The Increasing Number of Real Beauties
Fairfax Tulips making their home in St. James
When you least expect it in the early spring, color pops out. This particular color has a colorful past. In the year of 2011 there was the anticipation that red tulips would be the choice of many for Valentine’s Day. The day after, Kevin and Kersten were out and about and were surprised that so many tulips had not found a home. I am not sure how room was found in the pickup for Kevin, Kersten, Bell, Sophie and a dozen pots of the red beauties. After several days of gracing the print shop with beauty, the tulips began attracting – or even perhaps hatching out – fruit flies. Plan B was executed and the tulips found their way from Fairfax to St. James.
I knew enough that tulips needed to die back the stems on their own to feed the bulbs, but good grief it took forever. By this time it was the end of May and tulips need to then be stored in cool temps until the ultimate time of planting, which is right before the cold frosts become winter. Dennis’ garage refrigerator had several shelves devoted to the tulips bulbs. In the late fall, the bulbs were tucked into the flower bed and we began the wait and see. That was in 2011.
In the blooming spring of 2012 there was a showing of about eight blooms compared to the ninety bulbs we put out in two different beds. This year we had a total of twenty four of the the beauties. This project gives credence to the old adage “nothing ventured – nothing gained.”