The four seasons

These red tulips look almost like poppies when they flare open in the warm house.

I was only gone five days, but what a change outside-- everything grew by inches. It rained all day yesterday, a nice warmish rain, and other than a trip out to the grocery store I just puttered around the house unpacking and getting caught up on chores. I made a big lasagna for dinner. Like millions of other people, I kept an ear on the news from Boston until the high drama became more tiring than dramatic. How long can you talk about the same thing? 

This picture is from the bedroom window. I really don't deserve these beautiful tulips coming back every year.  They don't get any special treatment, some get sliced in half or accidentally dug up every year, and I usually abuse the bulbs by whacking off the foliage long before it dies back naturally.  I cut big bunches with long stems for the house, also a no-no.

But our oldest, biggest flowers are plain yellow and red-- my favorites. They must be the mongrels of the tulip family because the fancier more expensive varieties I've planted over the years have all died out.

Every April, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival draws people from around the world. My sister and I went a few years back and had a great time driving around looking at the brilliant fields of flowers. This little corner of Washington state, about 60 miles north of Seattle, has become the national capital of tulips.
Our cool, maritime climate is perfect for bulb growth, which may also be the secret of my lazy success. Tulips love it here.

We're roughly on par with the latitude of Holland and have remarkably similar climates:

Annual Rainfall:
Amsterdam 30.0 inches
Skagit Valley 32.3 inches

Average winter high/low:
Amsterdam 40.3/32.0
Skagit Valley 45.5/33.6

And so on. Basically, we have a maritime climate with chilly (but not freezing) winters that gradually transition into long, cool, wet springs. About as different from the Colorado Rockies as you can imagine. A short plane ride really brought that home yesterday.