Blue diamonds

Blue Diamond tulips are taking pride of place in the garden this week. While much of the garden appears random, the tulips are deliberate. Last autumn I sifted through varieties I’ve enjoyed in the past and chose the best performer. I ordered a job lot and planted seven large terracotta pots with shades of blue winter pansies and the tulips tucked beneath.

Of all the flowers in the garden, it would be hard not to fall in love with tulips. From the moment they first push through the soil to reveal their sexy heads to the time their petals sag and drop, they have an air of mystery and pleasure. No wonder the Dutch merchants of the 17th century go so mesmerised by them that they bid crazy money for tulip bulbs in their frenzy.

These tulips have an extra poignancy for me. I first chose this variety on the day of a friend’s funeral in the village of Warmond in the Netherlands. As they bloom for the next month, I feel the strength of connection with her and a friendship that began on the first day at university and lasted for 35 years. Such is the power of plants that they connect past, present and future generations.

The writer Paulo Coehlo says that of the thousands of letters he gets from his readers, many of them talk about wanting to be a gardener. That’s no surprise. I well remember days in a corporate office when I’d walk past the gardeners and wish I had their job and not mine. Such is the pull of soil over technology; that much though I love my laptop, the garden would win if forced to make a choice.

All the characters are out here today offering a backdrop to the glamorous and sexy tulips; the bullying Ivy; the sadly deceased Robinia; the sweetly perfumed rounded heads of Virburnum, the blossom of the crab apple; teeny narcissi interspersed with self-seeded stipa tenuissima grasses, deep crimson azaleas and early flowering clematis. Sweet peas are putting down their roots ready to rampage up their supports.

Beneath the surface all the plants display amazing strength and resilience, determined to hold their space and grow up to the light; ready for their moment in the spotlight.