Friday, May 31, 2024

Gladiolus

I read that some gardeners do not like growing gladioli. Some people don’t like the shape of the flower, others don’t want to dig up and store gladiolus bulbs in winter. 

I like gladiolus flowers, tall stems and bright colors. Every year I grow varieties of gladioli. I want to show you the flowers that I grew in the garden in 2022 and 2023.

 


 Of course there were some disappointments. Two years ago I bought large gladioli bulbs and planted them along with mine in the flowerbed. How upset I was when I saw that the new flowers were sick, their leaves turned yellow and the flowers grew small and quickly failed. In addition, they infected my old varieties. Now, to prevent this from happening, I did a “quarantine” for new gladioli bulbs.

 

 The new purple gladioli bulbs 'Anuk' seemed healthy, but I put them in a disinfectant solution before planting.

More pictures of my gladiolus :


 
 
 
 
 
 
This May I planted red, orange, yellow and white gladioli. Also a new purple variety. I hope they will be beautiful and healthy when they bloom.
 
 

If you grow gladioli, share your experience! Thank you.

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Keukenhof Park

Before visiting this park, I read a lot about the amazing Keukenhof park in the Netherlands, which is open from mid-March to mid-May, that is, during the tulip bloom. Getting to the park is not difficult. By metro from Amsterdam and then by special bus, straight to the entrance to the park.

 


 From the first steps Keukenhof surprised me. More than 70 thousand bulbous plants were planted this year. The beautiful combinations of flowers, rhododendrons and trees are amazing. Tulips, daffodils, anemones, hyacinths, muscari, fritillaria (hazel grouse), etc. were rivers of flowers. Look at the combination of purple tulips and white daffodils.




The combination of tulips of different varieties is amazing. Many varieties of tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and muscari are planted in flower arrangements.   

I liked the hyacinths in light and dark lilac on the main alley of Keukenhof Park. Yellow large daffodils completed the picture. Park designers show interesting ideas for combining different spring flowers. A river of blue muscari and yellow tulips is an amazing sight. 

 



I stopped near the pond to look at the swans. Pink and red tulips, white and yellow daffodils, and lilac hyacinths looked lovely. There are many small lakes, streams, and waterfalls in the park. Flowering plants look beautiful reflected in the water.  

 

 

The Netherlands is the main supplier of all bulbous plants in the world. Many visitors are eager to see the variety of spring flowers in Keukenhof Park. This park is famous not only for tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, but also for flowering trees and shrubs such as rhododendrons, apple trees, plums, and sakura. I hope you enjoyed this short excursion to Keukenhof Park, the Netherlands.  

Perhaps you have been there, what was your impression?

Here is my video about Keukenhof park: