Friday, April 22, 2011

Tulips!

About an hour north of Seattle is the Skagit Valley, which is North America's largest grower of tulips, iris and daffodils.


The tulips are in full bloom right now, and we spent the afternoon oohing and aahing at their beauty.

It's hard to capture the enormous scale in a photo. There are 1,000 acres altogether. This is just one of many large fields.


Every once in awhile you find a rebel tulip,



Or a patchwork one.


How would you like your garden to look like this?


These tulips are grown for their bulbs, which are sold all over the world. The flowers, short-lived, are picked and tossed away.



A good reminder that what's important is often deep down inside and can't be seen.



Which brings me to my all-time favorite virtue.



Happy holiday weekend, everyone!

31 comments:

antique quilter said...

just beautiful I love tulips! the patchwork one is just so fun!!!!!
how I would love to live in that house, look at the scenery! mtns, open view and oh all those tulips!
thanks for sharing, Happy weekend!
Kathie

Teodo said...

MERAVIGLIOSO (amazing)!!!
I'd love to live in that house, surrounded by all those flowers.
ciao ciao

Michele said...

I adore tulips. The don't grow here, so it's always a treat to see them.

Barb said...

Love that rebel - I always call those flowers "wise guys". Love seeing the ocean of color - amazing.
happy spring.

Sujata Shah said...

Oh the Skagit Valley! Used to be one of my favorite places to visit in spring.
Thanks for posting the pictures!

Unknown said...

Wow, wow, wow!! I just love all that glorious color! I so wish that were near me. Love the red and the yellow together too. Of course there had to be a patchwork tulip, they knew you were coming.

Helen said...

Gratitude, yes! Thanks for the color feast, Nifty.

Tonya Ricucci said...

beautiful - reminds me of my first trip to Holland. I hope they let you take home tulips for free rather than just composting them. I'm amazed you don't have even more of them now at home.

Bonnie said...

Boy, Holland, Michigan must be crazy over this claim. They have a Tulip (as you can imagine they started as a Dutch community)Festival in May and they say they grow the most tulips. Anyway, I love tulips. I think that is why there are so many tulip qulting blocks.

Also, you cannot underestimate the importance of gratitude. It keeps life's vagaries in perspective.

Bonnie

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

WOW! those are amazing pictures! love that red/yellow tulip.. hehe! lover-ly!!

Mary Keasler said...

I am grateful for this wonderful post. Very thought provoking. Thank you

beth said...

What beauty! Thanks for sharing.

Miki Willa said...

Beautiful photos. I am amazed they actually bloomed with all the cool rainy weather we have been having. Your virtues quilt is going to be so wonderful. Love this one.

MariQuilts said...

So beautiful....tulips are a favourite of mine.

Anonymous said...

These pictures sure bring back memories. I lived in the Skagit Valley for over 30 years, even lived briefly on McLean Road which had several tulips fields and a tulip visitor center/gift shop on it. When I was a teenager I worked a couple of summers on a bulb farm in Mt. Vernon. Beautiful photos, thanks for sharing.
valekort at yahoo dot com

Janet said...

How beautiful, what a great place to visit. The view is just amazing.

Rachaeldaisy said...

Beautiful photos!!! Must be quite breathtaking in real life! I think tulips are a great easter flower because they look like eggs on stalks.

jovaliquilts said...

Love those tulips -- always thought you had to go to Holland to see fields like that! That patchwork one is fabulous. :)

Quilter Kathy said...

What a lovely post to read this morning! What beauty! Hard to believe the pretty tulips are thrown away?!? We are missing the tulips here this Easter...nothing is blooming yet :(
Love your new word...I made my first 2 words for the virtues quilt this weekend...just need to find the camera and post them.

Andrea, the little collector said...

I love tulips! They were the main flower blooming the weekend I got married. :) And the patchwork one is delightful! Yes indeed...the inside matters most!

Bonnie Hull said...

...Good thing to do on Earth Day! xo

Chris said...

Good reminder, it's what inside that counts! :) Our old retired pastor used to say, "You've given us so many things, now give us one more - grateful hearts." I love that. Thanks for a beautiful post.

Quiltdivajulie said...

Taped to the base of my computer monitor: "If the only prayer you say in your life is 'thank you' that would suffice." Meister Eckhart

Fabulous post!

Pinkadot Quilts said...

A beautiful and inspiring post, happy spring!

Kim said...

Wow.......what a beautiful sight!
Like a quick trip to Holland :0).
thanks for sharing the beauty of your state.....I'd love to see that for myself too.

Happy Sewing.......did this inspire a quilt?

Magpie Sue said...

What amazes me is how distinct that line of demarcation is between the red and yellow on the patchwork tulip!

Pretty sad that I have to enjoy the tulips on someones else's blog rather than risk going out to see them myself (they're just over the river from my house). :-P Great pictures though!

Victoria said...

Wow! I thought one had to go to Holland to see something like this. Spectacular!

Sherri Lynn Wood said...

Isn't it amazing that we can consume that many tulips at one time - and that they can be picked and shipped across the country!

Mary Keasler said...

Spectacular, indeed. I am grateful for your wonderfully cheerful pictures.

Selvage Quilter said...

Wow, I had no idea there were tons of bulbs growing north of Seattle! I'd love to have my yard look like that.

Vesuviusmama said...

Love the patchwork tulip, but I was a bit saddened to see them harvested for their bulbs and the blooms tossed. :(