It may only just be Christmas but Cornwall is already preparing for Spring as the Eden Project has ensured a mass planting of tulip bulbs set to bloom next March.
25,000 bulbs have been hand-planted in raised beds in the Mediterranean Biome by a team of 20 gardeners, planting twice as many bulbs as last year.
* Subscribe to Country Life and save up to 40% this Christmas
This beautiful explosion of colour will include around 100 varieties of tulip including the world's first blue-fringed variety, Blue Heron, as well as Queen of Night, a classic black tulip, and the scarlet variety Red Georgette.
Tulips won't be the only flower gracing Eden throughout the season as the they will add to a display of around a million bulbs including daffodils and crocuses.
Eden's Mediterranean Biome Supervisor, Catherine Cutler, is thrilled with the project: 'It was a fantastic effort by the team to plant so many bulbs in a day and the Mediterranean Biome tulip display is set to be the jewel in the crown of Eden's spectacular site-wide show of bulbs next spring.
'We've planted our bulbs quite late but they will be protected by the Mediterranean Biome.
'Gardeners at home can still put their bulbs in the ground in December, provided conditions aren't frosty.'
For more information, visit the Eden Project website www.edenproject.com
* Follow Country Life magazine on Twitter
