T for Tulips

One of the first things I did when I decided to turn the plot of dirt next to my house into a garden was buy a bag full of tulip bulbs. I spent the waning warm days of fall digging holes and nestling tulip bulbs under the ground.

When spring came I was so excited! I think I checked it everyday, waiting for those tulips to show their colorful heads. When my neighbors gardens began bursting with tulips but mine didn't, I first thought it was because I just planted mine that fall and my neighbors were long established. Maybe I planted them too early. Or too late. My soil was to clay-y. They didn't get enough sun. I didn't know what but I knew I had done something wrong.

Until my husband confessed. Each morning when he left for work, he would see another hole or two where wildlife had carefully dug up a bulb and carted it off for breakfast. Not wanting to break my heart, he covered up the holes and kept his mouth shut, hoping at least a few would survive the buffet line. They didn't. Not one tulip bloomed or even showed a green leaf that year. Although I loved them, I abandoned tulips after that year for less delicious spring bulbs (daffodils and grape hyacinths!).

About 20 years after that mis-adventure with tulips, my husband and I took a trip to Lewes, Delaware so I could revel in my favorite blooms at their Annual Tulip Celebration. Enjoying a weekend in a town covered in tulips re-awoke my love of tulips and made me determined to somehow grow them in my own garden.

Apparently tulips are the chocolate of the animal world. Happily, daffodils are the stinky garlic of the animal world. So, if you sneak some tulip bulbs in amongst your daffodils, animals will smell the daffodils and steer clear. You can also build chicken wire boxes, toss your bulbs in them and plant the entire box. I tried both methods and have managed to coax a few tulips to call my garden home.

The Stones sang, "You can't always get what you want..." but sometimes - if you do enough research and try enough tricks - you can!