Tulips! Soon!

One Saturday morning in rural Nova Scotia I was going into a Church to make it ready for worship the next day. When I arrived, there was a woman in the yard tending the garden. She called me over and, pointing to a particular flower, asked me, “what kind of flower is this?”

Not wishing to appear ignorant, thus giving myself away, I inspected the flower rather closely and declared with certainty, “this is a purple flower!”

She looked at me with suspicion and began sharing what she knew about the flower in question, which included its common name and its scientific name, probably it’s genus to boot, ending with a flourish of other salient facts. To which I added, “and it’s purple.”

I know now that from the moment I pulled up to the Church that day I was being tested, and despite my best efforts, I failed. That’s why my default answer now to any question is, “I don’t know. What do you think?” Or, if the question regards some sort of flower, I simply say, “some kind of weird rhododendron.”

So, I admit that I can name about five different flowers, but beyond that I categorize them into colour and levels of stinkiness. Believe it or not, I worked for four summers in landscaping.

All this is to say that I am getting excited about this coming Spring—in part, for the warmth and the promise of beach-days, but also because of the flowers.

Yes flowers! Last October, all the members of the congregation, as well as several of our nation’s Anglican Bishops, were invited to plant tulip bulbs in the front garden to celebrate our 250th Anniversary! Several other areas of the property were planted too.

Soon, and I hope really soon, these tulip bulbs will break through the ground and show a colourful accent all around our property.

It’s officially called the “World Friendship Tulip” and is an international symbol of peace & friendship. Seems like a fitting flower to have blooming in this our 250th anniversary year.