Tulips ~ The Official Arrival of Spring ~

Simplistic beauty!

What signifies the arrival of spring more than the sight & sound of a robin, but tulips. With great anticipation we wait to see the sprouts of green popping through the ground, sometimes even through the snow, waiting for the burst of glorious colors that we know will soon follow.

Always a recognizable beauty, the sight of them is joyful & full of promise. The promise that all things will become new & filled with life. That the bitter cold & gloomy skies of Winter will soon give way to the warmth of the Spring sun & warm breezes once again.

Tulips & robins are two things that I recall drawing endlessly at a young age, just about this time every year. I just knew that if I drew them & placed them all around the house, that they would be as eager to greet me as I was anxious to see them. I know now that my eagerness & drawings had no bearing when they would come, but our windows always looked full of color & life until they finally did arrive.

So today I will officially begin my watch for peeks of green foliage among the brown blades of grass & wait anxiously for the burst of Spring colors they bring. The season of rebirth ......it has begun!!

A view from the air of a tulip farm in Holland.

Another view from above at a Tulip farm in Holland. They look like strips of fabric laid out for a quilt.

A shot of a Tulip farm in Oregon with Mt. Hood in the background. I visited one of these farms on a trip to my brother's home in Oregon, and I can tell you they are breathtaking.

Another shot of a farm in Oregon. It is just simply gorgeous how they are laid out in color palettes. So many different varieties & colors.

When your tulips arrive, cut them & fill your window sills & tables with their happy blooms. Why leave them outside for others to enjoy? Enjoy them yourself. There is nothing more beautiful, in a most simplistic way, than a vase filled with nothing but tulips! I love the whimsy of the way they bend about the vase, sort of like a flower dance. And just when you think you have them just so, they open & become something entirely different. The tulip is one flower that once it is at it's peak, looks completely different than it did when you first cut it.

I have used tulips in flower arrangements & had people have no idea what they were because they were completely open. In our minds, a tulip is always closed in a teardrop shape, but when they open they are flat & expose to us a beautiful hidden secret within themselves.

That is why when I have brides come to me wanting tulips in their bouquets, I explain & show them exactly what they will have once the bouquets are out in the warm air. The tulips will open & they will have a bouquet with flowers not resembling tulips as we know them at all. Usually the only way around this is to tuck them deeper within the other flowers to keep the petals from opening.

Enjoy your watch for the first signs of Spring & enjoy your tulips!