It's overcast and so much cooler this morning, that I feel I can breathe again, and not rush to pick the tulips. It's the first time I've been able to leave nearly-open tulips in the ground without worrying (such worry!) that they will go berserk in the sun outside rather than in a vase inside. So I chose just three varieties which all have short stems but interesting flowers. 'Violet Beauty' (top) has a glow-in-the-dark quality, as though it has some ultra-violet in its petals. The other two I am trying to identify from my bulb list, and I think the the pink is 'Palestrina. and the deep, fiery orange is 'Avignon'.
While new tulips come in, others go out to make space; I'm so short of vases now I am using pickle jars - good job Alice has a big pickle habit. 'Helmar' and 'Gavota' look so beautiful when they have finished, with their markings all blurred on the still richly coloured, now papery petals.
Once again, I have only one child at home this week. Tom broke off from revision to make these 'biscuit burgers' which are classic boy snack. Inspired by something similar from Ben & Jerry's, he made the spicy biscuits flavoured with ginger and sandwiched them together with vanilla ice-cream.
What you cannot see in the photo is that each biscuit burger has a bite taken out of it; Tom's form of quality control.
Love the taste testing attention to detail!
Posted by: Ali | April 13, 2011 at 09:49
Hi Jane,
Oh, I so much love your tulip-faffing!! Are you sure the bites are quality control and not just making sure nobody else will eat them??
All the best,
Ingrid xx
Posted by: Ingrid | April 13, 2011 at 12:52
I am laughing at Ingrid's comment above, I was thinking the very same thing. That really is a boy snack of the utmost kind!
Posted by: Rebecca | April 13, 2011 at 14:16
That's the best example of quality control I've read about! That boy has a future!
Posted by: Laura | April 13, 2011 at 16:07
Scrummy! Both the biscuits and the tulips. My sister and I used to do that "quality control" to prevent the other from having tasty treats! what meanies we were!
Posted by: mrsbris | April 13, 2011 at 16:13
I was thinking the same thing! It must be that we all have had boys in the house :)
Posted by: Willow | April 13, 2011 at 16:57
That's a form of quality control I can get behind!
Posted by: Fionnuala | April 13, 2011 at 18:02
Now you've gone and done it! I have to dye up some yarns using those tulip colors. It's all your fault.
Posted by: ruth | April 13, 2011 at 18:09
Ah yes, boys' baking. I gave my son some fairy cakes and some left over garish icing from a birthday cake and left him in the kitchen creating. Shortly afterwards he announced he had made faces with the icing and would I like to look. I certainly did want to look - thrilled actually that he had stayed on task. On entering the kitchen I was presented with a tray of cyclops cakes - of course the faces only had one eye - silly me to expect anything different.
Posted by: Anne | April 13, 2011 at 19:28
I like Tom's way of thinking!
Dawn x
Posted by: D A Nelson | April 13, 2011 at 19:34
I only wish I had a boy interested in baking - eating yes, baking no! Lucky you but I would just go ahead a eat a biscuit Tom had made - they look delicious!
Posted by: Nicky Eglinton | April 13, 2011 at 20:17
I have a boy who bakes brownies. So often he knows the recipe by heart. He often doubles it. Yum! Would you show us a picture of your tulips growing? Or maybe a plan of your garden? Oh alright then, a description...take me for a walk around your garden? I'm looking for ideas. I just planted 100 daffodil bulbs, they'll be fabulous when spring comes to NZ. Thanks for the inspiration.
Posted by: pixie | April 13, 2011 at 22:13
These tulips are glorious to watch, picture after picture. Especially because our tulips do not even have buds on them yet! A blessed and inspiring blog!
Posted by: Amanda Muis | April 14, 2011 at 00:09
I just love seeing these pictures! Is there any way, though, we could see the garden/larger area where they are planted? I'm trying to imagine them all in the ground and just can't! :-)
Posted by: Alexis hilgert | April 14, 2011 at 05:10
You could tell Tom we call that 'taxing' in our house.
Posted by: trash | April 14, 2011 at 09:22
I was also going to say I'd love to see a picture of your actual garden to see how/where you have planted all these tulips!
Posted by: evaberry | April 14, 2011 at 09:40
Amazing biscuit burgers. And I wish I'd never heard of them - sounds a dangerous habit (but then, as a teenage boy rugby player, I shouldn't imagine your son has problems burning off the calories!). I shall have to try them, thanks! And always lovely to hear snippets of home life, thank you.
Posted by: Ann | April 14, 2011 at 10:00
Beautiful tulip sharing! Thank you! My brothers carved their initials in fresh jars of peanut butter, like an, ah ha! I got here first. There are 3 of them, seems kind of tribal.
Posted by: kathe kramer | April 14, 2011 at 14:26