It is increasingly recognised that gardening has a positive impact on our well-being, bringing both physical and mental benefits, but what about the entertainment value? Who needs access to hundreds of television channels (or perhaps even a television at all) when one has access to the ever-changing view of our gardens? They have all the colour, drama, episodes and repeats that television offers (with the added excitement of our own starring role!) and even, in the ability to stand in the greenhouse and watch our seedlings grow, provides its own version of the iconic BBC potter’s wheel interlude… Fringe benefits indeed!
Also fringed are the tulips in today’s vase. Four out of the five stems were billed as ‘Hemisphere’ which can develop flecks and streaks but is not a fringed tulip, whilst the fifth and slightly larger one is a random ‘Huis ten Bosch’ which had reappeared in the shrub border, similar and correctly fringed:
Joining the tulips in the vintage glazed jug are stems of polygonatum or Solomon’s Seal from a clump I plan to drench with a neem oil solution in a bid to prevent them falling prey to sawfly, to which they have not yet succumbed. The simple prop is a set of hair clippers, a useful purchase during lockdown to tackle the fringeless hair of the Golfer and myself. After initial tentativeness, we both became tolerably efficient at the task!
It was not an easy task to choose blooms for today and I did so want to share the first of my Winter Sunshine sweet peas, but they will be around for longer than the tulips and that was the deciding factor in the end. Have you blooms or other material in your garden you would like to share with us in a vase or other container today? If so, just leave the usual links to and from this post.
Rambling in the Garden 
What beautiful feminine flowers these lovely pink ladies are! So pretty with their fringed edges and gorgeous colour! And Solomon’s Seal – always a favourite of mine, in garden or woodland! I made it with a tiny vase this week Cathy! Hooray! Have a good Bank Holiday Monday. Amanda
Yes, and your comments made me realise just how soft and gentle the vase looks. I have not seen Solomon’s Seal in the wild – in woodland, I presume? I have just bought 2 new varieties of it this year but have got the labels mixed up so need to wait till they grow to correct them! Good to know you have a little something today 👍
Isn’t it nice to have such a variety to choose from for vases at this time of year? The tulips are quite beautiful Cathy. Hope you’re enjoying your garden this spring. Thanks for taking time out to host our Monday vases.
Indeed it is, Susie. And IAVOM is so engrained in my psyche there is no way I would not make time to post, unless I was incapacitated I suppose…
Your tulips are such a delicate and beautiful colour. I think fringed tulips may be my favourite – I have a few white ones that reappeared this year – they may make an appearance next week!
They seem such a curious quirk of nature, Chris – white ones must look like swan feathers, I think!
So pretty in pink this Monday. I like the simplicity of the vase. My husband bought a Flowbee a few years ago and I have been cutting his hair for a while. We have also been cutting my hair for a year, my hairstyle has evolved a bit! Here is my vase, thank you for hosting. https://theshrubqueen.com/2021/05/03/in-a-vase-on-monday-symptoms-of-summer/
The tulips have grown several inches since they were cut and almost look too big for this jug – I need to remeber that about tulips in future!!
You made me remember that about tulips..kind of weird??
Yes, I must remember to measure them one of these times…
I would mirror your thoughts on flowers, hair cutting etc, but please do keep the lovely fringed tulips growing. Here is my SOS, I have gathered my blooms into a bunch or perhaps a ponytails, a style I have adopted since my too long hair gets blown around.https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2021/05/in-vase-spring-pastels.html
Maybe I will try replanting these ones (currently in a pot) in the shrub border…
The fringed tulips are lovely things! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those in person. The tulips sent to me in error by a mail order nursery back in November succumbed to last week’s intense heat without ever reaching bloom stage, despite my provision of a semblance of winter chill in my refrigerator for 3 months. Not surprising but disappointing nonetheless. Despite unseasonably warm and exceptionally dry conditions, though, my garden still has plenty of flowers to share: https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2021/05/in-vase-on-monday-mixing-things-up.html
That’s a shame about those tulips, but at least you tried – will you try again another year, or just accept that is something you are not able to grow?
