The art of growing Dutch masterpieces

APRIL is finally here and with it, I hope, sunshine and milder days.

But even if squally showers or sleet persist, as least we will have tulips to brighten the mood.

Tulips. Every year I count the days, waiting for the first of them to open. Some people love begonias, or dahlias, or are moved to write poetry by the first new potato but, for me, the obsession has always been that Dutch masterpiece, the tulip bulb.

This year I’m growing varieties that I haven’t tried before, including ‘Carnaval de Rio’, which promises to be a bit of a showstopper and ‘Pretty Princess’ which has featheredpink petals and variegated foliage.

As always I have ‘Ballerina’, as much for the scent as for its fizzy orange colour, and I’ve also grown ‘Angelique’ again, although I’m quite prepared for the tightlypacked petals to be ruined by the first shower of rain.

In their first year I plant my tulips in pots where they get the sort of freedraining conditions they need and it is only once they have flowered that I plant them out in the borders and let them struggle with the heavy clay.

Most go into identical black pots, but this year all the labels blew away, so I have the added excitement of not knowing what’s going to appear where.

Meanwhile I’m delighted to see new shoots on the Verbena bonariensis. I wasn’t entirely convinced that these would survive the winter, but they seem to have done OK.

The flowering currant, grown from cuttings, is covered in leaves and for weeks now I’ve had scented violets perfuming the air.

Even the fig tree, which has spent the winter under the canopy of the porch and which I didn’t start watering until last week, is showing signs of waking up from hibernation.

It’s not cold that damages fig trees and evergreen agapanthuses, but a combination of cold and wet, so I now move all of these under cover during winter and forget about them until spring, and it seems to work a treat.

These sun-worshipers have always shared their winter quarters with the delicate camellia ‘Moshe Dayan’, which does need water all-year round, but last week this started to look a bit poorly and within days it was dead. I suspect vine weevil grubs are the cause. I’ll know once I’ve had a look at the roots and if I’m right then everything else in containers will have to be treated.

Amongst the salvias there have also been casualties. ‘Dayglo’ is fine but ‘Love & Wishes’ has failed, so I need to replace it and take lots of cuttings in the autumn to make sure that I don’t lose it again.

Lots of exciting new salvias have been introduced in recent years and I love the bright pink and vivid purple shades that you get with these and if you don’t want to take cuttings, then I would suggest digging up the entire plant and moving it into an unheated greenhouse for the winter.