Awnings were rigged to shade the tulip beds, because growers knew that the separate colours of broken tulips tended to 'run' in bright sunlight. Calico, lighter than jute, made the best summer covers, though growers in the Midlands often used Nottingham lace.'From The Tulip, by Anna Pavord.
Wouldn't you just love to see a bed of tulips shaded from the sun with Nottingham lace?
4 comments:
Nottingham lace!!!! wow.
I draped a lovely cardigan over my patio chair to dry yesterday and crossed my fingers a bird wouldn't drop anything on it. A covering of lace over the tulips would have me doing sentry duty! But it would be such a lovely vision otherwise.
What a beautiful image to conjure up.
What a thought, Darlene! And my tulip bed - at least, the dozen or so red tulips that come up every year without any intervention from me - is right by an elderberry bush that the birds love. I hate to think what lace would be like when the berries ripen.
I'm obviously not meant for gracious living - or gracious gardening!
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