I’ll stick with the species tulips, Cathy, as they’re tougher customers. I’ve learned my lessons with the fancier tulips (repeatedly) and I wouldn’t have bothered planting these if they hadn’t been delivered by mistake. Occasionally, my local garden center sells sprouted tulip bulbs in small pots and I got a bit of pleasure out of those so that’s a possibility, provided they arrive while conditions are still on the cool side. Our “cool season” seems to be getting steadily shorter, truncated on both ends, while our so-called “warm season” gets both longer and hotter.
Sounds a wise decision. Interesting (and concerning) that you are noticing your cool season getting shorter…
Those tulips are most attractive shades of pink Cathy and so frilly too. They go well together. I am puzzled as to why ‘Hemisphere’ isn’t a fringed tulip too. Love the ‘Solomon’s Seal’ too. Did you purchase your neem oil online and if so where from please? As you say they will go over before the sweet peas especially if we have more of the wind and rain that’s here today. Cutting himself’s hair is on the to do list this week – well the back of it as he does the front himself. I haven’t let him near mine and my hair is now longer than it has been at any time for the last thirty years. I’m really looking forward though to seeing my hairdresser this month 😂 My vase is here : https://greentapestry.blogspot.com/2021/05/iavom-purple-rain.html
I don’t whether the tulips (Aldi ones) were mislabelled or what, but the fringing was a nice surprise! Yes, I bought the neem oil from eBay, where there were several suppliers. I made the mistake of buying a 1 litre bottle but it has solidified and I have to warm it up to be able to use it, or else scoop out spoonfuls of it and mix it with warm water as I did yesterday. How long is it since you had your hair cut – before Christmas?
Thanks Cathy – I will peruse eBay as I have noticed some offenders on the roses. It was winter 2020 when I last had my hair cut Cathy. I was due to go again just as the first lockdown was announced and could kick myself for not going last summer!
Thank heavens you managed that winter cut!!
Pingback: In a Vase on Monday – Starlight Sensation | Frogend dweller's Blog
That’s so pretty! The tulips are a lovely clear pink. And I love the deep folds on your Solomon’s Seal. Great vase! I wonder if there is anyone in the country who doesn’t now own a trimmer! First time I tried to cut Steve’s hair I unfortunately hadn’t realized he hadn’t fitted his desired attachment, which meant he got a stripe of number zero! LOL. Good job he wanted the rest very short too. The trimmer is not going anywhere near mine though.
Here is my vase: https://wp.me/pM8Y1-8g3
Haha – he could have had one of shaved head designs (or are they out of fashion now?)! My head is really short and gets cut with clippers at the hairdresser anyway, but the Golfer was really reluctant to do it. He had been sponsored to have his long hair cut anyway, so it was a good opportunity 👍 It was nice to see unsullied leaves on the Solomon’s Seal as they don’t usually stay that way for long
Sawfly?
Indeed, every year. The next dry day we have I shall drench them with a neem oil mixture, something I tried on my soft fruit lst year and should really have done over winter on these too
Oh that is interesting to hear. I tried neem against the scale on my citrus with sadly no success. I also tried it against fungus gnats on a number of house plants …. and killed them all! I thought my dilution rates were fine, but something clearly went wrong 😦
I’ll be keen to know how you get on.
