Tulipmania

Since today is the nicest day we will have for the rest of the week, I thought it would be a good day to head down to Skagit County and look at the RoozenGaarde display for the annual Tulip Festival, which officially ends on Friday. Judy and I headed down after our workout class and spent a fine day in the sunshine taking pictures of tulips and daffodils. Judy was looking for some tulips that aren't terribly tempting to deer, as they eat hers every spring before she has a chance to see them bloom. Fortunately, there are some varieties that aren't as tasty to the critters, which she will order and plant for next year. Here's a closeup of that beautiful arrangement right behind us:

The display this year is almost impossible to share in all its glory, but I'll give it a try. Some of my favorite flowers stand out from the others because of having especially long stems, their shape, or because of their amazing color. Pink, purple, red, orange, yellow... all the people walking around were smiling along with me, snapping pictures and exclaiming when one particularly stunning arrangement would be discovered in full bloom.

Last year I walked to the fields behind the garden and saw rows and rows of different tulips, but this year that same area has been planted with one variety of daffodils instead. I didn't realize that each year all the bulbs are dug up and replanted. It must be a pretty wonderful job, designing the fields of flowers and seeing them come to fruition each spring.

These white beauties looked almost iridescent in the sunlight. If you enlarge the picture and look across the path, you can see that there are still tulips that have not yet begun to bloom. Some of them have intriguing names and make me wonder if perhaps I should take another trip down there this season. After the tulips are gone, the iris gardens begin to bloom, and perhaps the best idea is to spend more than just an afternoon looking at these flowers. I will leave you with a picture of three friends I made today:

I heard them gossiping about all the visitors who were oohing and aahing at the beautiful gardens. I think they were spending time taking in the sights, too.
:-)