#springbulb

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Wednesday 11 April 2018

‘Boxing clever’ - a display of Narcissus (daffodil) varieties at the Chelsea Physic Garden, London. The individual cultivars are in containers allowing them to be admired, compared and changed as needed. The display theatre is constructed from wooden crates bolted together at the front. 

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Friday 25 May 2018

The last tulips flowering in my garden are Tulipa 'Lambada'. These are classified as a Fringed Tulip, which is those with a clear crystalline fringe as opposed to the more deeply cut feathered flower edges of a Parrot Tulip. This is a relatively recent cultivar first raised in 1991. 

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Saturday 5 May 2018

The double flowers of Tulipa 'La Belle Epoque' (tulip) have a unique colouring of apricot-pink and coffee petals fading to the edges. The flowers last for several weeks and are great in containers.

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Monday 30 April 2018

The students and staff of Writtle University College, Essex, UK, went to our local Norsey Wood Nature Reserve to experience the spectacular show of Hyacinthoides non-scripta (native bluebell, English bluebell) that flowers before the tree canopy comes into full leaf and reduces the light to the woodland floor. There are 175 acres of ancient coppiced Castanea sativa (sweet chestnut), Quercus robur (oak) and Carpinus betulus (hornbeam) woodland with alder (Alnus) carr in the wet valleys.

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 17 April 2018

The recent plant fair at Great Dixter, Sussex, allowed me to meet some new Fritillaria cultivars including the gentle coloured Fritillaria 'Early Fantasy' (crown imperial) with large petals in peach-pink, fading to apricot and the striking Fritillaria imperialis 'Sunset' (crown imperial) with deep orange flowers and a maroon stems. While the yellow flowered cultivar Fritillaria imperialis ‘Lutea’ was providing early interest in another garden. These imbricated bulbs need a well-drained soil in a sunny location and are said to be deer and rabbit resistant.

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Monday 9 April 2018

Here Narcissus 'Peeping Tom' (daffodil) has been planted through this winter display border to provide some spring colour. This cyclamineus hybrid grows up to 40cm in height, with reflexed perianth segments and a long trumpet which is flared at the mouth. 

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 1 May 2018

Useful for containers or the garden borders the tulips are flowering. This is Tulipa ‘Snow Parrot’. The petals are ragged greyish-white, washed over with a grey-blue most noticeable at the base of the flower. This cultivar was a sport of Tulipa 'Pax' selected in 1986.

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Wednesday 28 March 2018

Filling the air with fragrance this pot is planted with hyacinths including Hyacinthus orientalis 'Anna Marie'. This bulbous perennial has spikes of single pale pink flowers with darker centres, becoming salmon-pink with age. There was also a great amethyst coloured flower spike that I think was a ‘rogue’ (unintended colour) so sadly it remains an unnamed cultivar. 

Jill Raggett