are just about finished blooming. The lily-flowered variety are at their peak, especially the gorgeous Purple Dream.

The petals are sheltering what could be an extraterrestial forest

Van Eijk tulips graciously wait for the changing of the bloom guard . . .


. . .  and are not disappointed by their replacement.


Often found in early spring gardens, is the intriguing contrast between still bare branches, in this case, a beauty bush, and lush flowers. Van Eijk has fragrant, large, and long-lasting, hot-pink, splashed-with-coral blooms with cherry-red insides.


Daydream, a fragrant Darwin hybrid (its perfume is similar to freesias) starts out yellow and then becomes flushed apricot. Colour-wise, it complements Purple Dream nicely.


Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens) is a wonderful, evergreen ground cover that is commonly grown around spring bulbs as to hide the muddy earth and eventual dying foliage (which feeds next season's blooms). A few shell-pink, double lily-flowered Miss Elegance of the many which were planted for last spring's display managed to rebloom. Unlike daffodils, most tulips don't return.


Bearded irises when they open fully and splashed with rain lend a bit of the exotic to the garden. In the lower left corner of the below photo, you can see the tufted, yellow and white 'beard'.


On the entrance steps, some potted white heather and echeveria with its crimson-edged foliage, cheered us up during the winter. The latter is upping that cheer presently with its yellow flowers.


Sweet violets spread wherever they find shade and a bit of earth. These are doing their thing along the length of our driveway.


Though there are problems having a refrigerator depot as a neighbour, there are benefits as its spacious entrance driveway is beautifully landscaped with a pair of enormous spruce trees and an ornamental cherry tree which presently resembles a soft, pink cloud. That amazing billowing that it does sometimes eludes my camera, as it lasts usually just a day, but this season, it got captured nicely.

This is the view from our living/dining room!

À la prochaine!

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