The May Garden

The May Garden begins with the slow decline of the daffodils. That said, there are still many blooming – as I said, I have quite the collection

I bought a large mix of bulbs a few years back so I don’t know the name of many of them. But there are others that I do.

This one is called Mount Hood. It’s the biggest daffodil in the garden. It starts off with a light yellow trumpet, but then it fades to this perfect creamy white. It’s one of the longest lasting daffodils too. It started blooming almost two full weeks ago.

From the larfest, we go to the smallest. And my absolute favourite. It’s called Minnow. It’s taller than Arctic Bells and Rip Van Winkles, but the size of it’s blooms are on par. You can see by my hands, they are teeny!

And last – the most fragrant. This one is called Pipit. As you can see it’s a soft, creamy yellow and it has the most wonderful perfume. Most of the daffodils don’t seem to have any scent at all, so this one really shines! It’s go mid-sized blooms.

There’s still a few late-blooming daffies to come, but the garden is definitely giving way to the tulips.

Now I don’t know about you, but I kind of prefer the tulips when it’s a little grey and cloudy, and they are closed up tight.

Now, I did say that most of my tulips were Darwin and Triumph Tulips because they last longer… but there are a few outliers.

I bought a mix in 2024 that had a bunch of fringed tulips in different colours. So far this year, this is the only one that’s appeared, so I expect this will be the last year for them.

This funky one was bought as part of another mix in 2023. Again, so far, this is the only one that has appeared. But still – three years is good for a fancy tulip!

My absolute favouite tulip, I didn’t plant at all. It was here when we got here.

It starts off as a yellow with just a touch of red along the edge, and a dusting of blush across each petal. But as the blooms get older, they gain more and more of that blush.

We know that Ruby, the lady who owned our house lived here with her son Robert. She passed in 2013. Robert died in 2020, and we bought the house in 2021. Our understanding is that Robert wasn’t much of a gardener, so they must have been planted by Ruby. That means they are at least 13 years old!

There’s quite the little patch of them. I say every year that I’m going to dig them up and spread them around, but I never do. In truth, I’m a little afraid to. What if I move them and they don’t come back. Probably best not to mess with a good thing.

I’ve also more of those species tulips I told you about…