Home of the Practically Perfect Pink Phlox and other native plants for pollinators

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Whoever Planted These Tulips~~

(Each photo enlarges with a click...do click!)

Thank you!


I have no memory of planting these fantastic orange
and yellow tulips!

Seriously... I remember planting the Costco Pink Tulips.
But, not these beauties!

Earlier this year, I bought a flat of tulips ready to burst into bloom. But, they were white and I planted them in the front garden...where they look fantastic with the Costco Pinks!

But, that doesn't explain how these hotties ended up in Garden of Benign Neglect!

Brilliant parrot orange and yellow hotties!

They even look good with with the
Golden Flare Exbury Azaleas I am trying out!

But, look how nice they play with the
Lunaria annua/Money Plant

I love Happy Accidents*...

They're a gift in a garden...


What happy accidents have been planted in your garden?
Gail


I wish you all a marvelous and joy filled day...



*Lisa (Greenbow) posted her happy garden accident the other day! 

55 comments:

  1. Hi Gail, I posted about my latest happy accident. The short pink tulips in front of the Virginia Blue Bells. I am delighted with that accident.

    Your accident looks lovely too. Those bright colors really pop on a rainy ole day like today.

    Isn't it just great getting out each day to find something new blooming.?!

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  2. Hi Lisa, Many of my plantings are happy accidents....and with annuals that seed themselves everywhere it's all pretty much a game of 52 pick up in this garden. Since we both have posted about this happy accident phenom ( great gardening and blogging minds think alike) I added a link to your post...I hope that's ok with you!
    Gail

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  3. Just gorgeous, Gail, especially with the lunaria! Most of my own happy accidents are of the self-sown kind, when I find hellebores, wild ginger, ranunculous, hostas, lunaria, columbines, Siberian squill, bleeding hearts, pulmonaria, and on and on turning up in unexpected---but so welcome!---locations. Gotta love it!

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  4. Hi Gail, Lovely azalea! Those tulips are so bold and beautiful! I love the orange to red coloring. Stunning!

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  5. OFB, Goodness your garden sounds beautiful! I love all the mentioned plants! I am imagining standing in your garden and being in Happy Accident heaven...gail

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  6. Izyjo, They are stunning...but right now this pouring rain is taking the life out of them! I am glad I take photographs everyday. Is it raining in your part of TN? I hope this helps the drought TN has had for the last few years. gail

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  7. For some reason I like orange with pink. A nice hottie combination indeed. I hope the GOBN recovers from its shock:)) Looks fantastic by that lunaria. Question for you. Is lunaria hard to control. I have stayed away from it because I heard it is but it is pretty. Have a nice rainy day-Should be plenty of May flowers with this wonderful rain.

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  8. Tina, I like the shocking colors together, too! Lunaria pulls out quite easily! Because it has that beautiful and different heart shaped leaf that is needed in this garden I let it seed where ever... Once it flowers you can pull it out if it looks bad...or wait till it goes to seed and shake the seeds in spots around the garden that you would like to have it. It is a biennial so, you have to plan a way to ensure you have flowers every year. Let me save you some seeds...I will have plenty! gail

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  9. Yes, please save me some seeds as I will give it a try in my NS shrub border. I plan to attend the PPS Tuesday-are you going too? I haven't been in a few months and feel so bad I'm neglecting my garden society and club meetings. A bit busy being a chauffer to the teenager:)

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  10. Hoooweeee! Gail, those are so brilliantly bright! But they do not look like something you would have planted, maybe you were under a hypnotic spell by a lover of hot colors? However they found themselves to be growing at Clay and Limestone, what a striking addition to a shady woodland. I have a lone orangey tulip in the front bed that does not ring a bell as to the name or planting of it that is beautiful. Fairies perhaps?
    Frances

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  11. Gail - what a nice coincidence that we chose tulips to highlight today :)

    I do like those happy accidents - my Clematis alpina 'Francis Rivis' has chosen to drape itself over my contorted hazel tree instead of the obelisk I provided for it. The hazel looks like it has a vast bluey-purple cloak on at the moment!

    Enjoy the rest of your weekend - we're due for a sunny and warm week!

    As for seeing your guitar shaped tree in Nashville - I'm wondering if I can persuade NAH that we need a holiday over there. Hmm perhaps I need to tempt him with some bluegrass music exploration!

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  12. Frances, So true...and it appears that this flower color is exactly what C&L needs. More hot colors that jazz up the lilacs and pinks I am attracted to... Do you remember all the bulb sales we emailed about in December and January! I think they went home with me then...when I bought all the Sensation Allium from Home Depot! It was a savant garden experience that had me plant them out there! Or as you suggest...it was the fairies that live at the bottom of my garden....gail

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  13. Those are gorgeous! I have a few tulips in my garden that have probably been there for 25 years. Each year they get happier. That is a surprise in itself!

