I've never been much of a green thumb - just ask anyone who knows me. I recently managed to kill off a lucky bamboo plant a friend gave me when I worked at San Jose State. I don't really want to think about what that says about my luck. Any other houseplants I've ever had haven't lasted very long.My yard gets full sun in the summer, though the soil is not the best. Still the only things I've managed to grow well are tomatoes and basil, which seem to be very forgiving plants. As for flowers, every spring I attempt to plant some, from seeds or transplants. But I haven't been very successful. For the last two years I've planted lily and tulip bulbs and not one has come up.
In high school I read a book by Douglas Coupland, "Shampoo Planet." In it one of the main character plants tulips in the fall, leaves his girlfriend for a crazy fling with a French girl, and then realizes he really loves his girlfriend again right when the tulips begin to bloom in spring. The fictional gesture of love always stuck with me.
Though one of my resolutions (No. 18) this year is to have tulips or lilies in my yard, I realized that the bulbs actually needed to be planted in fall for spring blossoms. So when I saw some tulip plants at Home Depot, I thought it might be my only chance to get them. I bought the transplants a few weeks ago, with intentions of getting them in the ground that weekend. But then it rained all weekend. And then it was cold and muddy in the yard. And then I was kinda lazy. So three weeks later, though the flowers have already blossomed I planted them this weekend and hope to enjoy them by the front door as long as the blossoms last.
From the little bit I've read about tulips, I should be able to save these bulbs and replant them next year. So we'll see how that goes.
Photo by Melissa Flores
Tulips are placed in planters near my front door.
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