Tulips!!

Just in case you didn't know, I love flowers. And there are so many! e.e. cummings once reflected on the riot of color and shape and size and configuration by saying, "the world laughs in flowers." I'm right there with him and I love Mother Nature for it. That said, I have two favorites, flowers that I will go out of my way to see, and flowers that will automatically put me in a good mood, regardless of where I am and what's happening: tulips and orchids.

Now, somehow I haven't been yet to the orchid exhibit over at Natural History, but I'm not out of time yet. And thankfully horticulture always stocks our welcome and security desks with orchids, so it's rare that I'm in the office and don't get to see orchids. However, tulips are short-lived spring flowers. I'm lucky that they are all over Washington, but I do still have to take the time, because too many warm days or too much rain, and they're gone.

So I opted to walk to work on Friday morning to take advantage of some beautiful spring weather, and an abundance of tulips in the city. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for the walk too! And I knew I'd need it--I had several meetings at the office that I was dreading, so a four-mile walk to start things off, complete with tulip viewing, was the way to go.


These beauties were outside an apartment building down the street from us, just before we turn off to go the grocery store. I love that purple! I've seen some that are a deep, dark purple, nearly black, and they are GORGEOUS.


I didn't take the camera out on the walk, though, because I really wanted the exercise that morning, and I was headed for the National Tulip Library, so I figured I'd make my picture-self happy there. And I wasn't disappointed on the way! The Embassy of Angola had lovely tulips in the middle of pansy beds, so bright and cheerful. Lafayette Park by the White House had beautiful red tulips arranged in patterns around the monuments and walkways. Every block, nearly, had tulips.

But, I got down to the Washington Monument and World War II Memorial, and disaster struck. I had to be at work before 9, for the a memorial service for the poor workman who died last year on our site. It was 8:20, and I COULDN'T FIND THE LIBRARY. Honestly, I have no idea if the National Park Service didn't plant it this year or if I just didn't remember where it actually was. But no massive tulip garden for me.

As I said, it was a beautiful mornings. And I HAD seen tons of tulips. And, Smithsonian didn't disappoint. As I walked along from one end of the National Mall to the other, towards my museum, I passed the Castle and its stunning landscaped gardens. Here was the best surprise of all--fabulously beautiful frilly white tulips. I was set for the day!


Tulips with frills, feathers, color stripes, or any 'unusual' characteristic, are actually diseased. It's a fungus that causes these irregularities. No surprise to you--the odder the better for me.


Smithsonian Horticulture is amazing. They change the landscape gardens regularly, creating different patterns with flowers, color, and greenery.



Around the corner were these beauties. How fun--a number of the stalks sprouted three flowers each! Oh, it was a good morning.



Then after my nightmare, I had my acupuncture appointment. On my way, I snapped this field of tulips--they're really bent now from their heliotropic tendencies--but at the time, they were just coming into full bloom. That's my museum in the background. Below, these pretty ones were by my acupuncturist's office. I haven't seen pointed ones like this in a long time.