I Love Tulips

Well, it's Saturday and I was hoping to get some yard work done today, but I'm sitting here looking out the window at rain. We have 50 bales of pine straw to spread on our beds. I was planning to get out one day this week to get started on this but noticed that I had quite a bit of weeding to do first. 

I have been a rose gardener for years, and I consider the rose the queen of flowers. But there is something about tulips that just steals my heart. When I was a girl, I learned how to draw a tulip with one leaf standing up and one folded over. Not having received the drawing gene, which went to my sister, this was about the only thing I knew how to sketch. 

I have grown lots of plants over the years, but the tulip is one that is elusive for me. They are not perennial in Alabama, and my problem is planning correctly for them in the fall. I think you are supposed to chill them for several weeks before you plant them, and this should all be done on a certain schedule. So I am in trouble, since I am more a live in the moment kind of person; anything that takes lots my planning has two strikes against it right away.

But last fall I was disciplined enough to buy two bags of daffodil and tulip bulbs. I had planted pansies in my pots on the deck, and I took the bulbs and shoved them down in the dirt around them. I just think it looks so pretty in spring to have the short pansies and the tall bulbs coming up randomly around them. A riot of color!

The daffs came up dutifully and the tulips were not far behind. I really didn't know what to expect from the tulip variety I planted, making for a fun surprise. The are magenta with a white stripe around the outer edges of the petals. They are fairly short, a nice intermediate height between the pansies and daffodils. 

I took this shot of them the other day, and added some Jerry Jones textures to the photo. He has a nice tutorial that I followed, coming up with the following result:

 

Maybe if it stops raining I'll try to get outdoors to the yard. The wet ground will make it easier to finish pulling up those weeds!
 

Comments

[Amy]

So pretty! I have always wanted to plant tulips, but I missed out on that gardening gene so I'm lucky to keep pansies alive.

[Jeff]

I like tulips as well - very strong color. I tried a few one year and liked them, but like you, I never seemed to think about them at the right time. Nice photo.

[Jane Bell]

I just love pansies and tulips together. They are really unique flowers and ones I cannot live without when spring rolls around. So glad they worked for you this year. Mine have come up and I need to blog on these. I beg to differ on you not being able to draw. I remember some of your other sketches when you were a little girl. Maybe this can be a new pursuit!