Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

"Professor Baron Gijs van der Hotten ter Hunke, let's be wild and crazy and bring the tulips INDOORS!"
I spent my Mother's day being pampered by an adoring family.  All the usual things were there: Breakfast in bed (Not inedible at all.), coupon books from the kids (I made sure to cash in my 'One free hug' ones early), free-form poetry from the eight-year-old ("It was too hard to rhyme...so I didn't!") and flowers from the little Mijnheer.  He brought me some lovely tulips.  (Which, now that I think about it, is sort of an homage to The Great Betty and is more thoughtful than ever.)

Anyway, that got me thinking about tulips in The Canon.  Yes, there's an entire book titled Tulips For Augusta and sometimes there are Excursions of Pity/Mild Affection to the tulip fields.  But, when the lovely heroines are striking picturesque poses as Arranger of Stately Home Flowers, do we ever get tulips there?  I don't think so.

So, what's your favorite flower to get and do you have evidence that I'm dead wrong on the tulips thing?
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13 comments:

  1. Silly... 'MaMay 18, 2011 at 9:42 AM

    Tulips are my favorite flower - I love all the colors, I love their simple, clean lines, and, as a Calvinist, they are "our" flower. I have purchased "tulip ties" for a couple of my favorite Reformed pastors.

    As for The Canon, we rarely even see the tulip farms (have we at all?) we think of when we think of Holland. Hmmm...

    me<><

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  2. KeiraMay 18, 2011 at 2:21 PM

    There were a few times where there were excursions to the tulip farms--and the hero had to buy all the bulbs for next year's plantings...

    P.S. If Calvinists get tulips, what do Mormons get? The Sego lily? http://www.50states.com/flower/utah.htm

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  3. Silly... 'MaMay 18, 2011 at 2:54 PM

    Calvinists get tulips because of the acronym we use to remember the five "big" tenets of Calvinism: TULIP. :)

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  4. KeiraMay 18, 2011 at 3:22 PM

    Well now you have to tell me the five tenets...

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  5. Silly... 'MaMay 18, 2011 at 4:18 PM

    Total depravity
    Unconditional election
    Limited Atonement
    Irresistible Grace
    Perseverance of the Saints.

    Full of controversy for some, they are the music of rational, biblical theology to those of us who love them. :)

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  6. MagdalenMay 18, 2011 at 5:23 PM

    Total depravity? Time for a dictionary...

    Ah - in the sense of "original sin" perhaps?

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  7. MagdalenMay 18, 2011 at 5:27 PM

    Tulips aren't a perfect cut flower -- the stems are very thick and yet floppy.

    Keira's right -- there are a couple trips to the bulb farms. Isn't the queen spotted on one of those trips?

    The thing about arranging the flowers is that there's not much mention of which flowers are used at all. So it's not so much that The Great Betty slighted tulips as that "arranging flowers" was a stock (no pun intended) activity that needed no additional explanation or description.

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  8. Silly... 'MaMay 18, 2011 at 5:50 PM

    Yes, original sin - not just that we're all sinners, though, but that we all love sin by our sin natures, until something (the quickening of the Holy Spirit) happens to change that inclination. That pill can be hard for non-Calvinists to swallow.

    :)

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  9. Silly... 'MaMay 18, 2011 at 5:51 PM

    Oh, and I do remember those trips now that you mention them - and the Queen spotting. :)

    And yes, tulips aren't all that great for cutting, but they are so quintessentially SPRING! I love when our few tulips and the neighbors' plentiful ones come up.

    me<><

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  10. AnonymousMay 19, 2011 at 8:31 AM

    The florist I used reminded me the other day that the reason tulips are somewhat difficult to use in arrangements designed to last several days is tulip stems continue to grow after cutting, as much as 2 inches a day! I thought the wild shaping was because of uneven water usage, but, no, they flop around and rearrange themselves overnight because the stems are longer.

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  11. Not a Career GirlMay 19, 2011 at 1:21 PM

    I had tulips for my wedding bouquet, definitely a favourite. They were so beautiful and my Grandad put them on my Nan's memorial afterwards.

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  12. DebbieMay 19, 2011 at 2:55 PM

    Now I know why tulips are so floppy after a day or two! I usually buy daffodils in the spring - they aren't as beautiful and elegant as tulips, but they are cheerful and spring-like. Plus, they don't flop.

    I'm partial to roses myself. Dr. van der Stevejinck planted four new rose bushes for me this year...we'll see if our combined brown thumbs can get them to thrive.

    I also love lilacs, peonies, violets(some varieties), purple pansies, primroses, daisies, etc, etc, etc...

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  13. BettyMaryMay 19, 2011 at 5:25 PM

    Prof. Vue de Plane knows to get me pink roses. Long story but I was given a pink rose by someone else and it led to me marrying my PIE (poor irish engineer). Oh, pie, I'd love some.

    Outside flowers that I love: In Spring Grape hyancinths & Daffodils or Yellow Tulips under my mailbox. Blue Morning Glories & yellow day lillies in summer. GO IRISH!
    Lily of the valley and violets, Pink & White Poppies and Blue Delphinium in my front yard garden. Forscithia are starting to grow by the driveway. Wish I had lilacs, not sure why but I never planted any. And now it seems too late.

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