Tulips in Dustbins

A while ago, I did a post on Tulips.  I talked about being inspired by pictures I'd once seen of tulips grown in trash cans.  After a bit of digging, I managed to find the tear sheets and am delighted to be able to share the gorgeous images.

The tulip bulbs I ordered from nzbulbs.co.nz arrived last week and armed with the instructions set out in the gardenheaven.ie article on how to get the best display, I'm now really looking forward to giving this a go.  It might be wise though to hold off for another week or two before I plant as I think tulips like colder conditions.  It's still pretty mild here in Auckland.

Here's a summary of the instructions in the article:

1. Turn bin upside down and make around five 4cm holes in the bottom using a crowbar.  Hammer the sharp edges flat.
2. Turn bin right side up and fill with 30cm of drainage material i.e. bits of broken tile, bricks etc.
3. Put in around 30cm of potting compost before positioning your first layer of bulbs.
4. Add 5cm potting compost before the next layer and so on.
5. For seventy bulbs (which is recommended), have five or six different layers.

Apparently, the lower bulbs manage to push their way through just fine.

I'm still enchanted by the pretty names.  Those purple and white ones pictured above are called "White Dream" and "Queen of the Night". Also mentioned are "Pink Diamond", "Shirley" and "Carnval de Nice".

PS Check out Maurenice's latest post on her blog Villa Bisono here which features some gorgeous snaps of tulips including this one below.

via villa-bisono.com