Search Results for 'Tulip'

April has finally arrived, spring is in the air and Flowers.ie are here to help you add some colourful, bright and fresh new ideas to your home decor. They have the top rated customer service and will even send you a video of your arrangement once it is done so you can see it before it goes out for delivery.

You might remember me mentioning last week that I’d been ordering tulips, so just to remind you, you still have several weeks to plant the bulbs if you haven’t already. As they originate in the Middle East (not in Holland – the Dutch are just brilliant at growing and breeding them), they really need baking heat in summer, after the flower and foliage has yellowed and died down, in order to flower the following year. (Don’t we all.) This not always being forthcoming in Northern Europe, for every dozen you plant you could be lucky if two or three bother to show up in year two. That said, nothing else makes such a colourful display in late spring – so if you’re thinking of indulging, here are a few suggestions.

As I write the tulips are making a wonderful show in the garden and every time I look out the window they lift the spirits. They have to be one of my favourite flowers, both for growing and cutting and I could never have too many. Which is just as well, as in our climate they are the least reliable of spring bulbs – hence the diva reputation. For every dozen you plant, eleven or twelve will perform beautifully the following spring, but in the year after that you would be lucky if two or three bother to show up.

Spring is in the air, and there is nothing nicer than freshly grown tulips providing a burst of colour to your house.

A selection of tulip bulbs – presented to former president Mary McAleese by the Dutch Ambassador – have been planted in Rothe House in Kilkenny.

I find that many people only think of planting bulbs when they see the bright yellow rows of daffodils in flower by our dual carriageways in spring, or when blown away by the magic of bluebells in flower in our local woodlands and so on, again in spring. Now is the time for planting such bulbs, not when they are actually flowering during the spring months of the year. Tiptoeing through the tulips is all well and good provided that they are planted in time during the autumn for February to April effect.

Buy flower bulbs as early in the season as possible as it is then that the best quality is available. Bulbs that remain in shops unsold for a while tend to get handled frequently by undecided customers and by young little hands. Reject bulbs of poor quality as these tend to produce poor quality plants. A good quality bulb has a firm neck, a clean firm surface with the base also firm, and is free from rot.

Take note, men. If you’re convinced that a big bunch of red roses is a bit over-extravagent this Valentine’s Day, then think again.