Tips on Tulips

It was my mom's birthday on Wednesday so on my way to work I stopped by the grocery store to buy her flowers. I brought my own vase and instead of paying a lot of moolah for a pre-made bouquet, I was just going to make my own. Daffodils were only $2 a bunch and there were all sorts of different colored tulips. I decided on a simple arrangement of daffodils and purple tulips. When I went to pay for them, the young woman behind the counter told me that daffodils are toxic to other flowers, so if you mix them, the other flowers will die.

I was surprised that a grocery store clerk knew this. I had worked at this very same flower department when I was 14 and I knew very little. I just loved flowers.

So I took her advice and went for yellow and purple tulips.

She then provided me with some other useful tulip information that I felt like sharing:

• Tulips grow even after you cut them, which is why the purple ones in the photo look taller than the yellow -- they must have grown faster
• Tulips like pennies, so drop one in the vase not just for good luck
• If a tulip is drooping, poke a pinhole just below the bloom and it should perk up

I gave this last advice to my mom upon floral delivery and she told me she tried it out and it totally worked. I guess a little air bubble gets stuck in the stem after it has been cut, so a little hole lets the air escape and get to the bloom.

Neat!