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today's crocus

I must check which variety this is

these buds are so beautiful

I love growing amaryllis in vases but they get so big and top-heavy they are in danger of toppling over, sadly one did and it broke its vase and a vase on the floor it fell on. I must reconsider what the future is for me growing amaryllis in vases. I'll probably continue until all the vases are broken! This red one seems sturdier than others.

the fall-out from the fall is the flower broken off and I had to use the mother-of-pearl vase to hold the bulb whose vase was broken

seems many hyacinth bulbs now have a secondary stem, as below

this hyacinth's main stem is wilted and the new flower is just coming into flower on the new stem at the bottom

at last, some "normal" looking hyacinths, on stems above the bulbs, unlike some recently that haven't really moved up before they started blooming

I decided I needed a bit of a stocktake of my hyacinth blooms and what's still in bud, having brought the last few remaining vases out of the cellar (after putting the Christmas decs away there).

These are what's in bloom now.

Using the pronged vase (Spendid Cornelia), below, was something of an afterthought, as was the green rose bowl (Carnegie) to the right, both have surprised me with beautiful hyacinth flowers, neither of which is an "official" hyacinth vase.

below, left to right, Gypsy Princess, Delft Blue, Splendid Cornelia, White Pearl or Carnegie

These are what's in bud now.

Delft Blue has been my favorite hyacinth since I started growing them and this is one of the first vases I bought around 1984.

These are the spent blooms.

Some of these Carnegie hyacinths are wilting before they even bloomed properly.

Crocus

here is a close-up of the Culpeper pot above

My cat Socks and hyacinths in the background.

a couple days later that Pink Pearl hyacinth above has opened fully

a few more hyacinths, some blooming, some still in bud

the muscari (grape hyacinths) are all lush leaf growth and no buds

despite a couple of early flowers (one each in these containers) still waiting for more iris reticulata blooms

crocus blooms and buds, in the background tulips in the truffle bottles/jars

no tulips in bloom just yet but good root growth and stems

Royal Navy hyacinths just coming into bloom, later than others but right on time in a "normal" year

All the Delft Blue that were upstairs are spent, making way for these Gypsy Princess and a Pink Pearl hyacinth. I have never had so many hyacinths in bloom for Christmas and so many over by Christmas. The autumn's warm weather has them thoroughly confused.

I put this bulb bowl (a good candidate as most of the bulbs were already spent) outside to make room for Christmas lunch but it has since gotten so cold that when I brought it in today I see the water in the bulb bowl is frozen. I haven't had a forced hyacinth over water that is frozen so I don't know what the result will be but I will let it melt and see what happens.

I thought an update on the other bulb bowls would be good. This bowl, below, has Royal Navy hyacinths, all buds so far.

This bulb bowl, below, has 3 Royal Navy and 2 Carnegie hyacinths.

This bulb bowl has a mix of hyacinths: 2 Delft Blue, 2 Gypsy Princess, 1 Spendid Cornelia.

the bulb bowl below has Carnegie hyacinths, one of which is just starting to bloom, also on that table, two SylvaC pots with hyacinths and 3 amaryllis

those hyacinth blooms below look like Woodstock

For at least a few minutes today, the sun came in the back window. In the last couple of days, more crocus flowers have opened.

I like this vase so much that when a flower in it wilted, I put another bulb in it.

that pink hyacinth below has two stems, just as the taller one is wilting the shorter one is still blooming

I had banished a number of pots to the patio table to make room for Christmas lunch yesterday. When I brought it back into the house and the warmth, this crocus burst into bloom.

I brought more hyacinth vases up from the cellar, something I'd been delaying until after Christmas.

these Hornsea bulb pots are looking good, buds just ready to burst, pot from the Cirrus range on the left, Image on the right

one of my cats, Polly Pocket with some of the hyacinths in the background

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas! The Delft Blue hyacinths are really opening up.

This Victorian wirework plant stand makes a great place to put some of the hyacinth vases, esp as I don't have a window sill in the living room.

The silver vase below with the Pink Pearl hyacinth is the one from M+S. It was only when I was processing the pic below on my pc I noticed the purple crocus in the background on the window sill.

Here is that Shorter flower trough with the crocus coming into bloom (and Socks in the background).

Below is the M+S crocus bowl.

Below is the M+S jug with muscari. Lots of leaf growth but no buds and of course, no flowers.

White amaryllis, my first amaryllis in bloom and it looks amazing.

I've had variable results with the Pink Pearl hyacinths but these are looking great.

The blue vase on the right below is one of the Pink Pearls that didn't bloom properly. Those small hyacinths in the pot below are two bulblets I removed from larger bulbs. I'm surprised to see 1 Splendid Cornelia and at least 3 Delft Blue in that pot. I thought I would have planted all the same variety. That's the best chance of them blooming at same time.

Socks started walking by while I was snapping pics. I think the black actually makes a nice contrasting background.

More successful Pink Pearl blooms.

3 more purple flowers in bloom, 2 iris reticulata and 1 large Dutch crocus.

Some close-ups of the irises. I think they are exquisite.

these are some of my Delft Blue hyacinths - they are so early this year - I've never had Delft Blue hyacinths in bloom before Christmas

I was so busy getting these into the cellar in September I didn't note them as "Delft Blue" but they sure look like it now

this is my first Large Dutch Crocus coming into bloom

Jan Bos hyacinth in the tall vase, White Pearl on either side, Delft Blue just opening up at the back on the right

Delft Blue hyacinth

in the absence of cat grass Polly Pocket will munch on the crocus

this purple early crocus has survived the munching

I must take advantage of a bit of sun this past weekend. Here are most of my vases which are out of the cellar, mid-December.

I was worried that I'd taken some of the vases out of the cellar too soon but now they're looking a bit better, although the White Pearl flowers look a bit stunted.

With so many vases I can sometimes forget it's nice to just look at a single vase. I love the way this one has a cup shaped like a flower.

the downside of bulb bowls is the different growth rates of the bulbs, moving left to right below bowl 1 one bulb is in full bloom and another one half way there bowl 2 the two bulbs at the back are much taller than the 3 in front,  bowl 3 most of the bulbs are the same height bowl 4  each bulb is a different height

all my bulb pics look better with a cat in the background

Splendid Cornelia Hyacinths

White Pearl Hyacinths

Pink Pearl Hyacinths

This is the first crocus in bloom, the first bulb of any kind in bloom, first week of December. Very exciting!

the bulbs are incredibly early this year, probably due to the warm weather ?

annoyingly 1 of the 3 bulbs in this pot are completely soft and rotten, I do wonder whether the warm weather has caused this