About Tulips.com

Our parent company is Washington Bulb Company, Inc., the largest grower of tulips, daffodils and irises in the United States. All our bulbs are hand-sorted, inspected and packaged in our Skagit Valley facilities amidst the tulip fields. We keep the bulbs in a climate-controlled environment until they're ready to
be shipped for planting in your area.

Tulips.com
P.O. Box 1248
Mount Vernon, WA 98273
866-488-5477

www.tulips.com

Welcome to the beginning of a new year and a brand new decade! Hopefully you all wrapped up last year in style and have managed a solid start to 2010. Speaking of new beginnings, the month of January finds many of our flower fields filled with fresh shoots as bulbs begin to sprout forth from the winter soil; their early growth spurred by warmer than average January temperatures across the Pacific Northwest. How quickly these flowers continue to grow will correlate directly with the unpredictable temperatures of February and March.

Visitors eager to plan their trips to the valley for this year?s Tulip Festival and World Tulip Summit have already begun to call asking when we expect our peak bloom period to be. It is still much too early to give any specific dates in response to this question, as an occurrence of any prolonged period of cold or warm weather during the next couple months can shift the flowering stage of our fields and display garden at RoozenGaarde. However, should one continue to press me for a more definite answer, this would be my response: the daffodils will be in bloom sometime during March, the tulips sometime during April, and a combination of the two sometime in between those dates. I promise to have a more definite time frame come the March edition of the newsletter!

The exact locations of our 2010 tulip fields are different from last year because we practice a 5 year rotation policy in our fields. Check out our Bloom Map for all field locations, flower colors, and bloom updates. And remember, until the spring fields begin to show color you can always brighten your homes and help advance your anticipation of warmer weather with fresh cut flowers delivered direct from our farm! We are now picking long lasting greenhouse daffodils - a flower that has proved extremely popular during the first weeks of January. For a more diverse selection of colors, check out our Asiatic lilies or Dutch irises. Every Tulips.com order is picked fresh and sent via overnight delivery to ensure your flowers will arrive at your doorstep within a day?s time!

Should anyone still be looking to order bulbs, your procrastination has won the battle this go round. December was the final month to purchase bulbs this season, meaning your next best option is to wait for our 2010 bulb catalog which will be mailed in March. Don?t currently receive a catalog? You can either join our catalog mailing list, or if you prefer to do things online, we have all our varieties listed on our website. We will begin accepting 2010 online bulb orders as early as next month! By the way, if you happen to be one of those previously mentioned individuals who missed out on ordering bulbs this season, you may want to go ahead and place your Valentine?s Day flower order today. Remember, you can always come visit us during the spring and share in the beauty of our blooming garden and fields to make up for your missing out on bulbs, but you may need a little more help should you forget to order those Valentine?s Day flowers!

I wish you all the best in 2010!


Leo Roozen

Winter may still have its chilly grasp on much of the United States, but add a little spring warmth to your homes with our cheerful yellow daffodils. Available for a limited time during the first months of the year, greenhouse daffodils are picked fresh and will take approximately 3 days to fully open. Once in full blooming glory, each stem will surely amaze with its durability and continued freshness! These flowers are grown in the controlled environment of our progressive greenhouses and develop strong foliage and longer stems than the traditional field varieties ? which will be available at a future date.

Our tulips are wrapped ten stems per bunch, meaning you can choose a different color for every ten stems you order. Order 30 stems and choose 3 different colors! Or choose your favorite color for all 30 stems! Order 50 stems and choose 5 different colors! You get the idea. We are currently growing a great selection of early spring colors, in addition to the always popular red, white, and pink colors of Valentine?s Day!

We are stocking our Gift Shop with new items daily and hurriedly preparing for the spring rush! Fresh flowers are available daily in addition to some unique gifts for the home and garden. We also have in stock 2010 Tulip Festival merchandise featuring the dramatic work of talented local artist Bart Rulon! If you are in the area, please stop by for a visit. We are open year round ? 362 days to be exact! Click here for directions.

Q & A

Q: My daffodils and tulips are sprouting from the earth... do I need to add mulch or cover?

Your daffodils are and will be fine left as is! It is neither harmful nor uncommon for daffodils (and most other spring flowering bulbs) to begin poking from the ground at this time of year. If you live in a warm/hot climate zone you may find your daffs have substantial growth at this point. And if you live in a cool zone your bulbs may have yet to heave from the ground or be in their early growth stages. Throughout our Display Garden many varieties have sprouted, but only a few have begun developing actual stems. The growth of these plants is determined by a biological clock and the surrounding climate, the latter of which has been on the warm side for a winter here in the Pacific Northwest ? so the growth of our flowers is a little ahead of schedule. Regarding tulips, most of the foliage showing at this point is simply the tips of a plant?s leaves. Any damage sustained at this time would most likely be rather minor ? perhaps some browning to the tips of the leaves, and for this to happen, it would take the arrival of rather extreme weather conditions. Daffodils may be further along, but they are a very resilient flower and difficult to damage in any climate.

We receive many similar questions during this time of year, but generally speaking, the answer is simple: adding a medium to cover any sprouting flowers is unnecessary. If your bulbs have significant growth at this time then you most likely live in an area that is not affected by extreme winter temperatures through the month of February. Your bulbs have a good idea of what they are doing... sit back and enjoy their growth until their lively spring bloom!

Q: I have not planted my bulbs yet... should I wait and plant them next year?

NOOO! Stop reading this newsletter and go plant them right now. Seriously. You should already be moving out the door! Bulbs want to grow into flowers and for them to do so they must be planted ? preferably in a timely fashion. As time passes, bulbs will begin to lose significant amounts of moisture. Some varieties succumb to dehydration before others. Whatever the variety, one of two things will eventually occur if you have not already gone out and planted your bulbs: 1) they will shrivel and begin to resemble a raisin of a bulb (note: please do not eat), or 2) they will rot. A blooming flower is vastly preferred to either of the listed outcomes. PLEASE plant your bulbs so you can enjoy them this spring!

Connie M. sends us a close up of her potted tulips titled ?Stunning Princess!? She mentions that Princess Irene has to be her favorite tulip, partly because of its stunning color variations.

Click here to see more cool pictures of our Customer Gardens!