Tulip tangent

While waiting for seeds to germinate and seedlings to grow, I'm going to drop in a quick tulip post.  I'll be able to transplant more vegetables from the greenhouse to the garden in a couple of days, but right now there's nothing to do but enjoy the tulips and daffodils.  The last few days brought another cold snap, but nothing was damaged, and I won't complain about having to move trays from the greenhouse into the cellar at night, because people in the states east and north of us got blizzards and up to two feet of snow!

The perennial oregano and chives are off and running.

The rhubarb is putting out flower buds.  Those are supposed to be removed if  you want more foliage - and thus stems - and you do.  But I have so many plants that I'm going to let this one have its flowers to see what becomes of them.  They're quite pretty in this stage.

Meanwhile, the seedlings in the greenhouse are looking very healthy.  Particularly the tomatoes.

If you're thinking most of those don't look like tomatoes, it's because they're 'Missouri Pink Love Apple', a potato-leaf variety.

In the last post, I added this picture of the 'Orange Emperor' tulips I potted up last fall, saying it wouldn't be long until they opened.

Indeed, that afternoon:

In this year's tulip bed (I have two more planned for 2020 and 2021),  which I planted last fall, these darling two-toned grape hyacinths (Muscari latifolium) have been blooming for just about two weeks.

The 'Orange Emperor' tulip was the first to blossom of the tulips, with the parrot varities 'Princess Irene' and 'Rococo' close behind.  I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about the parrot tulips.  They were nice looking in the pictures at Tulips.com, but they're so much prettier in actuality, and a joy to watch develop.  (Incidentally, I added a link to Tulips.com in the right sidebar "Where I Buy" because I'm very pleased with the quality of their bulbs - all of this bed were ordered from them.)

The parrot buds remind me of the alien plant Audrey in "Little Shop of Horrors".

Then they blossom into gorgeous flowers.  

'Princess Irene'

'Princess Irene' and 'Rococo'

Foreground: 'Princess Irene'

Background: 'Thalia' and 'Hawera' (right)

'Rococo'

The insides are rich, satiny, solid colored with a contrasting center and showy pistils and stamens.

'Rococo'

The two Narcissus I planted in the tulip bed are a sweet-smelling white mid-height plant called 'Thalia', and a small dainty yellow one called 'Hawera'.

I guess it's probably more appropriate to call these bulb beds, but I started out thinking of them as tulip beds, and that's stuck.  When I'm finished, there'll actually be more Narcissus than tulips.

'Princess Irene',  'Hawera', 'Thalia', 'Rococo', 'Orange Emperor' and Muscari

It's a beautiful time of the year.  Trees' leaves are opening, and the forsythia and magnolias are loaded with blooms.  The best year since I've been back (five years) for flowering trees and shrubs.  And the lilacs - possibly my favorite - are just about to open up.

Cheers!

Magnolia 'Jane'

Forsythia