Tulip Exotic Emperor

These tulips were cut the day before and left overnight, in a bucket of cold water, in a cool, shady room. They were dug up with the bulb still on them and the bulb was cut off and composted. Saving the bulbs for next year does not work well because when the tulip is cut all the leaves are taken off and there is nothing to go back into the bulb and build it up for next year. Cutting to the bulb also makes the stems longer. Tulips keep growing after they are cut so I chose a tall vase that could cope with the increasing stem length. I took a picture every morning to show how the flowers changed over the next eight days. They start off neat and demure and eventually become a blossomy explosion of creamy white blooms.

Even at the end of their life these tulips look amazing. I have to force myself to put them in the compost bin