Last Day for Tulips

Last week my husband and I walked around Brookside Gardens enjoying the tulips. Some of the early bloomers were past prime enough that the volunteer gardeners were taking the bulbs up from the beds. I will have to find out next time we go to the garden what replaces tulips.

Some were widely open, and I enjoyed the curls and graceful curves of the waxy petals. My favorite tulips are the ones that are mostly yellow…tipped with orange. The colors remind me of sunrise and sunset.

There were some hybrid tulips up near the visitor center that were catching the mid-morning sunlight. They had a stronger scent and I wondered if the original plants were more heavily scented that the hybrids that we plant now. Tulips have gone through extreme breeding; perhaps bloom shape, color and longevity are more important than the smell.

I enjoy them all as a fleeting vision of spring. We’re on to the next round of blooms.