Thursday, 12 May 2011

another hit of spring, and an anticipated harvest

It looks like it's overcast outside again, even though it's so nice and warm, so here's another tulip-y pick-me-up:

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These are the "Banja Luka" tulips, which really do look this vibrant and plastic-like (especially in the sun). They tower a good five or six inches over the "Giuseppe Verdi" tulips which, alas, are done for the year. I will have to deadhead them this weekend. What I like most about the "Banja Luka," besides their happy colour, is the fact that they open almost like teacup roses in the bright sun (as in this picture).

This morning it was cooler and overcast, and they had closed up into the proper tulip shape.

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This is the side of the laneway that I am hoping to fill with naturalized tulips over the course of the next few years. The tulips in the background, the plain red ones, are remnants from the previous owner. (I had thought we had yellow ones, but those seem to be in the backyard only.) The green is not grass; it's chives. Of course it is.

After the "Banja Luka" there's just one more wave of tulip cultivar to go — I forget the name, but I think they have pale edges, and are slightly ruffled like parrot tulips. They've started to bud, but none have opened yet. Hopefully, by the time they're done, the rest of the garden will have caught up — things are coming back, and we've got some lovely violets and periwinkle (I especially adore the latter), but there's nothing tall and the tulips kind of stick out like a sore thumb. I'm thinking of removing them from the main yard entirely next year, actually. They looks kind of weird and out of place.

Meanwhile, in the back, the rhubarb is turning into the Plant That Ate Toronto:

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I mean, good God. I had read that rhubarb doesn't like to be wet, and since we've had such a wet and cool spring, I thought that maybe it would be delayed a little. But, no. It's ready to be harvested now, and it's gigantic. (I am trying to be better this year. Last year I would look at the rhubarb, decide that it needed another week or two, and then forget to harvest altogether. Which might explain why I have a sudden explosion of rhubarb, as I think all the rhubarb I didn't harvest turned into new rhubarb plants.)

That's not the best bit, though. The best bit is — do you remember how, back in October, I transplanted the potted strawberry plants into the garden in a last-ditch effect to salvage something? Well, it seems like it may have even worked:

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At least three of those plants are alive, have strong leaves and — astoundingly! — have proto-blossoms. There was even a nice, fat bumblebee hovering around them this morning. I have no idea if we will get any strawberries out of this; I'm still in awe of the fact that they survived.

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