The first bloom of the 'Swan's Wing' tulip -- even in this blurry picture (it's very windy here today) you can see the feathered edges of the petals -- I so love tulips -- they seem to always say 'Spring Has Arrived!' to me.
This bloom is from just one of the bulbs I hand-carried from my trip to Oregon last year. Purchased at a Farmer's Market from local nursery's booth there in Beaverton. I could have gone wild buying many of each variety of spring bulbs but hesitated to buy even a small amount due to my on-going battle with our Oklahoma gophers. The young woman from the nursery gave me advice on out-witting the gophers and low and behold -- that advice worked. The bulbs were planted with small gravel all around them and as additional insurance, I sprinkled each bulb with cayenne pepper too. This spring I have glorious blooms and the gopher has gone over to feast on my neighbors bulbs -- they didn't follow the advice I passed on.
