variation on a theme ii

 

Not my tulips, for a change.

Walking through Soho this morning, I came into Golden Square, a fantastically historic square which is currently bursting with tulips. Most municipal plantings of tulips use bog standard red and yellow tulips, as though nothing else existed. But here the three large beds in the centre of the square have each been planted very creatively with a single variety of tulip and a single companion.

So beneath the statue of George II in the central bed there are floppy white tulips underplanted with pretty white forget-me-nots.

  

On one side there are pale yellow fringed tulips underplanted with golden wallflower.

 

And, most striking of all, the third bed is full of vivid coral-pink tulips with deep magenta sweet williams which make it simply radiate colour.

I love this part of Soho for its cafes, street markets, fabric shops and the superbly renovated Marshall Street Baths. And of course I lingered for a while in Golden Square with a view of the tulips, a mug of coffee and a cinnamon bun at Nordic Bakery.