A new shed (and the last views of the tulips)

My rather wonderful (and kind and lovely and thoughtful!) husband, Chris, has made me (well, us) a new shed, using mainly recycled materials.  It is the poshest shed I have owned!  The old shed needed to be replaced as it had rotted and was leaning at a rather drunk angle.  This new version is built to last and will be a practical working space, right at the end of the garden, opposite the lilac tree. Thanks, Chris, I love it!

 It has metal shelves on one side, opposite the window and lino on the floor...

 and a stainless steel potting bench on the other side, under the window.

 I have the exciting job of deciding what is going where now. All the things stored in the old shed have been on the patio under a plastic sheet while construction was going on, and I am going to enjoy sorting it all out (I think!).  I thought I had better take some photos of it before I fill it up again, as it will never be quite this tidy again...

Here are the last photos of this year's tulips.  I have been looking to see what I may like to have next year.  Ballerina will definitely feature again!

 These are the tulips in tubs at the front - a single early and single late mix.  Orange and white have featured here.

This is one which appeared in my last post but the colour has moved into the petals more now.

 The lilac in the back garden is looking and smelling lovely.

 Blueberry Blue Pearl is also flowering and I have seen lots of bees around it.  I hope this means a good harvest in the autumn.

I couldn't resist a last look at Ballerina and Red Shine, enjoying the sun this morning.  Beautiful!

In the garden...

 The tulips in the garden are looking lovely although some are starting to go over now.  The photos were taken a few days ago, when it was sunny.

 Lovely vibrant Ballerina and Red Shine.

 The inside of Ballerina.

 More Ballerina, but these are in the border and are from either last year, or the year before.

 The pink frilled tulip which suddenly appeared in the border last year after an absence of at least five years!

 One of the tulips from the tubs at the front of the house.  There are still some which haven't opened yet, so it will be interesting to see what other colours are there.

 I couldn't resist a close up of the beautiful colouring on the petals.  It looks as though someone has dropped red ink on yellow blotting paper, or coloured the edges with a felt pen and the colour has bled.

 Here is one of my latest purchases - another Lathyrus vernus, but this time, Alboroseus with delicate pale pink flowers.

They are so pretty.

Tulips everywhere!

Well, perhaps the title of this post is a slight exaggeration, but lots of tulips will feature in this post.  The one above is in a pot at the front door, in a single mix and is a delicate pale peach/apricot.  I really enjoy seeing what is in the mix, but the downside is that if you particularly like one of the flowers, it is quite difficult to find out what it is, without doing lots of research.

This is the large tub which featured before but which only had purple and white tulips at that time.  As you can see, other more fiery colours have joined the display now.

 These are hiding at the back, but I thought they deserved a photo by themselves.  The browny/pink one has a very unusual colour combination.

 My favourite bright orange (and scented) Ballerina tulips.  However, there seem to be some reds in there too.  I don't think I mixed them up when I planted them, so perhaps this is an unintentional mix provided by the tulip bulb company.

 Here is dark purple Ronaldo with paler pink Don Quichotte.  I like this combination.

 These are supposed to be perennial bulbs, so once they have finished, I'll save them and replant them.

This Ballerina tulip is in the border and is either one or two years old.

For anyone who has had a surfeit of tulips (which is not possible for me, but perhaps you may not be such a big fan as I am), here is a self-seeded cerinthe which I rescued last autumn (it was growing where the new shed was going to be and I wanted to save it from being squashed).  It has grown well and rewarded me with lovely early flowers.  Bees buzzing around have also been pleased to find it  (its common name is honeywort).