If there is a lesson to be learned about the rose above, ‘Phyllis Bide’, it is not to overlook what is in front of your face. Planted outside the front door a few years ago to replace, on a whim, the bright pink ‘Pink Perpetue’, the bud that this bloom opened from must have been in evidence before I noticed the fully open flower on Thursday, but I hadn’t seen it. Not that I was expecting to see any roses in bloom halfway through January, although it does sometimes happen – and admittedly it tells me that this is a rose I had forgotten to prune when I did my climbers back in the late autumn! The front of the house is in full sun for most of the morning, so the sunshine that accompanied some bitterly cold days this last week has clearly given Phyllis a boost. Overall, however, she has still been outperformed by her predecessor, and needs to pull her socks up to justify her front-of-house position.
Today, I remembered to catch up with the progress of the potted hyacinths that have been tucked away in the dark for several weeks, and it was a sorry sight – as you can see from the photo below, the flowering spikes themselves had begun to emerge but were already rotting. Although judging the right point to bring the bulbs into the light can be tricky, I have got better over the years, but have failed dismally this time… Not only had I forgotten that the room I placed them in is now heated, I had also placed the pots in black bin liners to keep the light out, so the poor bulbs will have been sweating all this time. There were three pots in total and although the bulbs in one were not quite as advanced and at a stretch may still produce blooms, I have composted all but a couple of the other bulbs… Definitely lessons to be learned
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