Tulip Time at the Reeder Homestead.

 These photos were taken in our garden over about a week's time. The bouquet in the first photo is now faded and I dumped it this morning. I'll be back out when the rain stops to put together a new one.

After planting the same thing year after year we made some changes last fall when we planted this year's bulb order. Since nothing much was growing well on this wall anymore, due to lack of sun, we planed an assortment of Hosta there, and planted tulips between them. As the Hostas grow, the tulips will finish and be removed.

We also couldn't get our favorite purple bulbs, so our color mix doesn't have quite the same WOW effect. We'll make adjustments next fall. 

My old coal bucket planter needed refreshing. I bought the red cordyline and found the rest of the material in Tom's nursery.  

When we were at Roozengaarde' s tulip display last year, Tom really liked these fringed tulips. so we ordered some for our garden. 

I do love orange and purple together. 

These bright beauties are just opening under the apple trees. 

While we do want the weather to warm up, we also are happy that the chilly days are prolonging the tulip show on into May.

Happy May Day!

Christianson's Nursery

 Whenever we are in the Skagit Valley, which is usually just during tulip time, we must pay a visit to one of our favorite nurseries. 

I only took a few photos this year, what with managing my walking stick and handling  plants and maneuvering around, so you get just a peek this time. 

Christianson's is an old nursery. It has been serving the valley for many years. It is also filled with well aged structures and objects to lend rustic charm, which is one of the things I love about it. They also have a large selection of great plants. 

Our purchases.

Across the street is a bulb growing field, this year planted with daffodils. 

The little old schoolhouse, moved here from another valley location, houses a good little show of local artists work. 

And the grounds were a great place to sit and rest and soak up some sun. 

Tulip Time, Part 2

 The photos in Part 1 were all taken in the contained, concentrated display area with intensive planting. Part 2 photos are from the surrounding areas, more spread out, with views of fields and sky. Because tulips are a rotated crop, the tulip bulbs for harvest are planted in different fields on a three year rotation basis. This year the growing fields were somewhat distant to the display garden, and while it was possible to walk to them, and many visitors did, we did not. So this year, no photos of long rows and rainbow stripes of tulip color, but with this second photo dump, you probably won't miss them. 

The Skagit Valley is a beautiful place. Although the clouds obscured the snowcapped Mt Baker this day, the sky itself was, and often is, one of the stars of the show. 

A salute to the University of Washington Huskies. 

Imperial Fritillarias

Fancy Narcissus / daffodils

Tulip fields in the distance, clover cover crop in the foreground. Clover is plowed under to enrich the soil and restore nitrogen. 

While that's the end of the tulip tour, it wasn't the end of our day in the valley. We had to go to Christianson's Nursery of course, but I limited my photo impulses there. Next post.