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Sunday reads

Come Spring and tulips are blooming everywhere in North America. In the parks, gardens, and the sidewalks. They delight you with their stunning beauty and vibrant colors. They sway gently in the spring breeze. Their charm is unmissable and infectious.

But did you know tulips are planted in the fall to make way for the beautiful blooms in Spring?

Yes, that’s correct.

This is because they need good 14 weeks of chilling at between 35 and 50 degrees in order to produce their beautiful flowers.

How to plant tulips?

To start, choose the right spot. Tulip bulbs like sunny areas, with good soil that isn’t too wet but not too dry, either. Most gardeners plant their tulips between September and December because these cold-weather plants need to be chilled in order to bloom.

When you’re ready to plant, remember that tulips, like most bulbs, prefer to be buried deeply. Dig a hole eight to 12 inches deep and place the bulb at the bottom with the pointed top facing upwards.

If you feel the soil needs more nutrients, then mix in a few handfuls of compost with the loosened soil before you bury the bulb. Water the bulb in, place a thin layer of mulch on the soil and wait for spring!

Celebrating the tulip season, our guest writer Japjeet Duggal shares, ‘Tulip Festival’ a family getaway to witness the endless tulip bloom at Tulip Town, Mount Vernon, Washington.

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Tulip Festival

By Japjeet Duggal

Tired and weary of working from home, fetching groceries, and just going by the weeks, we decided to take a much-needed break and visit some Spring blooms at the Tulip Town, in Mount Vernon, WA.

The drive to Mount Vernon was as beautiful as our destination. We witnessed the most incredible mountain scenery in Washington. And drove through the old country homes. On reaching Tulip Town, finding parking was a challenge but not a surprise. It surely indicated the popularity of the festival. And the dusty parking so iconic to farm house living.

As we entered the town, a windmill surrounded by beautiful tulip flowers and a distinctively blue colored water fountain greeted us.

There was also a tractor ride for anyone who wanted to ride around the farm to take a glimpse of the flowers. However, we decided to walk along with them and enjoy the tulips up close. The tulip beds were like a rainbow on earth. Vibrant and breathtakingly beautiful.

Everything in the town was magnificently decorated with flowers. An old truck parked near the exit was rusty but laden with flowers of all colors. A small bench was decorated with a canopy of tulips as people waited in line to get their pictures clicked.

Further, there was a huge photo frame with the same beautiful backdrop and wooden steps on all sides that gave tulip admirers an opportunity to take precious family photos up close with the flowers.

Kids were running into the fields, and their moms chasing them. Some toddlers were so excited, their clothes were brown and soiled with mud, and their smiles wide as summer’s beaming sunshine. All they cared about was running in the vast fields with no care of the world.

My 2 year old daughter was thrilled to see farm horses in the stable. Three well bred country horses had everyone’s attention as they whickered every now and then. While we stood there watching our toddler say, ‘Mama that’s a horse’ another toddler dressed in a bunny costume ran up to the fence and started climbing. His dad was quick to get him off the fence, a moment that gave the onlookers a chance to share a hearty laugh.

The last two rows of the tulips on our wait out were multicolored, dominated by a bright red. They were perfect for taking a memory home.

Even though it was a tulip festival, I could not help but remember a paragraph from my favorite childhood poem, daffodils:

For often when on my couch I lay,
In vacant and in pensive mood,
They flash upon an inward eye, which is a bliss of solitude,
Then my heart with pleasure fills and dances with the daffodils tulips. 😊

Japjeet Duggal is a mother who lives with her husband and daughter in Washington State. She shares her heartwarming and sweet nature stories with us each month. You can follow Japjeet on instagram @japjeetduggal.

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