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Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Our Scraggly Tulip Garden, 12x12 Acrylic



When I went to Holland to paint, about one year ago, I bought what I thought would be enough bulbs to make a spectacular tulip garden - over 100 bulbs!  The pictures, and live samples were huge, hardy and vibrant.  Easy to grow!  Well, we planted them (and by this I mean Tim planted them where I wanted them) and look at the pathetic examples of tulipkind!  Tim's chalking it up to young bulbs, but I don't know.  We did everything we were supposed to do, and our tulips bought in the US are gorgeous - in other spots.  I didn't want to mix them because I'd forgotten what the Dutch ones were supposed to look like and didn't know if they'd look good together!  Also, they were scheduled to bloom consecutively - but they all bloomed at once.  And they were supposed to be different heights, but they are all pretty much the same!  Oh, well, they're still better than NO tulips! :)

3 comments:

Karen M Schmidt said...

Hi Kelley, these may have more space in between them than you'd like, but still they're beautiful, and so is your painting! I don't know if tulips spread the same way daffodils do (I'm still such a novice when it comes to gardening) but if they do, I bet in the next couple of years this garden spot will fill in nicely and be positively lush with blooms!

Hmmm ... maybe you should cut a few of these and do a still life, too ... :)

Nini said...

Kelley, the tulips are beautiful, even if it's not Tulipmania. And besides, Isabelle makes the tulips look much better. :)

Kelley Carey MacDonald said...

Nina - you get the prize - you saw Isabelle! Seriously, she wasn't 'in' the painting, but she walked over and laid down... I couldn't leave her out! Thanks, and thanks, Karen!