03 April 2010

Yellows


Yesterday I wondered whether the miniature daffodils would be flowering by the end of the weekend. Today they obligingly opened: a full two weeks in advance of their flowering date last year. In front of them are the leaves of a delphinium I grew from seed in 2008 and which has yet to flower at all. I'm hoping this will be its year. Especially as I read yesterday that they often don't last much past three years. Maybe this will be its first and last year of flowering.

The earliest of the tulips are open, too.


I don't know much about tulips, apart from that they seem to like the weather conditions here. Can anyone tell me what variety these are? The flowers are smaller and shorter than the 'regular' tulips which flower here in late April and early May.

2 comments:

Ellie said...

Hi Amanda,
Your tulips are called "botanical tulips". There are several types - I'm not sure which one you have. They look a bit like Tulipa tarda, but I'm not sure. These are the types:
•Tulipa clusiana
•Tulipafosteriana
•Tulipa greigii
•Tulipa kaufmanniana,
•Tulipa praestans
•Tulipa tarda,
•Tulipa turkestanica
Perhaps google can help?

It's wonderful when the first miniature daffodils open their flowers, isn't it? Here in the Netherlands we are about 10 days ahead of you, and we have Chionodoxa, larger Narcissus, Forsythia, Ribes and Pulmonaria flowering. Spring is here - hurrah!

Amanda said...

Thanks Ellie! How apt that someone from the Netherlands should answer a question about tulips... ;-)