Britain's largest tulip field in full bloom

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Britain in bloom: Four-year-old Nevaeh and mum Sarah Roweth-Garrett, enjoy a leisurely stroll in the spectacular tulip field in Narborough, Norfolk.


If you think it's a tough job dead-heading flowers in your garden, then spare a thought for the small team of people tasked with picking the heads off every flower in this vast field of tulips.

For none of the blooms from this, Britain's largest field of tulips will make their way to florists or find their way to a vase on your kitchen table. Instead, every head will be removed leaving only stems and bulbs left in the soil.


My petal: But sadly these stunning flowers in Britain's largest tulip field wont find their way to a vase on your kitchen table. Instead they'll be left in the ground to rot in order to produce a crop of bulbs


Springtime fun: Nevaeh Roweth-Garrett enjoys playing amongst the tulips for the last time before the flowers are decapitated


The vast majority of the heads will be left, colours fading, in the field to rot, save a few which will be hand selected to decorate floats at the annual Spalding Flower Parade.

Next week ten pickers will begin the painstaking job of nipping off the best 'show' flowers from the 120 acre field in Narborough, Norfolk. A machine will finish the job, guillotining the remaining heads from their stalks.

Removing the flower heads before the plants go to seed keeps more energy in the plant and helps the bulbs to grow..After planting, it takes between one and five years for the tulip bulbs to flower and become large enough to sell.


Blue carpet: Six-year-old Olivia Hughes enjoys these wonderful bluebells in Clanfield, Hampshire. The flowers have arrived two weeks early this year due to the warmest Feburary in nearly a decade.


The beautiful scene comes as Britain is also erupting with carpets of beautiful bluebells which have appeared weeks ahead of schedule, due to the warm weather.

Bluebells normally emerge at the end of April and start of May. However the lack of frost in February and March had sped up their development and the dry weather over the last month slowed grass growth, leaving them free from competition from rival plants.


source: dailymail