Whatever you do, don't do this...

The Tulip Story

I Love Tulips!

I like their colors, their shape, and their strength.

🥰

So, when my husband and I moved to our first house, I wanted to grow tulips.

With visions of my grandparents' beautiful gardens dancing in my head, I went to the garden centre, bought some bulbs, and got right to work.

. . .

I must say at this point, that I'd never grown a flower in my life before this. (And have grown very few since.) I'm not a gardener, but I love flowers.

. . .

I planted the precious bulbs in the tiny strip of land between our garage and our front walkway, and all winter long I happily imagined how wonderful they were going to be.

When Spring arrived, I checked every day to see if my tulips had sprouted, but while all the tulips on our street were 12" high, mine were nowhere to be seen.

Those of you with tulip-growing experience likely know what had gone wrong, but I was stumped.

. . .

About 3 weeks after everyone else's tulips bloomed, ours started to appear. They were poking up in odd spots (not in the careful rows I'd planted) and in a sort of crooked-looking way.

. . .

The lesson here is - Don't plant your tulip bulbs upside down! The pointy end may be easy to shove in the ground, but that's actually the blooming end. The rounded, flat end must be at the bottom.

I had almost forgotten this story until someone mentioned growing tulips at our Easter family dinner this year.

They all thought my experience made a pretty funny story.
And so do I.

︵‿｡･:*

The first artwork I ever created for Hutton Hill Designs happens to be inspired by a beautiful bouquet of tulips.
(Store-bought, of course!)

See All My Tulips items here →

Discover more of my behind-the-scenes design stories here...

DESIGN STORIES →

"It's good to learn from your mistakes.

But it's even better to learn from other's mistakes."

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