My New Happy: It's Tulip Time

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

It's Tulip Time

  Nope - you're not missing anything.  Earth Day isn't until April 22nd.  But it is tulip time!  Because of our mild winter, the tulips are blooming, several weeks ahead of schedule.  Since I'm busy hanging out with my mom during the last few days of her visit, I thought I'd re-run this post from last spring.  

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Let's talk about tulips on this beautiful Earth Day.  They are one of my favorite flowers, and I am lucky enough to live only 30 miles from the Skagit Valley and the annual Tulip Festival. 

The Skagit Valley is the largest grower of tulips in the United States, and during the spring festival over 1/2 a million people visit to ooh and ahh over the 700 acres of colorful blooms. You have to be quick though - as soon as the festival is over, they top the blooms and all of those vibrant fields go back to green.

For many years we have joined the other 500,000 people, and let me tell you, it's crowded. This is a small valley with two lane farm roads.  The traffic jams can be horrific. It's not uncommon to have people stop in the middle of the road to hop out and take a quick picture. If you visit the festival, you have to pack your patience.  Ah, but the tulips!




C and T with my Grandpa in 2002

If you would like to grow these beautiful flowers in your own yard, now is the time to order them. The Washington Bulb Co. has a wonderful on line catalog, and they will ship the bulbs direct to you in the fall when it's time to plant.

23 comments:

  1. Tulips are my favorite flower! All of these photos are so pretty! Enjoy your time with your Mom!

    Jill
    Doused In Pink

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  2. Earth Day is on - or very close to - our anniversary. We'll be celebrating Earth Day in Hawaii this year! Yay!!

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    1. Okay....jealous! What a great way to celebrate your anniversary. Have fun!

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  3. Hope you and your mom are having a great time! I would really love to visit these tulip fields some time!

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  4. I bet it is an amazing sight! I hope you are having a great time with your mom!

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    1. It's so beautiful and the colors just go on and on!

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  5. So pretty, on our drive we saw so many flowers, it was crazy, it was like a carpet!

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  6. They're so lovely! I've never attempted to plant tulips cos I've always seen them as so delicate and I kill most everything I plant. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying your time with you Mom. Mine will be arriving to visit in a couple of months and I'm so excited. We never stop needing our Mommies, do we? :-))

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    1. Nope, love it when mom comes to visit :)! Tulips are actually very hardy and will come back year after year - try them!

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  7. Lana... these are beautiful... I don't know if tulips can handle such harsh Winters as ours... I can see why you go to see all the different colored flowers together xox

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    1. I'm not sure how they do with cold climates. Rainy and mild are probably the key.

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  8. The traffic might scare me off, but probably not!
    Cassidy went to Holland two years ago and bought like 150 tulip bulbs to be shipped to us the following spring. Well maybe we'll see them soon but they're under a blanket of snow!

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    1. So cool that you have bulbs from Holland. I really want to go there someday.

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  9. Tulips are my absolute fave and I can't wait until the ones that I brought back from Holland last Summer bloom!

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  10. Tulips are one of my most favorite flowers. I love that stunning Easter sign, also.

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