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  14. VP, The blue draped tree must be a sight to see...Clematis seem to do what they want to do here...I plant them near a nice arbor and they climb up the shrub or lay on the ground!

    Are you serious about a trip to Nashville? What a wonderful treat...the TN gardenbloggers will be thrilled! I know I am already! I dream of a trip to England to see the gardens...and while the top gardens are on the list...meeting my favorite garden bloggers is higher up! When you travel in the US...Brittain seems easily traversable by comparison, so I am hop scotching all over the country in my imagination! Btw, I loved your tulips! gail

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  15. Happy Accidents indeed! Those Tulips look great mingling with your money plant. :) One of my best happy accidents was the Sweet Autumn Clematis that seeded itself in my garden. I transplanted it to the corner of the Arbor Garden and it has been brightening that area for years now. :)

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  16. I love happy accidents! Those orange tulips are just beautiful; I would think you would have remembered planting them. Perhaps the garden fairies visited you:)
    I've been experimenting with letting Sophie (the puppy) out without her leash lately, and had to shoo her out of the shade garden yesterday. I was glad she led me there, because there were some lovely orange tulips opened that I don't remember, either! In my case, though, I know I planted them, just a case of bad memory:)

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  17. flowergirl, Lucky you to have record breaking tulip blooms! ...This morning I was trying to id my tulips....as if that is possible...and noticed the grower/seller said the life expectancy of most tulips is 2 to 3 years! I must admit I have had a red tulip bloom for ten years....and species tulips for as long! We prove them wrong! gail

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  18. Racquel, I do like SAC...and need to find a good home for it! Maybe I can let it wander on the Vinca...I keep hoping to find something that can take the vinca out! gail

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  19. Rose, I kind of sort of remember planting something there...Let me be honest...I bought a lot of end of the season sale bulbs and went into a planting frenzy. That is how they ended up there! I remembered planting bulbs, but thought for sure it was the purple tulips. I think this is why record keeping is a good thing! gail

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  20. They are just beautiful! What a wonderful surprise that turned out so beautiful. I just love the woodland look of the bed.

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  21. Hocking Hills, Thank you...if this doesn't spur me on to keep better records I don't know what will! Woodland flowers are happy here...there are trees everywhere; I'm glad you like them! Are you planting them, too? gail

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  22. Gail those tulips and Money Plant together are beautiful. Such a wonderful color combination.

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  23. Thanks Sweetbay! I never really know where the money plant will show up and that's a nice surprise, too! Gail

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  24. I have chionodoxa that I don't remember buying. I know squirrels have a pretty good sense of design (or so they think, anyway)... Perhaps they nabbed those tulips from a nearby yard and thought they would look better in your garden?!

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  25. Monica, Perhaps we can train them like the French train their little piggies to dig up truffles...."Please Mr Squirrel, go across the street and retrieve three red tulips and that bright yellow...now be a good fellow and plant them anywhere you think they will look good!" Nah, it was the fairies! gail

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  26. Dear Gail.....they are lovely.....beautiful bright colours.....I really love a mystery.....

    Happy accidents.....can't think of anything straight away....but there is still a whole gardening season to go....something may turn up......

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  27. Cheryl, I was digging around in a storage container just a few moments ago...It's raining and it was time to clean the porch! I found a cardboard label from a tulip package...it shows a beautiful orange and yellow tulip. Bright Parrot is the name! I must have planted them this past December when I bought all the sale bulbs...but I still have no memory of planting them!
    So some mystery remains! There ought to always be some mystery in our gardens!

    gail

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  28. Very nice tulips! I think my wife's hyacinths from last years Valentine's Day may count. I forgot where I planted them and they just popped up!

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  29. I've never seen that color of azalea, and here I live in azalea country! I seldom recall where or why or when I planted most anything. I blame it on the evil menopause.
    Brenda

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  30. Hellllooooo Gail !
    I love all of the tulips but especially the orange ones .. because .. I think they are ... Halloween tulips !! LOL
    And of course that Azalea is gorgeous .. I have a Northern Lights one that hasn't been doing well so I think it is time to shock it, by moving it to another location and hope for the best ?
    I hope you are feeling more yourself now .. anniversaries are hard when they are sad ones .. but life does go on and the best example of that is a garden : )

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  31. How awesome! I only have one orange plant in the garden and it's probably more of a peach. It's an Oso Easy rose by PW. I don't have a single bulb--can you believe it. I will remedy that in the Autumn.

