New Bed Project and B****y-Minded Tulips!

I really like the stone work around the bed !! Tulips are great too - our red ones are appearing - looking nice for you :))) Great you found all those stones

Have no idea if its normal but theyre really pretty...I love how it turned out. I just put my tulips randomly around the garden doesnt have as much of an impact !

I love your new area,Nariz..what a greatjob you and your OH have done there..beautiful tulips too,a lovely colour..well done..:o)

It looks fantastic! love the path! Rally lovely tulips too :)

Those tulips are so pretty . . . and what a brilliant job you have both made! Love the shape of your new bed. Just "some rocks we dug out of the garden" she says casually - what a bonus, I thought, but what a huge amount to dig up. Terrific achievement. :))

Love the pictures, a lot of hard work too. Not sure about the tulips colour change; maybe a quirk of the variety. Excellent job there though :)

That looks great Nariz and those tulips are lovely, like you I s`pose it would be annoying to have to remove all those stones out of the garden before being able to create my new bed but grand to have them free for the paths and stonework...

Perhaps the outside petals were white...and pink inside the bud, maybe they had more opening to do.lol....:>)

Welcome back, Nariz - hope the trip went well. I've got these Angelique tulips in the tubs by my front door, and they are still fairly tightly closed, but are definitely showing pink, even now. What I want to know is, how did you find them at an RRP of €3.90? I paid a lot more than that for mine. Not fair! Pretty, though, aren't they?

Well done you, all those stones to remove, but the end

result was certainly worth it. The tulips are so pretty

that had been a lovely surprise to come home to .

If your OH laid those path/paving areas, he's done a very good job, looks fantastic, brilliant use of local resources too. Ten out of ten...

Thanks guys. Glad you like Partner's work. He thinks he's a terrible stone-layer, only having our local experts (and I mean ... EXPERTS) to compare with, but I think his achievements with a previously unknown (to him) medium is fantastic! But then - when you live on a mountain and every turn of the earth throws up a dozen rocks, you just HAVE to do something with them! I'll pass on your nice comments to him.

Gattina, thanks for the welcome (see PM). The tulip bulbs were bought at Leroy Merlin (like British B&Q) in Santander. I always worry, when I've purchased plants or bulbs from such places, whether they will do well, having had a few disasters in the past from the likes of B&Q etc., but I have to say, Leroy Merlin plants seem to do the business! Two of the roses in the first photo came from there, the rest from GCs and they're all doing well with no discernable difference in quality.

I think it must depend on the branch of Leroy Merlin, Nariz. There's a huge branch down the mountain in Casalecchio, and often the plants they have are dried up, dying and untended, but another branch out at Meraville is almost like a proper garden centre, and we find better bargains and conditions there. It was a much better store when it was Castorama, and since the takeover, we've noticed a lot of changes, not all of them very good ones. Our Angelique came in a pack of 6 and cost €2.90, but they seem to be doing well, albeit a fair way behind yours. Pretty, aren't they?

Aw you tell OH his work is amazing..looks pretty professional to me! :)

You must have had a nice surprise :o)
I hope you enjoyed your little break, and good to see you back.
I like your path :o)

Thanks Hywel and Pixi.

Always catching up, so late again........I love your paths, just what I would choose to have, and Angelique are my favourite tulip have been growing them for years now (my name is Angela!!) so of course I love them lol never have any trouble with them as a rule.......

A remarkable achievement the pathway and planting complement each other, its so lovely when a project turns out well as yours has done.

Thank you DD and Stroller. Never grown Angelique before, DD, so was unprepared for their change of colour after the buds had opened and shown just white. I'll pass on your compliment regarding the pathways to Partner, Stroller - he still thinks he's no stone-layer!

Your partner may not be a stone layer but he's done a very good job of it! You might pass on my compliments to him as well! :-))

Your garden looks much better with the new paths & the new bed!

Your Tulips are a fantastic colour & I like them very much! I have Tulips open on my balcony. They were supposed to be May flowering Darwin Tulips but they have flowered now, in April, maybe the hot weather of March has brought them forward.

We will be going to Cuenca for Mother's Day in Spain. We will only be there for 4 days. This time, for the first time ever, we will be going by Valencia!

Have a great time, Balcony! I'm sure you will! Will you be spending any time in Valencia or just passing through the airport? We visited Oceanografia in Valencia with my daughter for her 40th which involved driving to a train station, parking up and getting the train to Valencia North. The station there has to be seen to be believed! Magnificent tile decorations on the original building, and the train area itself - so clean! Britain please note!

We may be just passing through unless two aunts that live them can see us that day as we will be returning through Madrid. Don't think there will be time to visit any where as much as we might like to. We will be in Cuenca for no more than 4 days.

Shame you have such a short time - but I'm sure you will enjoy! :o)

How are your Angeliques doing now? Are they in full bloom? It's really strange, in the bud, ours had a definite pink flush, and now, just as they are opening, they have lost it, so they look as if they are going to be almost white flowers, just as you described with yours. Strange!

They're fine, Gattina. Look just like the picture on the packet! Isn't it odd how they looked at bud stage - then transformed .... mine to how they should be, and yours to something else! Were yours new or have you had the bulbs for a couple of years? Perhaps for some reason the colour leaches out with time? Would weather temperatures have anything to do with it I wonder? Any tulip experts out there?

No, these were new, Nariz. They're green and white right now, and cold weather has stopped them in their tracks. Other tulips seem to survive quite well from year to year, but Angeliques seem to succumb to cold weather, and I rarely get them for more than a year.

Hm! Point to note! I thought I'd have them for several years - looks as though I'll have to try extra TLC or buy new ones! Blast!

I am certain that you're better at this TLC lark than I am, Nariz - I'd wait and see if I were you. :o)

Time will tell! ;o)