Farther Afield

 There were open tulip growing fields at Roozengaarde, but because the bulb crops have to be rotated to different fields every three or four years, this year the blooming fields were a far hike away. I was not up to it. 

We had arrived in the Skagit Valley early, well before our 11:00 entry time, so we had time to have coffee and drive around a bit. We knew we would be going to Christianson's Nursery later, but as we drove by it early, we saw that Roozengaarde had tulip fields open right across the road from the nursery this year. We could park next to the fields.

After lunch in Mount Vernon, we went to tiptoe through the tulip patch.

I was happy to see this old barn still standing. I has been a favorite backdrop for many tulip photos. 

Then we went plant shopping. We only get to Christianson's Nursery when we come to the Skagit Valley for the tulips, but it is a favorite of ours. 

Yep. We bought plants. We did have specific things we were looking for and were happy to find some of them here. We like to support independent nurseries. 

Then we left the valley and drove across the bridge to Fidalgo Island and south, across the bridge at Deception Pass and on to Whidbey Island, where after driving down island we finally arrived at our family cabin, home for the night.

The too warm weather was quickly baking the life out of our tulips here, but we still had plenty of color in our cabin garden. 

We've been back home now long enough to do more nursery shopping, collect the plants we want to add to pots and plantings, and have started working on our garden. It's cooler now, with a bit of rain, but we'll be spending time each day in the garden, planting and primping. 

It's time for spring gardening.