Killed the house plants, or the fungus gnats? Not a good result if the former 😕 Might get to do the S Seal today if it stays dry, and would have tried it on pots of hostas if I hadn’t already bought some nematodes which I have also been waiting to use – very little evidence of slugs so far this year though
So pretty! And a fun link to your hair clippers! I learned to cut my own hair last year but my Man of Many Talents has grown his…. he just wouldn’t trust me with the trimmer! LOL! Time ran away from me yesterday so I will peruse other people’s vases instead this week. 😃
The Golfer was really reluctant to do mine, but with short hair and clippers it’s a doddle really
I adore frilly tulips and these are gorgeous. I agree who needs a tv with such an all absorbing passion as gardening? We don’t have one or feel the need for one. As for hair cutting, I would never have thought 14 months ago that I would ever cut my own hair, but actually it is not difficult and now I don’t think I shall waste time and money at the hairdressers again. I cut the Pianist’s hair too, the first efforts were a bit peculiar, but I’ve got the hang of it now.
I find that the trick to keeping on top of sawfly is to check the underneath of the leaves for eggs. Once you have caterpillers you are in trouble.
Well done on the hairdressing! I have never seen the sawfly eggs which of course tells me why I have such an issue – very much a lesson learned there, Chloris! I shall try and make a point of inspecting them both early and regularly – thank you for the prompt 👍
Cathy the vintage glass jar is ideal to house these magnificent and delicate fringed tulips and a divine pink color, they are charming, very special; and the seal of Solomon is beautiful, perfect: I love how the whole looks, it is fabulous, wonderful, magnificent. Cathy is right in your words having a garden as beautiful as yours and a Greenhouse: TV is relegated to see a good report or quality documentaries of animals that I love. As for the accessory, I congratulate you for having it during the confinement: a very, very useful set of hair clippers. Cathy hope that Neem oil will solve Solomon’s seal problems. Have a nice week. Very affectionate greetings from Margarita.
Thank you Margarita. Even though the tulips have faded and dried now, the vase still looks attractive. I hope both you and your mother are well and perhaps able to get out more?
Thanks Cathy. My dear Mother has a very rare disease, Arnold Chiari Syndrome, for which she was operated on 10 years ago, her bones hurt a lot, her nerves are killing them and it makes her very tired. She does not have any medication or physical therapy the kind that she suffers from. She lately she has hit a slump. When we go to the market to buy she is clinging to my arm, to be able to walk safely. She can no longer gain weight and when she goes down alone to the street or she goes to the doctor she alone (on rare occasions) she goes with a cane. When she finishes doing the housework in the morning (very light because the two of us don’t get practically anything dirty) she ends up so exhausted that after eating she has to sit in her wing chair with cushions to accommodate her back and so spend the afternoon or a good time if we have to go shopping. But to go out for a walk when the Covid was better (Madrid and its Autonomous Community are one of the places in Spain with more Covid now) I would take the car and we would go to large parks and even to towns with protected natural parks to walk and sit in a bench and see the trees and nature. Now my car has broken down and I have to tow it to the workshop, and I don’t know what it will have: I think it’s the starter motor. So it will take a while to fix. Cathy forgives me that she expanded on you: I’m not having a good time right now and I needed to tell a friend what is happening to me, and you were the first to appear. It is very difficult for me to see my dear Mother like that she, having been a super agile person, that she has slept with me in an igloo tent in camping in France; and we have visited inside two castles and their gardens, and a medieval village every day in France. Cathy thank you for “listening” to me. I hope that you and the golfer will be able to go out for a walk every day. A hug. Very affectionate greetings from Margarita xx
I will email you, Maragarita
Thank you very much Cathy. You’re a good friend. Very affectionate greetings from Margarita.
There was a television in my home many years ago, because others sometimes watched it. I have been without it since 2006. I don’t miss is one bit, not only because the garden is so interesting, but because there was nothing worth watching on television anymore, even with more channels than I could count. Tulips such as yours would be much better to watch.
Those tulips look gorgeous! Because they are crinkle at the end, they look so beautiful and magnificent. I had similar ones but in different colours. I was growing ‘Canasta’ variety in the same shades as in those pictures https://gardenseedsmarket.com/tulipa-canasta-tulip-canasta-5-bulbs.html . Next year I want to order more tulips in this type because I particularly liked them.
So many types and colours to choose from!!