Tulip Season

My fourth season of growing tulips for sale has come and gone. Spring is definitely the busiest time for me flower-wise, starting seeds, preparing soil, setting up support systems in the garden, weeding, and of course, harvesting tulips.

Every year I change what bulbs I order, and every year I get closer to the ideal mix. I am so tempted by the specialty tulips: doubles, fringes, and parrots. But, these are also the most fickle to grow, often blooming too short and small. The large singles, the Darwin hybrids, really are the best performers year to year. 

Most people don't realize that tulips are annuals when grown as cut flowers, meaning that new bulbs have to be purchased every year. I pull up the entire plant, bulb and all, when I harvest them. This gives me several more inches in stem length and allows me to dry store them in a refrigerator. After rinsing off the dirt, I wrap the whole flower, bulb and all, in paper and stick it in the fridge with no water. They last about 2 weeks like this, and when I need to sell them I just cut off the bulb, put them in water, and they rehydrate like a charm.

The annoying part about this is that in order for tulips to store well, they have to be harvested at an ideal stage, when the bud is closed and just starting to color up. When the weather gets hot and sunny and they blow open before being pulled up, they aren't ideal to sell. This means going out to pull up flowers as many at three times a day. I planted 500 bulbs this year, which is a very small amount in flower farming terms, but it's still a lot to deal with and usually more than fit in my flower fridge. Also adding to the stress this year was the fact that something is wrong with my fridge and it wouldn't hold a low temperature, also making a loud noise. I limped across the finish line but I suppose I'll have to deal with that somehow. Ugh.

I sold every usable flower this year, with any too-short or too-small flowers left for us to enjoy in the house.

I also did the flowers for a baby shower, which is my absolute favorite thing to do. I don't often get to make arrangements, because everything I have is used for bouquets. Also, for some reason people think that local flowers should be cheap, and after hearing that their request is going to cost hundreds of dollars instead of a Trader-Joe's-like bargain, they disappear. 

Next year is still up in the air. Nearly all tulip bulbs come from the Netherlands, which, you guessed it, is now subject to tariffs. So, super cool how SOMEONE failed to realize that tariffs will also impact small American businesses growing a product in America. Tulips are already my most expensive flower to grow, and are really a loss leader when you factor in the labor. Because I grow a small amount of tulips, I can wait a few more months before I make my order for the fall, so we'll see how things pan out.