Flashback Friday (part 13) - Tulips Everywhere

In 2004, a year after we got married and moved into our new house in Virginia Beach, Caroline of The Neighbors and I went to a local home improvement store which is a cross between a Home Depot and a Pier One. In the past, we had come across refurbished brand name ceiling fans for $29 and high end cutting boards for $20 which retail at $200.

On this trip we were excited to see pallets of bags of bulbs...crocus, daffodils, hyacinths and tulips. Each bag held 25 bulbs and cost $.10. We proceeded to buy at least $20 worth of bulbs. Each.

Do the Deb Math with me - $20.00/$.10 = 200. 200 X 25 bulb/bag = 5,000 bulbs.

I just had to check my math because I always need to but we were both insane enough to buy this many bulbs. Truth be told, I even went back a few days later and bought more.

This was before I realized it's late December, you're supposed to plant spring bulbs like these in the Fall and I still had to plant all these bulbs in my yet to be established flower beds.

I read everything I could find about bulbs online and had a plan of attack for all these bulbs, mainly tulips in multiple shades and daffodils. Thankfully, that January we were blessed with some unseasonably warm weather where I even took off a day of work to plant bulbs.

Bulbs. Bulbs. Bulbs.

I had pots sitting in empty closets in the dark with bulbs in them to "force" them to bloom early. I was giving bulbs away to any sucker person I could find.

Finally, all the hard work paid off and in late February, the crocus came up, followed by the daffodils and hyacinth and in early April, the tulips.

Here is a picture of Taylor, Carson, Dylan and Sydney smiling over Easter break. Notice those pretty flowers in the background? Bulbs.

Many of the bulbs have expired over time and have been eaten by the #(*!^# squirrels. I have since purchased reasonable amounts of bulbs and planted in the Fall to enjoy this time of year.

This was the same day and I've always like this picture of Aunt Ana, Carson and Taylor.

I have more pictures of the flowers that year but am more excited to see the tulips appearing now while the daffodils start to expire.

Here is explanation of Flashback Friday and other FF posts.