These are definitely the last, but also, I think, the best. They're called "Carnival de Rio," and are my favourite so far — of course, I've said that about each and every cultivar this spring. What can I say; I'm fickle. But these are lovely. (And I particularly love the tiny, dwarf tulips that sometimes appear, like a conjoined twin. So cute!) They're even taller than the Banja Luka tulips, and have less of a that garish, plastic sheen. And they keep closed a bit better; their shape is more tulip-y.
Sadly, the (brief) heavy rainstorms that came through on Monday pretty much destroyed their petals, so even though they're still around in my garden, there will be no more pictures. I don't expect them to last more than another week.
But! This means that all of the bulbs I planted last October bloomed (!), and bodes very well for next year, when I shall be able to execute my plan for a tulip-filled strip on the side of the yard. It makes next year's plan reasonably easy — essentially, we just need to do more of the same.
...
I don't talk much about the flowers in the garden because I'm not always sure of what's there — for example, there are some odd spikey things that Pd and I think are lilies, but could also be weeds. (When we went for a walk, we kept looking at other people's gardens for similar plants, and then trying to evaluate whether or not they were placed deliberately — does this particular gardener look like he knew what he was doing? Or is that a random weed growing there? It turned out to be about 50/50, which honestly was less than helpful. But we think the odds are tipping towards proper lilies.) Anyway, though, I can report that the trillium are growing again, which makes me very happy:
They were a little later this year, because of the cooler weather, but it's always such a lovely surprise when I find them — an unexpected gift. (Although really, I don't know what could happen to them, in the interim — they are so wedged in the fence that they are pretty much protected from me, wild animals, elements — everything.)
The calla lily, too, is doing amazingly well:
Here is what it looked like two weeks ago, when I transplanted it outside (it was started indoors). There's a rough size comparison if you look at the wooden ID stake at the back.
(It was bent that way because I was negligent about constantly turning it while starting it inside, and it tilted, naturally, towards the sun. It straightened up fairly quickly, though.)
It is occupying the spot by the door that formerly housed one of the peonies — did I mention that I lost one? The other is doing reasonably well, I think, even though it's very small so I'm not sure if there will be any flowers this year. The other, though, never got much further than the bud stage, which was disappointing as it had been the first of the two to bud. It became reasonably clear that it wasn't viable when the other started leafing and this one just ... lay there, so I pulled it out for the calla lily. (it was in a nice, sunny spot — prime real estate. You can see that the lily loves it.) It looks like the root may have rotted. I don't know what I could have done to prevent that — I didn't water it any more than Mother Nature did — but, considering how late I left it and how little I know of what I'm doing, one out of two isn't bad.
There are also two other calla lilies — another started indoors, which was transplanted out at the same time, and a bulb planted three or four weeks ago. The bulb has not broken ground yet, which is not entirely surprising considering the weather, but I'm keeping an eye out. The other transplant is also doing well, if not gangbusters like this one; it's in a slightly shadier and wetter spot.
I really do feel like this year I have a better grasp of what I'm doing — but it's still early days yet. Plenty of time to flail.
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