I did not expect to be showcasing tulips in a vase on the last Monday of March, but when these appeared in the shrub border this week they surprised me just as much as all the surprises I featured yesterday. Having long since given up planting tulips in the borders in the hope they will return the following year, I couldn’t tell you what these ones are, although I think they will date from my last mass tulip planting in the autumn of 2016, when I planted over 100 tulip bulbs in the shrub border, never to be seen again after their first year of flowering – until now that is! A contemporary post suggests they might possibly be T ‘Sake’, but who knows and, after six years, who cares?!
There are actually three tulip stems in the tall and slim green vase (possibly Caithness Glass), but the third was lagging behind its taller chums when roped into service for 
today’s vase, which also contains purloined forsythia from our neighbour’s verge. In the interest of even greater spring colour, rather than a sudden desire to increase the presence of yellow in the garden, I do now have a compact forsythia of my own, F ‘Mikador’, albeit not likely to flower this year. Additional springiness is supplied by the mini slinky.
Spring is beginning to slink into many northern hemisphere bloggers’ gardens now, bringing a wider variety of material for Monday vases, and if you would like to share a vase of your own please leave the usual links to and from this post.
Rambling in the Garden 
I smiled when I linked your title to your prop, the season and your flowers. Lovely elegant arrangement. Here is my contribution a little more frugal: https://noellemace.blogspot.com/2022/03/in-vase-on-monday-frugality.html
Thanks Noelle – I thought my arrangement was quite frugal…😉
Love the slinky – very apt!
I have never seen them work properly… 🙄
Beautiful tulips. Tulips don’t return here reliably either so it would be a great surprise to see them after six years. Forsythia is a show stopper in early spring. Thanks for hosting, Cathy! https://pbmgarden.blog/2022/03/28/in-a-vase-on-monday-orchid-with-redbud/
I did actually add more Victoria’s Secret tulips in one of the main borders last autumn, as there are some of these that have kept coming back
Good you found a reliable one. A few species tulips have lasted a few years here.
I may have just been lucky, of course!
Wonderfully springy and I love the slinky. Gardening is always an adventure, the tulips look like long stemmed roses..I have some mystery bulbs coming up. https://theshrubqueen.com/2022/03/28/in-a-vase-on-monday-herbal-essence/
Oh indeed, a never-ending adventure, and something I am very much hooked on
Same here. lifelong obssession!
And standing watching the seedlings in the greenhouse I am in my element!
Adoring all your spring. I miss my spring bulbs especially the forsythia. And even though I have a small vase of another early bloomer, they are now all tucked beneath 3 inches of snow and -5C temps. Thankfully the snow is cocooning those blooms for when they thaw tomorrow. https://gardenseyeview.com/2022/03/28/exploring-color-orange/
More snow! 🙄 Glad you know your blooms are safe under their cocoon
How nice that tulip can naturalize like that. They do not get enough chill here, although I could try some of the simplest (not so extensively bred) sort.
The smaller species ones are pretty reliable, but Uk winters can be too wet for the others, or so the experts say. I just treat them as annuals these days
Too wet? I had not considered that. I would think that they would not mind while they are dormant anyway. Our winters do not provide sufficient chill, although I see that some of the simpler sort can be perennial for a few years. There was a single seemingly feral tulip in one of my gardens that lived for many years, even after I tried to get rid of it, but would not bloom.
Yes, it’s believed that non-returns are more likely to be that they have rotted in the wet than anything else
After such a long absence, the tulip’s appearance seems a minor miracle! I can’t even get the “fancy” tulips to bloom once here (even after spending a long period in the refrigerator before planting) but I’ve had a little success with certain species tulips. Tulip clusiana ‘Lady Jane’ just finished up and ‘Cynthia’ is blooming now but neither made it into an arrangement. I do of course have plenty of other material: https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2022/03/in-vase-on-monday-personal-challenge.html A light rain has started too, making it a very good day 🙂
My species tulips are only just coming into flower now – they are pretty reliable here.
After all that time you must have been delighted to see those tulips in flower again Cathy! Their reappearance certainly deserves celebrating in a vase. A most attractive soft pink shade too. I didn’t know that there was a compact forsythia. I am missing the one outside the allotment gate. Spring has indeed well and truly sprung over the last week and the thought of the possibility gardening in the early evening is worthy of celebration too. My vase is here : https://greentapestry.blogspot.com/2022/03/iavom-monday-monday.html
The two taller tulips didn’t hang around and are fully open now, and the shorter one is catching up height-wise! Definitely good to have the flexibility of later gardening now, although in practice I don’t now how often it will happen here!
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I love your prop today Cathy! A friend had one when I was little and we played with it for ages on our stairs, and then they suddenly went out of fashion!
Lovely to see your early tulips. They are very elegant ones. A few botanical ones have opened here, and the Forsythia is just opening here too, which I take as the real signal that spring has arrived. Here is my ‘vase’ for today. Thanks Cathy! https://wordsandherbs.wordpress.com/2022/03/28/in-a-vase-on-monday-floating/
Unusually, a number of my potted tulips seem to be in bud – the pots are very dry though, so a thorough watering might be a good idea before I lose them! Good to know that spring has knocked on your door too 😊Lucky you to have access to a slinky – I never came across one as a child…!