Who doesn't love tulips? They are a long lasting cut flower and I love watching their entire lifecycle:  from when they are in the "kissing bud stage" to when they flop over in the vase, it's all beautiful to me.  Did you know that tulips continue to grow after they've been harvested? (So if you place them in an arrangement, be sure to place them a little lower).

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In the spring of 2023, I took an online workshop ("The Tulip Workshop") and learned how to "force" tulips to grow flowers even when the garden isn't in bloom.  The draw of this forcing method, is that you can grow thousands of tulips in a fairly small footprint - which works for me as we live in the city - in a duplex no less.

 

We invested in the course (it's not cheap), a greenhouse heater, more grow lights,  a walk-in cooler (which also keeps my flowers cool) specialty tulip bulbs, sterile growing medium and tulip crates. 

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I lost my mum in September 2023 and she loved tulips and ranunculus, so these crops are particularly meaningful to me, remembering how much my mum (Joan) loved flowers and thinking of how much joy these beautiful blooms will purvey.