2/24生活随笔--带香的郁金香

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买回郁金香是两周前的事情,当时其花苞都还紧包在绿叶中,小得像一个个灯芯。虽然小,但仍可见其花色为粉玫色。 

 

昨天郁金香花开了。我凑上鼻子去闻,心中一阵惊喜。那花香是甜淡的水果味,似玫瑰,带着种不经意的诱人媚惑。这种发现就像几年前我发现康乃馨带香一样,惊喜过后,只当是偶然发现,想其事物原本就是这样的。

 

今早,我再次欣赏郁金香。它的花瓣更加打开,花形更似玫瑰。 我就想:这花不仅是色,而且形都像玫瑰。这难道只是一种巧合吗?会不会这是种和玫瑰嫁接后,培育出的一个新品种?如何是这样,就可以解释它花香似玫瑰的原因了。

 

我在网上搜索着,一篇“郁金香的芬芳”的文章让我如获至宝! 我如饥似渴地读着,想着若我当时身处作者的境地,我定会做和她同样的事情。原来郁金香的品种众多,但带花香的郁金香品种并不多。她把发现带香味的郁金香这件事用一个词SERENDIPITY来表示,意指没有准备地,意外发现了美好的事物,这代表着一种好运。我想到了小时候爱看的动画片《花仙子》,难道这花是花仙子送来给我,是来为我带来好运的?

 

我把这个发现告诉了家人。他们也说不知道有带香的郁金香花。说这花长得粗状,强健。我说了我的另外一个发现: 美国的茉莉和中国的茉莉花形和色彩都像,差别只在大小。美国的大,中国的小。这情况和百合花LILY一样,美国的百合很多长得高到1米,花冠直径可达15-20CM;而中国的东方百合ORIENTAL LILY株身则矮很多,花冠也小. 人有人种,花有花种,说到底,对于造物主来说,人与花并没区别。

There’s a word for the happy and all-too-rare phenomenon of unexpectedly finding something delightful: serendipity. It applies perfectly to a discovery I made one sunny May morning a few years back. I was on my knees in the garden, reveling in the delight of digging in the loamy earth after a long Vermont winter. As I was puttering around, I noticed a wonderfully subtle, fruity fragrance. Its source was a mystery, but the scent was so enticing I determined to track it down. Finally I found it in, of all places, the open bloom of a tulip. I never knew there was any such thing as a sweet-smelling tulip, but the proof was right under my nose. Not only was the flower seductively fragrant, its peachy-pink color was outstanding and its form simply exquisite. Serendipity indeed.

 

That’s how I found ‘Apricot Beauty’, my “first” fragrant tulip. That discovery marked the beginning of an ongoing, delightful search that has led me to a score or so of sweetly scented tulips.

 

A few fragrant favorites

As a gardener by both profession and passion, I plant about 10,000 tulips a year, so I’ve experimented with all kinds of species and hybrids. There are thousands of varieties, with an almost infinite array of colors, but very few are fragrant. Of the 100 or so cultivars I plant each spring, only 5 or 6 have any scent at all. Tulips range from the small, hardy species tulips often used in rock gardens, to the tall, majestic Darwin Hybrids that are the backbone of the perennial border in spring. But of all the tulip’s wonderful qualities, the most special one, to me, is fragrance. And though there are a few fragrant species tulips, I’ve concentrated on seeking out sweet-smelling hybrids and cultivars.

 

 

‘Apricot Beauty’ can perfume a whole room. It excels in the garden or in a vase, and is easy to force for indoor blooms.

I’ve planted new ‘Apricot Beauty’ bulbs every fall since I first discovered them. This cultivar excels in the garden and makes a superb cut flower. One vase of ‘Apricot Beauty’ will perfume a whole room. For winter blooms, I also pot a few bulbs up every year for indoor forcing.

 

 

Like most fragrant tulips, ‘Generaal de Wet’ is an early-blooming variety. And—also like most fragrant tulips—its petals are quite tasty and can be used in salads.

Like ‘Apricot Beauty’, most fragrant tulip cultivars are early-blooming varieties. I guess they are Mother Nature’s way of tempting sleepy bees to wake from winter’s sleep. These early, fragrant tulips include both single- and double-flowered types. Some of my favorite singles include ‘Generaal de Wet’, a wonderful, softly blushed orange tulip; ‘Prinses Irene’ (often sold as ‘Princess Irene’), another sweet-smelling orange flower; and ‘Couleur Cardinal’, a beautiful, dark-red flower with a violet blush and a light, sweet scent.

