Bulb planting time

         This pot used to hold bulbs, but was irresistible to Jiro-chan. 

A day for potting up and potting on, and I have planted some bulbs directly in the garden. I find tulips are not very good planted two years running in pots, I think they need a deeper, cooler soil than pots usually provide.

This year's bulb selection. Hope they all come up. I pulled out my last lot of ixias by mistake when weeding - I thought they were grass. The "Cream Beauty" crocuses have been planted in a pot for indoors. They come out early in spring and are just lovely for having as a display on the window bookcase. I tried the anemone blanda in the garden last year, and not one came up as we had a prolonged wet spell after I put them in, so this year I've put these in a pot too, all the better to keep an eye on them.

I'm going down to Oamaru next week, staying at

http://www.bookbinder.co.nz/accommodation/4576453656. This is the studio of the man who is the bookbinder in the old historic precinct. I've been reading up on the town; they have six secondhand book shops, a whisky shop, an art gallery, an artisan cheesemaker, a brewery, a bakery and a little blue penguin viewing gallery, where the penguins come ashore in the evening. (Little blue penguins are quite rare, we do have a colony here on Banks Peninsula but only in small numbers). Oamaru sounds very civilised, I'm looking forward to it and will take lots of pictures.