Happy Wednesday!
A wee midweek update form me today, it was all go last week, the very first Spring Subscription deliveries went out on Friday (yay) and I had the first posies in the wonderful shop at Ardardan Estate. So a monumental weekend. It was also the last week of the Easter hols for my girls so crazy on all the levels.
Well, the sunshine this week is bringing out all the tulips which is great, but I'm starting to feel sad that they'll be over soon. Next up on the bloom list is ranunculus (come on ranuncs!!!!) I have lots of Italian ranunculus in bud in the big tunnel, some blooms but they are taking their sweet time. Also in the tunnel Anemones are looking totally beautiful, Bianco Centro Nero is the winner so far with the fancy (and expensive) pastel varieties not producing as well or nearly as large. The Orlaya grandiflora is about to bloom (OMG) and the cutest ever Bunny tail grass is throwing up big fat fluffy heads, just waiting for the stems to lengthen a touch. Sweet peas are climbing up their frame, a few of the roses have tiny buds, the Daucus 'Dara' are making a nice forest, Stocks are nearly ready, Larkspur, strawflower, basket flower, cynoglossum, snaps and last but by no means least, the Colibri Poppies grown from seed are FINALLY bulking up.
Outside its still tulip mania, with the sun they open fast so I'm harvesting a few times per day to make sure they are cut at exactly the right time to last and open beautifully in the vase. This week there has been a mix of 'Silk Road', "Angelique', 'Negrita' 'La Belle Époque', 'Brownie' and 'Dreamer'. Outdoor planted anemones are growing, no sign of blooms yet, the ranunculus outside (that was planted at the same time as the tunnel plants) are sending up flower buds so a few weeks off blooming. The hyacinths are nearly over now, the last of the Narcissus are about to open, the small fritillaria Uva Vulpis are over and the last few Snowflakes (Leucojum) are nodding their way to over too. I'll be sad to see them go, they're magical little things. I have a tray of spring sown stocks to plant out and I transplanted 150 snaps out yesterday.
Alliums and Cammassia are gearing up, I have lots of different varieties in lots of different colours, I had hoped they would be a bit further on but they were planted later than I would have liked. Hesperis is budding up with the Viburnum Op (Snowball bush) and honesty is in bloom but I'm going to save most of the flowers for their translucent penny shaped seed heads later in the season. There are buds on the peonies but I have a Peony curse, every year I think it will be my year (and I'm not put off buying more...) now I see some leaf curling and some hardening of the buds, devastation. I have some in the ground, some in the ground in a different spot, some in pots, some in pots in a different spot... Can't get them happy. They're my Everest.
I haven't mentioned it yet but - DAHLIAS. I have two crate towers in my hall (yes inside my house) full of all my varieties, they will be filled with compost and started in the tunnel next week. In the build up to this year I've been most excited about the dahlias, all the new varieties. I can't wait.
I have a few wholesale florists orders this week, it's exciting to think of the flowers heading off to take part in a big life event for someone. That's the joy of flowers though isn't it? We use them to express ourselves - they do the job when words are hard to find.
