The Rural Voice, 2002-06, Page 48Rhea
Hamilton -
Seeger and
her husband
live near
Auburn. She
is a skilled
cook and
gardener.
By Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
Our cold, rather wet spring was an
advantage for the tulips that graced
the hills and dales of our national
capitol. This year marked the
50th anniversary of the show of the
annual gift of tulips from the
Netherlands to Canada in gratitude
for sheltering Princess Juliana and
her two daughters during WWII and
being part of the liberation of the
Netherlands.
Our early heat this spring pulled
the tulips up nice and high and the •
cold weather that followed helped
preserve their pristine shape and
colour longer.
It has long been a dream of a
friend of mine and myself to see the
Tulip Festival in Ottawa. Our tour
guide was her charming son who has
been working and living in Ottawa
for the past six months. He took a
couple of days off to squire us
ground.
Monday dawned cold and blustery
but we donned layers of sweaters,
coats and windbreakers and set out.
The drifts of tulips were magnificent.
We noted that almost all the tulips
blooming during early to mid-May
were Triumph and Darwin hybrids.
Darwins have the largest blooms, the
strongest stems and live for years in
the garden. Some in fact are listed
as a special category perennial tulips.
Although they don't have the staying
power of daffodils they will offer up
to five years of glorious bloom.
Triumphs are the result of crossing
selected Darwins to produce mid-
season tulips with long-lasting
blooms, strong stems and foliage that
ripens quickly to make room for
annuals. They don't tend to open very
wide and therefore avoid getting
44 THE RURAL VOICE
Gardening
Tulip Heaven
blown and damaged with expected
spring winds off any of the rivers and
canals cutting through Ottawa.
Apeldoorn is the most popular
tulip grown in Ottawa. It has huge
fragrant scarlet blooms with a black
base edged in yellow. Pink
Impression and Golden Apeldoorn
were both well represented in the
beds around Dows Lake. Both have
tall, thick stems to best hold the
immense blooms.
The heavy cement and stone
planters throughout the city centre
were filled with potted tulips making
it easy to relocate them without
disturbing the bulbs. A lot of the
planters around the Chateau Laurier
were filled with clear red tulips set
off on variegated foliage. The only
one I can find in my catalogues that
matches is Tulipa praestans Unicum.
They get about 10 inches high and
are very striking.
. Tulips enjoy being watered during
the spring flowering season. They
need the soil kept moist with the
leaves allowed to dry out during the
day. When the bloom is finished,
snap off the flower -head, leaving the
stem and leaves intact. The stems and
leaves will help feed and strengthen
the bulbs for the following year. In
the Ottawa gardens the bulbs are left
two weeks before they are either
trimmed off or lifted from the •
gardens if they have been there for
more than two seasons.
The gardens will be replanted
between late September and late
October. The ground is worked up to
a depth of 30 centimeters or one foot.
Bone meal and well rotted manure
beefs up the soil and homeowners use
a bulb booster (9-9-6) at planting
time. The bulbs are planted eight
inches deep so that annuals can be
planted over top without disturbing
them. Once the ground is frozen and
the rodents have found other
accommodations, then a mulch is laid
over the beds.
We picked out our favourite
colours. My friend liked the almost
purple -black shades along with the
frosty pinks, burgundies and mauves.
I was on the other end of the colour
scale and spent film on the fiery
oranges, yellow -shot reds and apricot
wonders. If bulbs could have been
available for sale that day we would
have brought home a carload. Instead
we are poring over the catalogues and
looking forward to fall planting. This
could be why gardeners find the
seasons go by so fast.0
TE -EM FARM
'The Place Where Gardeners Meet"
Perennial display garden a must to see.
Visit our greenhouses with a large selection
of flowers, perennials and nursery stock to
beautify your surroundings.
We have all the new varieties
everyone is talking about.
Ted's Tasty Tomatoes
.A • Strawberries Soon!
Mon. - Fri. - 8-8
Sat. - Sun. - 9-6
FAR
■TEEM R.R. 1, Bayfield, Ont.
M
,71_ToMpnone RE
al
-,l_
Murun C°.'"4519-482-3020 I ll
Goderich
Create the garden of your Dreams!
You'll find everything you'll need at Maitland Manor Nursery
Perennials, shrubs, flowering shrubs, vines,
roses, ornamental grasses, large caliper trees &
garden accessories.
Be sure to stroll through our display gardens,
enjoying the sights,
sounds & fragrances.
MAITLAND MANOR NURSERY
& LANDSCAPING
just east of Bluevale on Hwy. 86 335-3240
www.maitlandmanomursery.com
t�
c
g
tl
ai
ar
m
th
ar
cc
st
US
CI
PC
th.
th
at
to
etc
lo•
ke
yo
po
the
yo
ab
roc
chi
als
pie
bu:
de;
mu
Po=
phc
apr
pie
as c
pie
oft