Tiptoe through the Tulips

I've mentioned before that tulips are one of my favorite flowers. I adore them for seeming simultaneously delicate and hardy, for coming in a multitude of gorgeous colors, for their ability to usher in spring, and for the fact that they always, always make me think of Europe and that lovely little country, The Netherlands, in particular.

The only thing I don't particularly like about tulips is the fact that they usually start to droop after a few days. Now I know all fresh cut flowers droop and die eventually, but the thing about tulips is they always seem to droop before their time! Their color still looks good, their stems green, their petals fresh. This makes tossing them in their droopy stage extra disappointing because...well, they just seem to still have so much potential. I was lamenting about this problem to a friend of mine awhile back, who as it turns out happens to adore tulips as much as I do. When I got to my usual complaint about the droopiness, she leaned in, and whispered in a conspiring voice: "You know, there's a trick to that."

"There is?!" I replied in disbelief.

"It's going to sound crazy, but I swear it works. When the tulips start to droop, you take a safety pin and slide it through the stem just below the flower. Somehow it gives them a sort of new life and they stand straight up again, I swear."

Now, I trust this friend quite a bit and she's very, very intelligent, but even I raised my eyebrows at that advice. A safety pin? Through a flower? Yeah, okay green thumb girl.

Of course, as it usually happens, I forgot about my friend's advice on several droopy tulip occasions, only remembering her tip after I'd sadly tossed the whole bunch into the garbage. One evening after work this week, I was sitting at my desk in my bedroom, typing away on my laptop. My purple tulips were keeping me company, looking as lovely as ever. However, when I turned the vase around to check on the water level I noticed the first culprit - drooper #1. It was in that instant that I finally remembered Brynn's tip and hopped up to get a safety pin. 'This is crazy,' I muttered to myself as I stuck the pin through the stem. I stepped back, waited for the tulip to right itself. Nothing happened.

I wandered away from my desk after my failed stickage, puttering about my apartment until heading back into my bedroom a few hours later, ready to crawl into bed. I glanced over at my tulips and realized Mr. Drooper was standing just a little bit taller. 'Huh. Well, I guess that's some progress.' I thought to myself before drifting off to sleep. The next morning my alarm went off at 7am. I rolled over in bed, looked at my desk, and realized - voila! - each and every tulip was standing upright just as they had been when I first purchased them! How incredible is that?

So this has been my long winded way of sharing a little home gardening tip. Safety pins and tulips. Who ever would have guessed? I don't understand how or why it works, but it does. Try it the next time your tulips droop. You'll thank me, I promise.