The Old Bell Hotel near Malmesbury nestled in the Cotswolds in England.

Oh, The Old Bell Hotel! What fond memories I have of you. Your old, vintage rooms, giant old fashioned room keys with a wooden bell attached, elegant and helpful waitstaff, your huge true English breakfasts, I would return for a visit in a heartbeat!

Longueville Manor wisteria growing with wild abandon. Situated on Jersey Island, Longueville Manor is a luxury, five star, boutique hotel. After touring the grounds, we enjoyed a true English afternoon tea.

Mrs. Lea’s wisteria at her private gardens on Jersey Island.

Abbey House Gardens, Malmesbury

Forgive my ADD tendency here, but you just have to take a look at these wonderful doors. The bold, various colors are incredibly charming. I believe these doors lead to student dorms or small apartments near Canterbury Cathedral.

England, I miss you. More magnificent wisteria pictures to follow just as soon as I find them.

By the way, we have another garden tour planned this spring for the south of France!  You can read more about it here, or e-mail info@southernbulbs.com for a full brochure.

Below this YouTube video you will see a picture of the tower at Sissinghurst.  This video was shot at the top of that tower!

Trough Gardens

Lady Banks Rose climbing up the tower!

Sissinghurst Castle Gardens

This could have been a terrific picture if I hadn’t decided to strangle Chris. We weren’t even married yet.

This shot is of the rooms in the tower.

Our East coast neighbors here in the United States are able to grow these wild little things, and sometimes complain about their tendency to take over an area. Up until a few moments ago, I had never thought of forcing them. Eureka what an idea! Read more HERE.

Here in Texas if you trot off to your local florist and ask for a bunch of lily of the valley, be prepared for a cynical expression and a sticker price greater than several months worth of your cut flower budget.

Since meeting The Bulb Hunter, I have come to appreciate and love a bulb that produces dainty little blooms similar to my beloved lily of the valley. The best thing about snowflakes is that we can grow them here in our hot, humid, somewhat horrid at times climate. Forget spending loads of $$$ on lily of the valley stems that will wither in five days time. Heres a brave little bulb that will return year after year producing sweet smelling dainty white flowers for a fraction of the cost!

The blooms aren’t as distinctly bell shaped, but they give us Southerners a taste anyway.

Given some time to themselves, watch your Leucojum aestivum snowflake bulbs form massive clumps producing the beautifully fragrant snowflake like blooms. Purchase these lovelies in the fall for a spring time bloom. Read more about snowflakes for yourself in Chris’ BOOK.

Oh, and the handsome man pictured below is not available with your snowflake purchase.

]]> http://www.bulbhunter.com/2011/03/01/a-love-affair/feed/ 3 http://www.bulbhunter.com/2011/02/28/monday-um-chores/ http://www.bulbhunter.com/2011/02/28/monday-um-chores/#comments Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:18:40 +0000 Lil Bulb Speaks http://www.bulbhunter.com/?p=6101 It dawned on me once again that my life may look a little odd to an outsider peering in. It’s not every day that your husband responds with…

“Go out to the farm on your way to the post office and pick some flowers to arrange here in the cabin.”

…after you ask him what is on the agenda for the morning.

Yes, we are a little odd.

Forgetting to take a cute basket along on my flower picking excursion (darn!), I had to use this beat up crate. Makes for quite an interesting study in contrasts, don’t you think?

When arranging flowers, it’s important to re-cut the stems just before inserting them in your water filled container. It only takes seconds for the cells at the base of the stem to close, so cut the stems again to allow your flowers to drink.

Chris was proud of my designs, so he took many photographs. Thank you, dear. :0)

Fluffy White Grand Primos with Yellow Narcissus Trevithian

More Yellow Narcissus Trevithian

Narcissus x odorus "Campernelle"

Oh, look a bird! More photos of the flowers…

White snowflakes, hot pink hyacinth, baby, sweet smelling jonquils, and violas.

As mentioned previously, we only have a few roman hyacinth bulbs left on the farm thanks to the voles’ ravenous appetites. This darling little hot pink Dutch hyacinth returned from last year. I remember it because Chris and I picked it last year during our engagement photos in this field!

All of these beauties grow around here and should have a vase life of three to five days.

Can you think of a better way to start out the week than with fresh cut flowers from the yard? Everything around us has a scrubbed clean appearance thanks to the heavy rain last night. Makes me get the spring cleaning urge! Off to mop the floors, balance the checkbook, and make tuna fish sandwiches for lunch!

Happy Monday, everyone! Thank you for reading!

Chris has been bed ridden with the flu, and well, when the boss is sick around here, things have a way of screeching to a halt. It’s not that he is a horrible patient or anything… Let’s just say, he learned a valuable lesson. The nursing profession is not a good fit for his bride.

I am willing to learn.

So, I made cherry jello for the second time in ten years. We watched too many British period dramas on Netflix together. Made soft boiled eggs served over saltines. (A Wiesinger meal you eat when you are sick.)

Our much anticipated speaking trip to San Francisco had to be rescheduled. The garden club graciously allowed us to change the dates to the end of April which is right around my birthday!

Long story short, it was a strange weekend. This morning after breakfast, Chris felt better and by golly, I was going to accomplish something today. Not sure if it was in sympathy mode, or what, but my computer decided to spend the day recovering from a virus. Just when I felt the caged tiger, I can’t stand this cabin anymore feelings creep over me, I made bread.

I love this recipe:

It’s easy.

It has 3 cups of white flour and 1 cup of wheat giving it a nutty texture.

