Bettys top 5 spring bulbs
This mild winter weather has already coaxed the modest snow drops from the ground (now all that is left is to coak George from his chair!), which has got me contemplating my most anticipated spring bulbs and so here they are, in all their floral glory, Bettys top 5 spring bulbs;
Narcissus – Daffodils
We must all have a soft spot for Daffodils! Doubles, trumpet, small cupped, they all offer a delightful flash of colour and make a fantastic cut flower for the home. They look particularly pretty popped into one of our AGA jugs.
Fritillaria imperialis – Crown Imperial
I do love the golden orange hanging bells of the Crown Imperial. With its dark, almost black stems and mop of spiky green leaves this spring bulb makes a striking statement.
Hyacinthus – Hyacinths
The scent of a fine Hyacinth is intoxicating, especially when planted en masse in the garden or in a container on the patio. Hyacinths can also be grown inside in containers to brighten any room. A real Spring treat, these flowers come in a vast array of colours from the more common purples, blues and whites to the striking oranges, yellows and brightest pinks.
Anemone x fulgens – Anemone
A late spring flowering bulb with bright scarlet red poppy-like flowers on stout stems, an absolute Betty border must-have.
Tulipa – Tulips
An elegant cut flower and often the brightest spark in my Herefordshire garden come the Spring, Tulips offer a diverse range of shapes, colours and patterns. My love for these delightful flowers is not just borne from their variation and elegant form but also the fantastic names created for each variety; ‘Carnaval de Nice’, ‘White Triumphator’, ‘Dreaming Maid’ and the somewhat less gracefully named ‘Gordon Cooper’!
How excited I am now to see these beauties poke their noses out this year! And I am well prepared with secateurs and enamel trug to collect my cut flowers and get them arranged in my kitchen (the heart of my home) to brighten things up after a dark and dingy winter.
I love decorating my house for every sseaon, I always did it since my boys were little kids. Now they are 21 and 23 and they get home asking when the new decoration will be on. I decorate the whole house during christmas. I even change the pictures hanging on the walls. I put up 3 to 5 xmas trees in different rooms. The traditional one goes in the living room, the informal one goes in the family room. A small one goes on the kitchen counter with cookie cutters hanging from the branches. In the entrance a mid size one uses also traditional decorations and when my kids were small I put a mid size one in every room with decorations they made. I even decorate the bedrooms and the bathrooms. For valentines I decorate the entrance door with a wreath in a form of a heart full of silk flowers. I change the tablecloth on the dining table to a red one with hearts and I set the table with hearts decorations,since we usually celebrate Valentine’s dinner at home. I put red and white candles everywhere, all the small round table are decorated with red or red and white tablecloths. Even the kitchen towels and the apron is changed for every sseaon. For Easter, I change the wreath to an appropiate one, the tablecloths around the house. I put bunnies and special dessert plates to decorate and I change the decorations on the piano and other tables. I also change it for summer, then for the Back to School sseaon, (I am a teacher) and for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I change towels, aprons, kitchen towels, everything I can it helps me get in the mood. I have collected all the decorations during the years and in discount stores usually off sseaon. I put them away in plastic boxes that are identified with the sseaon. Try it, it will please you so much you will keep on doing it and adding new things every year.