Daffodil Days
Hello friends,
With high spring now upon us, I took some time to photograph the daffodils flowering in my garden at the moment.
First up are my favorite daffodils, the Tete-a-Tete varieties. I'm now especially fond of the double variety I bought last autumn, Tete Boucle, and I would like to grow some more of them in the garden.
Next are the white daffodils, which I'm becoming more and more obsessed with recently.
And lastly we have the large, yellow varieties. Some of the lemon and double varieties are just beautiful, including the delicate daffodil Mother Duck.
Daffodils are just such a happy and bright reminder at the beginning of spring that sunnier and warmer days are on their way. I'm so pleased that I invested in hundreds of daffodils a couple of years ago, and spent all that time planting them in the ground in autumn, because my garden now has a brilliant burst of colour in early spring.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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Planting Tulips
Hello friends,
A little while ago I did an online order for garlic bulbs to plant this autumn, and while I was on the Bulbs Direct website buying those, I had a chance to peruse their other spring bulb collections. I've already completely filled our garden with daffodil bulbs, but other spring bulb plants are few and far between.
A couple of weeks later a package arrived from Bulbs Direct, and I had four new varieties of tulips to plant, including Katinka, Kickstart, Marvel Parrot, and Purple Sky. In shades of purples and pinks, these tulips will brighten up my front garden in spring.
The day the Bulbs Direct package arrived, I pulled out my trusty bulb planter, and got to work in the front garden.
I decided to plant each bulb variety in a clump together to really give a big floral punch of colour in various part of the front garden. The tulips will greet us every time we enter or exit our property, and they'll look great from the street too.
Now there is nothing to do but wait over winter and into spring for my new tulip bulbs to make their way above ground. It'll be something to look forward to over the coming dark and cold winter months.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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Sowing Ranunuculus Seeds
Hello friends,
Three weeks ago I finally got around to sowing the ranunculus seeds I bought from Bud & Bloom back in January. The seeds don't germinate in hot weather, so I had to wait until late March when we start to get cooler mornings.
I pulled out my new seed sowing tray protector and got to work. I'm so pleased that I invested in buying it earlier this year, as it cuts down on mess big time, and it's so much easier to sow seeds.
I sowed one seed per cell, and gently covered each ranunculus seed with vermiculite as suggested in the instructions that came with the seeds. I gave them a good watering and stored all the seed trays undercover in the woodshed where it is cool for most of the day.
Now came the patiently waiting part, as ranunculus are notoriously slow at germinating, usually taking 2 - 3 weeks to germinate. Each day I checked on the seed trays and kept the vermiculite damp.
Two weeks after seed sowing, a single ranunculus seedling popped it's head above the vermiculite, and then another and another over the next few weeks.
Quite a few seedlings have come up now, and they are slowly growing in their seed sowing cells. Over the coming weeks they'll grow their underground root systems, and then as the weather gets even cooler, the plants will grow more leaves. I can't want to see lots of ranunculus plants flowering in spring this year.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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No Really, One Last Dahlia Order, And A New Rose Bush Too
Hello friends,
I have a good excuse for one last dahlia order, no really.
Two dahlias that I was expecting to come up above ground, Cafe Au Lait, and also one of my new dahlias, Wizard of Oz, both failed to sprout, and after much impatient waiting I decided to have an exploratory dig around them to see what was happening.
My Cafe Au Lait dahlia was in the middle of rotting, it was so wet in there that a worm moved into the mushy bits that used to be one of my prize dahlias. My other dahlia, Wizard of Oz, had already started rotting too, and all of its eyes had disappeared during the process.
It was what I had guessed had happened. In October we had a huge multiple day rainstorm that ended up with flooding in low lying areas of Dunedin. Dahlias hate being overly wet, and with all the rain we were inundated with, both dahlias had succumbed to rot.
I was very disappointed about this, and I really wanted to replace my Cafe Au Lait dahlia, so I searched the local dahlia bulb companies, and found that Bulbs Direct still had some in stock. And considering that I had lost two dahlias, I also replaced the other dahlia I had lost. Since they no longer had Wizard of Oz dahlia in stock, I instead chose a Strawberry Cream dahlia.
As soon as they arrived by courier, they went straight into the ground. They both had decent sprouts on them, so I was happy about this. They are now both in place in the back garden.
And while I was away for a short holiday in Lake Tekapo, both Cafe Au Lait, and also Strawberry Cream, both came up above ground. I was so happy to see them. Unfortunately when I got back I discovered that one of my other new dahlias, Bacardi, which I got in October from Mount Mera Botanical, also died from rot. It had a bud above ground when I left to go on holiday, but when I got home, the bud was gone, and the bulb had rotted. I'm super sad about this because it was one of my wish list dahlias I've wanted for years. I'll have to fight it out next year to see if I can get another bulb.
And I also bought another rose too. I was in town the other day, and walked past Mitre 10 which was having a 20% off roses sale. A David Austen rose, Celebration Jubilee, was in full flower, and the antique pink colours were just amazing. I bought it, and took it home with me, and then I spent an hour wandering around the back garden trying to figure out where to put it. I eventually found a space near our new maple tree which will do for now. Later on I can move it elsewhere.
It's so nice to have another flowering rose in the back garden, it reminds me that summer is almost here, and that will mean that my dahlias will start flowering too. There's already some dahlias growing flower buds, so it won't be too long before my favorite gardening time of the year is here.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.
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