Thursday, May 9, 2013

Tiptoe Through the Tulips


Try (as hard as it might be) to forget about Tiny Tim's version of Tiptoe Through the Tulips and check out the original from 1929 HERE- Original Tiptoe.
Next, brace yourself for an amazing display of tulips. These beauties- all 300- are called 'The Royals' and are from Colorblends . Colorblends is my favorite bulb company- I have been using them since 2005- and have not found a better bulb anywhere. Honest.
I planted 'The Royals' in the raised patio garden at WFSB's TV station in Rocky Hill, Connecticut last fall. Clearly, they are happy, happy, happy there. Blooms are as big as the palm of my hand and some bulbs produced three blooms each!
You can see the story I did for them in full bloom for Better Connecticut by clicking HERE- including Scot Haney and Olessa Stepanova.

This is a three season garden at the TV station- so I'm going to pull them out and re-plant them. If you want to keep your bulbs in the same spot and encourage them to bloom again next year, make sure you deadhead but leave the foliage!!! Don't try any tricky stuff like braiding the leaves- just leaves them alone until they turn yellow and dry up. The leaves are working hard to store up food in the bulb for next year's blooms. You mess with the leaves, you mess with the blooms. Got it?

Monday, May 6, 2013

Cherry Blossoms

 
"Gardening is how I relax.
It's another form of creating and playing with colors."
~Oscar de la Renta

This Cherry tree (I can't tell you the specific variety, it was already planted on the property when I moved here) in my back yard is alive with the hum of buzzy bees.

Today the petals began to drop when a breeze comes through creating a delicate rain of petals.  Not only does it look pretty, the aroma is exquisite.

Look who finally decided to come up... Asparagus! This year marks year three for these guys which means harvest, harvest, harvest!