The Yellow Tulips

My husband doesn’t care for tulips. I rather like them - especially when they are vibrant and last for a while. We used to get fresh cut flowers from the grocery store about every other week to put in the wall vase. But since we haven’t been to the grocery store in three months, the flowers have not been readily available. We order groceries from Giant Peapod, but they don’t offer flowers. Fresh Market and Wegmans do. So when I order from there I always ask for the little bouquet - but they never have it. So the last time we ordered from Fresh Market I requested a substitution for the bouquet. When the yellow tulips arrived I was thrilled just to have them. The buds were placed in the wall vase, the vase on the plant console table, and the single vase on the dining room table. They were green to begin with, and the next day the yellow flowers emerged. But rather than open, they sort of just stayed in the same position. The evidence of time passing showed as the flowers shriveled to paper thin, the green leaves became yellow and the tips of the leaves turned brown. I always try to mix the flowers with other greenery to make the arrangements more interesting and to fill the vase. It was a disappointing batch in that these tulips hardly lasted a week. Nevertheless it was a lovely attempt at getting back to a routine. Somehow plants and flowers are even better friends these days.