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  32. Tina, I will see you at PPP...and of course save seeds for you! gail

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  33. Hi Gail,
    (Can you tell I'm catching up?)No accidents here. I've been here too long for any happy blooms to pop up that didn't get planned by me. But I surely enjoyed the bright colors of your hot tulips! So nice for you to have such a gift.
    Meems

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  34. Dear Meems, This garden is about accidents! I think I used 52 Pick Up as a metaphor for seeding plants in this garden! The plants toss the seeds out and they grow where they land. If I was able to visualize better...there might be more planning! I exaggerate for emphasis, but there is some truth to what I say! The bright spot of color is a visual treat...Are you ready for the SL post tomorrow? gail

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  35. ORANGE! YES! :-) with purple, too! Love it!

    I've been gardening like a crazy woman all weekend and still haven't finished. The rains returned, so we took a break to see State of Play this afternoon.

    Catching up on missed blogs!

    Cameron

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  36. Those flowers do all look great together. I was forming my comment as I was looking at the pics, and was going to say I noticed PPPP, but then read that it was luneria. I planted some last fall, and it didn't get very big before winter, so I wasn't sure if it was going to come back. There are lots of seedlings where I planted it, and was hoping that's what they were, but, now that they each have a leaf, I'm thinking it may be from the mallow that was nearby. I don't think they are heart shaped. I have more seeds, so maybe I should try again, in hopes of blooms next year.

    I have lots of accidents around here, some happy, some. not so much. Gardening is an adventure!

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  37. FANTASTIC, Gail. I love all those colors in the garden. Surprises are great for sure. I have glads as I never planted any.

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  38. dear gail,

    what a beautiful surprise you had with those very bright tulips...so happy for you. it is so nice to get something for nothing. i think my lilacs are like that for me. i had no idea they were here until we found them blooming last year...they have grown and look even better this year.

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  39. On more than one occasion I have planted bargain bulbs and end up with something different than what was on the package. Sometimes it was a happy surprise, but not always. Your tulips look very cheerful.

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  40. I so wish the garden fairies would visit my gardens!

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  41. What do I say, Gail? I'm speechless. I... I... love... those c-colors!

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  42. Brilliant hotties that look lovely with your phlox, Gail! Don't you love your Golden Flare Exbury Azaleas? Can't wait to see mine bloom.

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  43. Those are gorgeous Gail. I'm a pink lover but I can certainly appreciate some "hotties" like these. They really would light up the garden. At the moment, no happy accidents like yours to report, but give me another month or so!!!

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  44. Happy accident is right. They are lovely. Bulbs frequently surprise me too. Suddenly the strappy foliage appears and I say "I don't remember planting bulbs here. Wonder what they are?"
    Marnie

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  45. Gail, those tulips are marvelous, and yes, happy accidents are wonderful. I don't know that I can think of one at the moment, but I'll let my subconscious work on it. I'm sure there's one in there somewhere!

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  46. Unexpected gifts everywhere. Love the orange!

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  47. A lovely accident ~ the Lunaria & the tulips. I am reminded of the orange and red tulips that were supposed to be pink and cream in colour. Sometimes mis-labelled bulbs give delightfully satisfying results. Beautiful photos, Gail!

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  48. Definitely happy accidents! I'm such a poor record-keeper (thank goodness for blog posts) that I'm always surprised and delighted by what emerges and in what combinations.

    The tulips in your garden are striking.

    Lisa

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  49. Hi there, Gail! Happy Accidents or no, I love your photos!! :-) You put more spring in our Spring!

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  50. Hi Gail,
    You can't have much more beautiful "accidents" than these! I love those colors, but of course they're right in the fiery range I adore! You have so much color going on now, that I'm envious once more of your Zone!

    We saw a variety of heirloom pepper plant this weekend called "Tennessee Cheeese," and wondered about the name. I did a little research and it turns out it came from Spain originally and is used there to make paprika (!) I think I'm going to go back and buy one to try this year ... supposed to be thick and sweet and good for roasting!

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  51. What stunning colours - they really whack you full force in the eyes. A delight.

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  52. Gorgeous tulips, Gail! Happy accidents are the norm in my garden rather than the exception, I think. I recently found a white spiderwort blooming amidst poppies, toadflax and verbena! I remember buying one but that was at least 4 years ago. Why it decided to show up now, I don't know, but I am so glad it did!

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  53. Hi Gail! I was reading your post and thinking: Hmm, sounds like potatoes in my garden, I never planted them! I have a picture of them on the right side bar of my blog. It makes me think that I need to write a post about them. Although, I should admit that tulips are more romantic subject than potatoes. But if to look differently, in these uncertain times, potatoes are more... let's say practical... Here we come to the eternal dilemma: bread or beauty... I'd rather stop now.
    Good post, thanks!

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  54. Oooh... I love those tulips, and those golden azaleas are definitely a knockout! YAY to happy garden accidents! :)

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"Insects are the little things that run the world." Dr. E O Wilson