Stop! Tulip time! (And likely the longest update of the year!) 

Yes, I absolutely MC Hammer danced my way across The Garden this morning. I’m not sure there’s a better way to celebrate tulip week for Spring Blooms presented by Wild Birds Unlimited. 

I do owe you all an apology, though. I failed you by not portraying how “hot” some of the locations around campus truly were last week. I felt a little bit bad about it until I did my rounds this morning and realized last week was downright dull in comparison. The radio traffic among the garden staff was nearly non-stop chatter as we stumbled upon each other’s work that lit our souls on fire. Pure beacons of joy. 

If there’s only one spot you can get to this week, make it Garden for Everyone. GFE (as it’s known to our staff) is made extra magical because of its raised beds, allowing you to be completely immersed in vividly colored tulips. Bright red, clear purple, orange, yellow. It’s all there to burn your retinas and melt the seasonal depression away. Bright, crisp, and over-the-top full, Chad Franer, The Tom and Nora Hiatt Director of Horticulture, really knocked this bulb mixture out of the park. Once my heart stopped racing out of my chest I began to notice some subtler details in the blooms as well. A favorite of mine, Tulipa  ‘Prinses Irene’ has a cool orange bloom with purple-orange flames. It’s shorter than the rest of the tulips in that area and it absolutely makes the display for me.   

Beds in front of Lilly House. April 14, 2025. 

One of those aforementioned locations that I didn’t adequately celebrate last week was the front of Lilly House. It shifted from cool blue hyacinths and pale-yellow daffodils to a smoky lava-filled border, billowing steam. It’s absolutely divine—a joy to view up close, from the main road, or all the way from the back of Glick Fountain. The ‘Orange Balloon’ tulips catch your eye and hold your attention, but I’m convinced they’re only able to do so because of the maroon-purple foils throughout the bed. The ‘Caviar’ tulips and Persian fritillary are putting in WORK. It’s important to give the supporting roles the love they deserve. 

I would be remiss to miss an ode to our redbuds (Cercis canadensis ‘Appalachian Red’). If you join Senior Horticulturist Katie Booth on her tour Thursday at 3 PM, I’m sure she’ll school you on the many different varieties, shapes, and colors we have throughout The Garden. They create a glow that provides the most beautiful backdrop to the bold and complex seasonal plantings.

Grecian windflower (Anemone blanda) 

I stumbled across many swaths of Grecian windflower (Anemone blanda) in my adventures this morning. These tiny blooms are an otherworldly shade of blue that I have a tough time capturing with my camera. The light never feels quite right and the pixels on the computer don’t do them justice. I hope you spot these petite gems as well as the Virginia bluebells echoing a clear sky on a warm spring day across many shaded areas. 

I can’t leave out Curator of Herbaceous Plants and Seasonal Garden Design, Irvin Etienne’s gorgeous work that greets guests (or waves goodbye) out front. Along the flag poles an austere, black-tie affair seems to be strutting its stuff. My brain flits back and forth between imagining a gala of dancing tulip buds or being reminded of a fat, happy penguin. Let your imagination run wild. The ‘Appalachian Red’ redbuds are gracing us with their hot magenta presence. They make a stunning backdrop to the soft yellow and orange planting festooning Nonie’s Garden. And, of course, Sutphin Fountain is stuffed to the gills with color at the moment. Purple and yellow tulips float above a blanket of orange violas.

Containers near Woodstock Bridge.

I also want to remind y’all that finding the containers throughout The Garden is also a worthy venture. With over 100 embedded in the landscape, they capture perfect vignettes from the horticulturists’ creative imaginations. These are concentrated bites of the sprawling beauty around them. Plus, many have Bloom-struck dedications that are interesting to read. Some are sweet, others sorrowful. I’ve spotted haikus, song lyrics, and nursery rhymes all celebrating loved ones. Learn more about Bloom-struck here. 

Plantings near The Beer Garden. 

Finally, the feeling that struck me as I zipped through spaces saying a soft farewell to some of the daffodils and hyacinths was bittersweet gratitude for the element of Spring Blooms that has the most impact on me–its ephemeral nature. Every day I remind myself to enjoy The Garden for its beauty in this exact moment because in an hour the light will shift, and tomorrow those blooms that stopped me in my tracks to soak them in may be gone. This second in time will pass, preserved in a hazy mental image or an out of focus photograph, as I ogle at the shifting colors and textures that take center stage as the season marches on.   

Hopefully something within this long ramble sparked your interest enough to encourage you to take a walk through The Garden this week, if only even a brief one.  

Until Next Week, 

Jaime Frye