Christmas Eve

a few hyacinths in bloom on Christmas Eve but lots and lots of buds, Victor enjoying his usual spot by the radiator and near the back door keeping an eye out for other cats coming in the cat door

I'm never sure what hyacinths I will have for Christmas. No matter what weather they got at any stage of their development, no matter when I started them and what conditions, they cannot be guaranteed to bloom for Christmas, much as I try. On Dec 23rd my first hyacinth in the cobalt blue squat vase is Skyline. The pinky one in the green vase behind it is also supposedly Skyline but it obviously is not (unless I don't know enough about this variety and it having colour variations). I chose it from one of those bins of loose bulbs at the garden centre. The blue and white pot is Delft Blue (from deJager). Once again, cats (Jeffrey and Scarecrow) in the background (left in the back garden next door) and I hadn't realized they were there.

the next day (Dec 24th) the hyacinth in the blue and white pot is a little closer to blooming - intriguingly the buds look pink but I only bought 3 pink Lady Derby hyacinth bulbs and no other pink ones and this isn't one of those

that hyacinth in the centre in the green vase is Delft Blue (from Peter Nyssen), pink on the right "Skyline" as above and on the left is another Skyline, this one looking the appropriate colour