The wholesale catalogues from the bulb nurseries have already slapped through the letterbox. For 2013 I have taken a vow not to leave the ordering of tulips and narcissi etc till the last gasp.
This is a quick post to give a prize (in words alone) to the best tulip of my pot selection planted for this fleeting spring. It goes to Tulipa Cairo which has been long lived, is of elegant shape on straight stems, 40 cm high. The flower shape was wine goblet to start with and colour a bronze-brown colour. Feint pin stripes became more pronounced with age and the petals recurved slightly.
This year I have grown tulips in clay, in light soil and in my own pots. The third is definitely the best growing environment. Clay brings disease and in sand the flowering process shoots through in fast forward.
