Front garden debut

Our Tulipa humilis flowers are coming to an end although one or two blooms remain to create an impact. The plants seem very healthy so hopefully they will show an increase next year.

Tulipa humilis is still producing blooms although in terms of flowers

it is on its last legs (or stems) Our garden, 7 April, 2020

Although their season comes to a close they are being followed by Tulipa bakeri, making its debut with blooms very similar in terms of size, but of a delicate shell-pink coloration. The two species share a golden 'eye' formed by the bases of the perianth segments and they also share a common origin, both occurring in south-east Europe. Tulipa bakeri is often regarded as a subspecies of Tulipa saxatilis; botanists love arguing about these matters but DNA usually has the final say

The Turkish species, Tulipa bakeri, is now coming into flower.

Our garden again, 7 April, 2020

These dwarf tulips are becoming easier to obtain and I'll be keeping an eye open for other species in the autumn.

In complete contrast is the Hacquetia.  We grow Hacquetia epipactis but this year it has struggled rather. It is my fault entirely as I have allowed it to be a little smothered by a vigorous specimen of Rosemary. On the upside, two new clumps have appeared, several feet from the parent plant. The flowers are quite small but it is worth stooping a little for a good look.

As I have mentioned before, it is an odd member of the Carrot Family, Apiaceae, and what appears to be a green-petalled flower is nothing of the sort. There is a central boss of twenty or so tiny yellow flowers surrounded by a frill of bright green bracts. Hacquetia epipactis is the only species in the genus.

Hacquetia epipactis is easily overlooked but is spreading in our garden.

7 April, 2020

The species is native to damp woodlands in central Europe and, although I have casually looked for it in northern Italy, the Tyrol and so on, it has eluded me in the wild. Belsasar de la Motte Hacquet was a Carnolian* physician (although he was born in Brittany) who was famous in his day as a polymath, researching such diverse fields as botany, mineralogy, chemistry, ethnography and karstology. But he would nevertheless be largely forgotten today, but for this dainty flower.

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* Carnolia was a historical region now largely forming part of modern-day Slovenia.