 

Some of the early, double-flowered tulips are not only fragrant, but also boast flowers as fulsome as any peony. Of these, I like the yellow ‘Mr. van der Hoef’; ‘Electra’, a pinkish-red beauty; and ‘Schoonoord’, a lovely pure white.

 

I’ve also discovered a few fragrant tulips that appear a little later in the season—a few mid-season Darwin Hybrid tulips caught my attention this past year, when I discovered two new varieties to add to my list of fragrant favorites. ‘Silverstream’ is a pale, cream color with a fine, sweet scent and leaves edged with pink. ‘Holland’s Glory’ is another standout—it sports huge, orange-red blossoms on strong, 2-foot-tall stems. Darwin Hybrids are the tulips that are most likely to return for several years to bloom again in your garden.

魏薇 发表评论于
Dressing warm I went outside for a walk but found it not cold. Instead, it’s a little bit chilly,early-spring feeling morning with temperature of 35F.

The whole night rain and snow turned into the current drizzling which didn’t bother me at all. The ground was brown and black dotted or stripped here and there with white snow left from previous heavy snows.

Lantern Festival dropped 2 days ago, it’s a day means the end of Chinese Lunar New Year holiday celebrations. It’s a day Chinese people living in North part of China have Yuanxiao(a rice ball stuffed with sweets filling particularly for Lantern Festival). The white snow make me think Yuanxiao and I am home-sick. But I will have Tangyuan(a rice ball smaller than Yuanxiao for South Chinese people)
魏薇 发表评论于
先写一小段,作为对自己的激励,再接再励,继续多学多写。

Two weeks ago, when I brought this tulip home, it was a plant in a glass vase filling with water. Having a plant in a glass vase is fun. You can appreciate a small water world, just like you do for a fish tank. That is what I did. For me, 5 bulbs fully filled up the water surface shoulder by shoulder was a funny and stunning looking. Tracking those white bulbs above, 5 robust stems wrapped with vibrant green leaves grow erectly out of the vase, in the greenness, you will see 5 small pink-rose buds on top.

The time is middle of Feb,2021, after a long CT winter during the painful pandemic, like psychologistes, early spring flowers are here to comfort us. In the past a few weeks, I have planted hyacinth, grape hyacinth, amaryllis, narcissus, they are flowers belong to different families with dramatically different looking, but they share a same feature, they are all bulb root plants.
魏薇 发表评论于
回复 '心中之城' 的评论 : 心城也感受到了。美得让我想到少女时期的伊里沙白. 泰勒。
心中之城 发表评论于
漂亮的郁金香!
魏薇 发表评论于
回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : 嗯。我也觉得要多读,读完还要写写,这样才能把所学的用起来,以后才会变成自己的。暖冬以前就是老师,称呼你老师没错的。
暖冬cool夏 发表评论于
回复 '魏薇' 的评论 : 不过老师可真不敢,城里比我写得好的大有人在。互相学习吧。
暖冬cool夏 发表评论于
回复 '魏薇' 的评论 : 好的,just practice whenever you want to.我也好久没有好好写,也是觉得写英文花时间,不如多读点书(英文),可能两者结合是最好的。
魏薇 发表评论于
回复 '梅华书香' 的评论 : 以前就觉得郁金香美,但直到看到这个品种后,我才知道有这种形色气都像玫瑰的品种。谢谢,也祝梅华好!
梅华书香 发表评论于
漂亮,我也特涅喜爱郁金香花,祝健康快乐,谢谢分享了!!
魏薇 发表评论于
回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : : 经暖冬鼓励,我准备把这篇写成英文小文,到时贴来给暖冬老师审阅:)我的词汇量太小,写的时候就不流畅,费时,结果就懒得写了。不过要想进步,真还得逼着自己写。
魏薇 发表评论于
回复 '菲儿天地' 的评论 : 看来菲儿也误会了。:)英文不是我写的,是摘录的。我这是水培的,室内种的,室外的还要过段时间。
魏薇 发表评论于
回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : 哈哈。怪我没说清楚,中文是我写的,英文是我从那网上的那篇文中摘录的一段,是美国人写的。要是我,我不得美死了!暖冬不用刮目了:)

好,我去你那看看。:)
菲儿天地 发表评论于
回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : +1写得真好,中英文都好。

现在已经有郁金香了?让我想起有一年去little holland看花。
暖冬cool夏 发表评论于
我博客里4/23/2018有一篇博文就是写西雅图郁金香的,花的品种繁多,整片农田都是,里面有很多照片,如果魏薇感兴趣的话。
这英文是你写的吗? 如果是,你的英文进步神速,让我刮目相看的。
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