Spring (finally) flowers in the house

For years whenever anyone would ask which was my favorite flower I would always say without any hesitation, the tulip. I don't know if it was because I was always awestruck by those beautiful pictures of fields filled with tulips as far as the horizon, usually taken in Holland ---so I suspect cute wooden shoes may have had something to do with that also. Maybe it was because I grew up in Miami, and although you can grow lots of beautiful flowers there you can't grow tulips in that sandy soil. Maybe it was because they are short lived. Or maybe it was just because they are so dang pretty. These days if I were asked the same question I'm not so sure I would answer the same way.  All the years I've been gardening I've discovered, and continue to discover, so many beautiful flowers that the tulip has become a little pedestrian. Or has it?

I think the first thing I planted in my current garden were tulip bulbs. Red ones. In the front yard underneath the pegee hydrangea and the crepe myrtle. I didn't plant enough though, I want it to be a mini field. Every year I say I will fill the area with tulip bulbs in the Fall, and every year I don't. By the time the Fall comes around I'm a bit gardened out. Maybe this will be the year. I.say.again.....

In the meantime though I'll bring some inside for Jane's Flowers in The House invitation and see if we can start this week on a positive note.