For the longest time, my little garden has been very subtle in its palette—various shades of soft pink, mauve, greens, and whites. But then this year there has been a shifting in my garden taste. Aside from my David Austin roses, which are soft pinks and whites, the tulips and dahlias I planted are completely off the norm for me. I blame the long winter because it had me craving bold colors and shapes. From reds and deep purples, to bold oranges and yellows.

This year I wanted dramatic for my tulips so I went with the bloodish red ‘Rococo’ and the deep “black” of the ‘Queen of the Night’. The Rococo, with its furled edges and marking just had me at hello!  It has a very Wuthering Heights or The Picture of Dorian Gray. It is just so dramatic.  And I am normally not into these colors but again, it completely bewitched me.

And when l was looking for a companion tulip to plant I knew it had to be the Queen of the Night or as we call it in our house, the ‘Honeymoon Tulip’. On our way back from our honeymoon in Norway, we stopped in Amsterdam and bought a bunch of bulbs of this variety.  They bloomed the first growing season but the next one--- nothing whatsoever.  I was curious and it looks like the critters in the garden ate the bulbs and everything that was in that garden bed.  So I was sort of heartbroken. So after the tulip failure last year, I moved the garden bed to another location and planted en masse just in case, and I am fairly certain I can call this a success. This area seems to have really good soil and I am happy with my decision to move the bed here.

Of course, one of the joys of growing flowers is harvesting them and enjoying them at home. And I picked a few (my fingers were itching to just cut a few for my bedroom) and I love so much how they look together! It has the dramatic effect I knew it would. For contrast I added lily of the valley and bleeding heart foliage. I banded them al together and am displaying them on a short glass vase. I was lookingg for a darker vase I have but could not find it. Boo! But anyhow, I have been very into shorter fuller arrangements. I am finding them beautiful.

When that garden bed is in full blooms it is going to look striking! I just know it.

How about you? Have your taste in garden palette changed over the years?

I may be found on one of these link-ups: In a Vase on Monday, Mosaic Monday, Friday Bliss, Home and Garden Thursday, Pink Saturday, Nature Notes, Dishing It & Digging It, Thankful Thursday, Grace at Home, Weekend Blog Hop, Garden Blogger's Bloom Day (15th of the Month), End of Month View (31st of the Month), #MyGloriousGardens.