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[bluegrassmom]

Alright, I must explain myself. I love praticality. I love function. If something exists in this world for the sole purpose of being pretty...it's just not my cup of tea. No offense to anyone who loves their pretties mind you, I am just not one of those people. It's never hard for me to de-clutter or part with things because I almost never attatch any sentimentality to...things. People and animals, yes. But material things, eh not so much.

Present me with veggie seeds and I'm good to go. The things in life that make me happy are compost piles alive with worms and cast iron skillets. To tell you the truth, I could care less if a flower ever springs up in my yard - unless it has some sort of medicinal or culinary function. But to just sit there and look pretty? Oh my...

Enter my daughter. She is more in the "normal" range as far as likes as dislikes than her mom is. She definitley appreciates function and looks down on materialistic qualities. But, having pretty things around here in her home and yard is important to her. And God love her, she's got *me* for a mom.

So if left to my own devices, I would have all my veggies growing and leave the flowering beauties to the neighbors. But...I am not here left to my own devices. I have my family and my daughter really wanted some flowers planted. So I gave in. I purchased some tulip bulbs ~~ some ruffly feathered looking little things. I read the directions, planted them as directed in a half whiskey barrel.

Now comes my silly questions cause all my knowlege is geared towards veggies and I have *none* where these flowers are concerned. I stuck them in the whiskey barrel....last October I think...so they will bloom in Spring. But I ended up having more in there than I could fit so I still have these bulbs sitting in the pantry. I've got them in the bag they came in, in a basket and covered with a cloth. Will they keep till next Fall and maybe I can find a spot for them then? Or should I just go outside and stick them in the whiskey barrel with their friends? I seriously feel very weird for not knowing this, but the difference between planting a tomato and these little ruffled things is just emense to me.

[Cat]

How cold is it there? The bulbs need to be cold for at least 6 weeks to stimulate them to grow. And if it's too cold and they haven't had time to adjust, they'll just die.

You can put them in the refrigerator for 6 weeks in a plastic bag, and then bring them out and plant them in a pot to bloom indoors. It's called "forcing" them, and can be a lot of fun.

What would you like to do?