3rd Annual Fife Tulip Festival and East Lothian Event

[FrazerHenderson]

The 3rd Tulip Festival is to be held at Cambo Gardens, Kingsbarns, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 8QD, Scotland on 26 Aprl to 7 May.

Representatives from Bloms bulbs will be present 27-30 April to give practical advice on all matters concerning tulips.

In addition to thousands of blooms in the gardens there wil be cut flower displays/exhibitions as well as workshops and tulip photography courses.

More details can be obtained from www.camboestate.com or by contacting 01333 450 054

[Maggi Young]

Thanks for this Frazer.... I was just about to post about this event.

There has been a slight change to original plans :The Talk by Helen Elliott of Bloms Bulbs has been changed to Friday 4 May.

[mark smyth]

Dont think I'll have any Tulips out or green by then. Third year in a row they have struggled with the warmth and lack of rain

[FrazerHenderson]

Mark

I held back the planting of my tulips until late November.

The mice/voles got quite a lot and then (I)*went away to see Wordsworth's daffs in the Lakes only to get home and find that most had already bloomed and blown in the Scottish tropical heatwave (over 22C). I had wanted to show at the end of April and early May but fear that I'll have nothing left of any quality. After two previous years when everything was severly frosted I suppose that I'll now be reduced this year to the gardener's solace of "there's always next year"!.

* inserted after being duly corrected

[David Nicholson]

Very Literary mice and voles you have Fraser?

[ronm]

http://orangecow.org/pythonet/sketches/muszos.htm

[FrazerHenderson]

Very Literary mice and voles you have Fraser?

and I pride myself on my draughting drafting!

[Stan da Prato]

It is not just Fife that has a tulip event. North Berwick in Bloom set one up this spring simply by putting examples of all 15 divisions of tulips around the town. Each bed, barrel or tub has a large label which gives the variety name and the group it belongs to. A leaflet explains the types of tulip and guides people to where the tulips are  planted. With Maggi's help I shall try to post a copy. The idea could easily  be taken  up by other gardening clubs or groups. It has attracted the attention of the Beechgrove TV cameras and a short clip is scheduled to go out this  Thursday - 3rd May.

[Stan da Prato]

an example of a planter with its label.

[Stan da Prato]

some more pictures of tulips - these are species or their derivatives. Many are already over this year which has been early.
First the multi-headed T. turkestanica in the Edwardian rockery - this  seems to do better in the ground than in pots where it often flops over.
Then Shakespeare one of many cultivars derived from T. kaufmanniana.
The selection from T. fosteriana known as Red Emperor has the biggest flowers I have seen on a tulip.
The variegated form of T. praestans -Unicum- is liked by some and loathed by others!
A bit later and still in flower is T. greigii Red Riding Hood with nice brown marbling on the leaves. The close up shows the best protected bulbs in town as the barrel is at the door of the police station.

[Stan da Prato]

some views of the old double early Peach Blossom which is not that early ! They work  well with bedding violas and the floral effect  changes  with the type of viola and the stage the tulip flowers are at.
then bigger tulips with another old variety - the  single early  Grand Duc which think is the same variety as Keizerskroon- note the differences betwen the early classical  tulip shape and the  later fully open flowers.
Finally back to small species tulips with a form  of T. clusiana - still in flower- other forms  come in pink and white but have the same pattern. Then T. Little Beauty also  still in full flower- these tulips increase well in the rock garden.

[Maggi Young]

For those unable to catch Stan ( in front of the camera for a change!)  speaking about the North Berwick Tulip Festival on the BBC programme, The Beechgrove Garden, on either the TV or the i-player, you may at least be able to read about it.. beginning on page 7 of this pdf :
http://www.beechgrove.co.uk/images/factsheets/Factsheet_6_PDF.pdf