May already, and the weather is no better. Rather depressing, to be honest. The great British obsession with complaining
about the weather is at full throttle, with everybody saying that it has been a poor spring. The
meteorologists tell us that temperatures in April were actually slightly
above normal, but with rainfall slightly above average – on top of a very
rainy few months before that. The April
figures were distorted by a couple of quite warm days early in the month, but
since then it has continued fairly cold, with chilly winds, and whereas there
is often a short spell of a week or so of warmer weather at some point in spring, we
haven’t had that so far. And there has
been relatively little sunshine, which always makes a difference, even if the weather
is on the cool side. Nothing much better
in the forecast.
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| Cheerful - but not 'World Friendship' |
So a few potfuls of tulips making a cheerful splash of
colour to brighten the spirits is especially welcome. Even if it’s not quite the colour I was
expecting! – the ‘World Friendship’ tulips (so-called), which should have been
a graceful soft yellow, have come out orange with a slight pink flush. The other pots seem to contain what they were
meant to contain. The mix of ‘Dreamer’, ‘National
Velvet’ and ‘Havran’ is good, but really ‘Havran’ is too dark a contrast; a
brighter purple would have been better, as ‘National Velvet’ is quite a dark
red tulip. The big pot has ‘Prinses
Irene’ and ‘Uncle Tom’, which are a good match in height, with ‘Black Hero’
which is lovely but noticeably taller; ‘Havran’ would have done better
there. It would also be a good partner
for ‘Prinses Irene’ (orange) and ‘Doll’s Minuet’ (magenta), if I’m brave enough
to put them together next time!
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| 'Dreamer', 'National Velvet' and 'Havran' |
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| 'Doll's Minuet' in front of 'Prinses Irene, 'Uncle Tom' and 'Black Hero' |
The apple cordons are in flower, with green alkanet
flowering blue among some of them – another cheerful contrast. At the other end of the row, the lily of the
valley started to bloom in time for May Day.
And the roses won’t be far behind: ‘Mary Queen of Scots’ is already out.
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| Blue-flowered green alkanet under the apple cordons |
The chilly weather doesn’t seem to be putting off the
pollinators; a pair of bumblebees were on the apple cordons the other day. Butterflies are also starting to appear. A male orange-tip was about yesterday, and a
speckled wood a couple of weeks ago.
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| Bumblebee on the apple flowers |