My best friend gave the recipe to me.

After consuming most of the bread, and most of the butter, I checked up on my little guys growing on the back porch. Look what has survived two heavy snows, freezing rain, and temps in the teens!

Chris felt his energy return this afternoon, so we made a quick trip out to the farm for some photos. Several bulb varieties are showing their stuff!

Rows of Narcissus Campernelles are on parade!

Freshly Picked Bouquet: Purple Roman Hyacinth, Heirloom Jonquils (the scent of these babies will absolutely carry you away), and February Gold Daffodil.

Waiting for the Bulb Hunter while he snaps some shots down a country road. Notice he has me driving, a rare occasion.

Chris thought of this handy way to protect the blooms while we drive them back to the cabin. Brilliant idea, Bulb Hunter!

Also, this weekend, I found out my little watering can is famous. In a very brief scene during the movie Julie and Julia, I saw his twin in a windowsill. The stage designers must have loved Smith and Hawkin. How fantastic to have fresh flowers at our fingertips to decorate the cabin. It does help ease the stress of learning to be a better nurse and owning a small business like The Southern Bulb Co., a little anyway.

So, my pictures aren’t the best, but please take my word for it, if you haven’t visited this great city lately, pull out that calendar and plan a trip right now!

Maybe it was the fact that the good citizens of Ft Worth had been stuck inside due to our FREEZING temperatures and gladly ventured out to enjoy the beautiful evening. Maybe it was because Valentine’s Day was on Monday. Maybe the people of Ft Worth are just cool and hip and stroll the downtown more than most folks do who reside in large Texas cities. Whatever the reason, the streets were bustling with people! It truly felt almost like a holiday.

Our feet took us to a favorite eating establishment, The Flying Saucer! Just in case you were wondering here is a menu from this fantastic place. Click HERE for some better pictures of the restaurant.

See why it’s called the Flying Saucer?

SO, if you enjoy a taste of beer or are like me and prefer something sugary like a cider, the next time you are in Ft Worth, give this place a try! In our youthful ignorance, we blissfully thought this eatery was not a chain. It very much is. The Ft Worth Flying Saucer was the original location but other Texas locations include: Addison, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.

oh. And the pretzels are aMaZinG!

Back to the grind today here in the cabin! Preparing hardy amaryllis orders, book orders, scanning and filing, bookkeeping, drinking hot tea…are all on the agenda this week! Enjoy this beautiful Indian spring my fellow Texans!

What a delight it was to participate at this event. These gentlemen put us up in a nice hotel room, provided several meals, and even gave us a fun gift basket full of treats. Many of the attendees had been a part of this association for years, and while the conference was an opportunity to fulfill some continuing education hours, it was also a chance for the men to catch up with old friends. Watching these guys huddle around an outdoor fire pit, grill hamburgers for each other, enjoy a couple of beers, and laugh and talk was well, just plain terrific. Women always seem to find a way to carve out plenty of time for socialization with one another. Many guys just don’t, so it was a heart warming sight to behold.

I didn’t get a picture of the after hour festivities but here’s a shot of Chris presenting on Thursday morning. Many of the bulbs we love at The Southern Bulb Co would work well in the landscapes on Texas universities.

Ok. Since my job as cashier was over early on Thursday, I fulfilled the rest of my responsibility (wandering the streets of Fredericksburg) that very afternoon.

Stopped in at the Peach Tree Tea Room which is one of my very favorite haunts here. We sadly missed eating in the tea room by about three hours.

Super cute shop window.

We found this fantastic ancient looking gate.

We stumbled upon this antique store that had a gazillion different treasures in stock. It must have been a collaborative effort because the inventory was outrageously huge. (Such fun!)

One quirky thing about this place was their drapery hanging methods.

Notice the leather strapping pulled through the fabric and tied to a strong piece of wire. The combination of the beautiful drapes with the rustic looking hardware was lovely.

This is just another great shot of the window treatments in this place.

Passing by a shop window, minding my own business, these beauties caught my eye. Love at first sight…until I noticed the price tag. The relationship ended right then and there.

Avoiding the ice cream because of the chilly temperatures, we stopped in at this adorable 50′s diner for some coffee.

These guys are seriously passionate about plants. The owner declined the offer to appear with his vehicle.

Thank you UMLA members for your kind hospitality! Keep up the great work!

For starters you Face Time your sister in Austin and compare snow stories. You win by about 4 inches. Sorry about the fingerprint over your face, Amy!

Then you laugh at your husband trying to sled on a scrap of cardboard on a not very steep hill.

Bird watching suddenly becomes one of your hobbies.

You laugh hysterically at a picture of a leaping cardinal.

Birds visit your front door leaving darling little prints on the mat after the Bulb Hunter flings seeds everywhere.

You leave mushy messages written in the snow.

Tramping through the woods on an afternoon walk around the lake, you wonder what crazy backwoods folk reside in that dear little cabin? “Do you think that they even own a TV, darling?” you ask.

Your husband continues to attempt to sled, and has so much fun….

…that you give it a try.

You find mistletoe a month and a bit late.

Landscape shots fill you with awe…

…and gratefulness that dealing with snow is not a part of your every day routine.

You pinch yourself asking, “Am I really still in TX?”

Invigorated after tramping in the snow, you pretend to be Martha Stewart and make a pie crust for the first time…

…for your made from scratch pot pie.

After the both of you consume half of the pie, you settle in for a Friday night movie. The fever has left with a warm happiness taking its place.

The End.