Bloms for Tulips

The May bank holiday was wet, very wet and I became wet, very wet as I trudged around the grounds of Glenarm Castle that Monday. The omens for a good summer were not auspicious and haven't they  turned out to be so correct!

Why was I allowing the May precipitation to run down my neck? Well I had decided to view the annual Tulip Festival in the gardens of Glenarm Castle and I wasn't going to allow the weather to thwart me. I had been at the same event the previous year when the weather was glorious and the gardens were crowded with avid amateur gardeners, (including two of the Singing Priests). This year there were no crowds, just a few damp families, some sodden OAP's and me. The somewhat diminutive figure of Lord Dunluce was clearly not happy that the weather had scuppered one of the major pay days for the Estate. He was holding on to his crook very tightly as he peered out at the sodden gardens.

The event is sponsored by, "Bloms Bulbs, " and every year some 8500 tulip bulbs are planted out in the Estate's walled garden. With this number of bulbs there is an adequate swathe of every profiled variety so as to gain a proper impression of what they will look like in your garden. The representative from Bloms looked almost as glum as Randal Alexander St John McDonnell (aka Lord Dunluce).

I decided to brighten up the rep's day and proceeded to order ten packs of tulip bulbs, each of a different variety. These bulbs arrived yesterday courtesy of Royal Mail. I will now have to decide where to plant them. I think that I may have to put chicken wire over the planted areas so as to prevent the grey squirrels digging the bulbs up and eating them for tiffin. It may be time to call upon one of my friends who has a shotgun to assist me in the decimation  of this New World import.