Touting tulips!

I didn't always love tulips the way I do now.  That's because I didn't really know them. I thought they were too expensive for a short bloom period, because here in the mid-south, tulips are considered annuals.  We just can't get them to overwinter and bloom the following year. So, buy the bulbs in fall, stick them in your frig for six weeks, plant around December 1 and have one bloom per bulb in Spring and then yank them out of the ground. I just didn't see the point.  BUT. . . . then I decided to try a few bulbs 4 years ago to fill in a bare spot I had.  And WOW! Now, in the fall, I get as many bulbs as I can make room for in my frig. And  today this is what I'm seeing outside my back door:

              I love to watch the stages 

         of the tulip flower.

 

 

 

 What I didn't know about tulips is that they are light sensitive.  When the sun is not shining they close up, and when the sun shines on them you get to see this kaleidoscope image in the center.

I really don't know how I ever lived without them!

 

I hope you have some tulips in YOUR garden!

April foolishness

It does seem a bit of foolishness that I've chosen April 1 for my maiden voyage into blogging. But I'm going to give it a shot.

Lately spring has been playing peek-a-boo with us here in West Tennessee. We are fortunate not to have the snow this March that has afflicted our northern neighbors, but we still wonder if Nature is trying to pull off an intricate April Fool's Day joke.  So here's one for you:  This picture of my poodle, Sadie, and the tulips (above) was taken last year on March 13.  This year, as you can see below, we are just beginning to get tulips buds.  I don't mind that Spring is taking its own sweet time because we will have more days to savor the earth's reawakening.