Spring 2022: Tulips

Way way back when in November, we planted tulips.

Nothing too fancy. It was just a fun experiment. A last minute decision.

It was a learning a experience and we kept our hopes fairly low. We didn't want to get our hopes too high since we ordered our bulbs late.

The only tulips we had ever grown were in the yard and had been there since I was a kid. I remember walking up to the lilac bush in the rain to pick the red tulips and yellow daffodils that grew around the bottom. I think I had yellow rain boots on... maybe I imagined that part but I think there's a picture somewhere.

It was a spring ritual. Spring was officially here when the grape hyacinths started popping out of the moss and the flowers are ready to be picked after a long winter, finally.

This year, we were excited to find that our first official tulip crop was extremely successful. If my five year old self knew that one day, she would have endless flowers to harvest, I think she would have been overjoyed. The 23 year old version certainly is.

Planting the bulbs was super fun. It was one of those tasks mom and I were excited to do despite the fact it was November and very cold. We bundled up and poured all of the bulbs in the trench and started organizing. It was similar to arranging eggs in a carton. Then we covered them up with eight inches of compost and hoped for the best. "Hoping for the best" included barricading the new tulip beds with as much wire as we could find to keep creatures out and checking daily to make sure they hadn't been disturbed.

December, January, and February passed with the leaves growing more every day. We would stop and look for buds every time we went up to the garden to work. It seemed like there was never going to be flowers. But suddenly, we spotted multiple buds with signs of color inside the green folds. Not long after, it was digging time. And of course, I captured the first day of digging tulips on film!

We've had so much fun harvesting and arranging tulips so far. Their long, elegant stems are unusual in the flower world. In fact, I don't think we don't grow another flower with a stem like it. I'm enamored with tulips. It's so neat that we get to harvest the entire plant, bulb and all. How is it possible that all those leaves came from that one little bulb?

I also never dreamed I'd love them so much in bouquets and arrangements. Their unusual shape and smooth stems add some romance to a bouquet and a fun egg-shaped block of vibrant color!