The tulips are not so special but the story behind them is very nice.
My wife has had had the misfortune to have had cancer on six separate occasions as well as a brain aneurysm. Throughout it all her private health insurer, Aviva, has been brilliant and we wrote to thank them. They asked if they could do a publicity video of her experience and in the course of the interview my wife said, after getting the news of the first cancer, she was sitting in the hospital grounds looking at the tulips and wondered if that would be the last time she would ever see them blooming.
Aviva remembered that and, as a thank you for the video, sent her a big bag of tulip bulbs. They flower every year and it is always a poignant time for us.
Incidentally, should you ever dredge up that video on the Aviva website, it is not our garden. Just prior to filming we came home from holiday to find the water tank had leaked and a couple of rooms had a measure of water damage. With the house in turmoil and extractor fans running it was impossible to film at our place so Aviva hired for the day a cottage in the grounds of the Falcon Hotel in Uppingham. The film shows us walking round their splendid gardens then sitting down to afternoon tea with tiered cake stands and bone china cups. At Casa di Ben Cotto we never do it differently!
Thank you, Victoria Sponge. Limited mobility, limited vision and a frayed immune system but we are lucky to have a spacious garden and a warm cottage where the coming months of isolation can be spent. We count our blessings.
This colour combination makes a nice picture just outside the conservatory window.
@AnniD Can't name them all but wish they were in my allotment! Maybe I shall have something to show in a few months time or weeks maybe. Always hopeful.
@Fran IOM, the first and last ones are pulsatilla , the second one is corydalis "BlackBerry wine", and the third shows muscari on the left and pulmonaria "Blue Ensign" on the right. Always good to be hopeful
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My wife has had had the misfortune to have had cancer on six separate occasions as well as a brain aneurysm. Throughout it all her private health insurer, Aviva, has been brilliant and we wrote to thank them. They asked if they could do a publicity video of her experience and in the course of the interview my wife said, after getting the news of the first cancer, she was sitting in the hospital grounds looking at the tulips and wondered if that would be the last time she would ever see them blooming.
Aviva remembered that and, as a thank you for the video, sent her a big bag of tulip bulbs. They flower every year and it is always a poignant time for us.
Incidentally, should you ever dredge up that video on the Aviva website, it is not our garden. Just prior to filming we came home from holiday to find the water tank had leaked and a couple of rooms had a measure of water damage. With the house in turmoil and extractor fans running it was impossible to film at our place so Aviva hired for the day a cottage in the grounds of the Falcon Hotel in Uppingham. The film shows us walking round their splendid gardens then sitting down to afternoon tea with tiered cake stands and bone china cups. At Casa di Ben Cotto we never do it differently!
Some windfalls collected for the house.
This colour combination makes a nice picture just outside the conservatory window.
and the third shows muscari on the left and pulmonaria "Blue Ensign" on the right.
Always good to be hopeful