Tulip Surprise

When the irrigation lines were put in last fall, a whole line of tulip bulbs along the garage wall were completely dug up. It had looked like this in past years:

I was well pleased with my design, since the low woody sumacs don't leaf out until after the tulips go by, allowing the bright gaudy show to be seen against the flat wall, but hiding the deteriorating tulip foliage later in spring when the sumacs filled in. I liked the color mix of the blooms. I liked the tidy linear row.

But collateral damage from the irrigation digging meant all were lost; no way the installers could have known dormant bulbs were there, and in any event both an electric line and a water pipe had to snake through the soil exactly where the bulbs had been.

I knew I'd have to replant or maybe redesign the area and that was fine, I had ideas for other plants there. But surprise:

This April all the tulips are reappearing, loudly shouting "we're still here!" "Don't replant anything!"

The rock that got replaced when the installers left is smothering some. There seem to be more tulips than I had planted, and they seem randomly bunched and redistributed. But they are there.

A few bulbs even got redistributed to other parts of the yard. This red pot is harboring some at its base and the pot is out away from the garage wall by several feet.

There they are, dug up and dumped with dirt that was shoveled and piled in places. The bulbs simply replanted themselves and carried on. And I see others coming up in a few odd spots far from the original line along the wall as well.

What a surprise. Now I'll wait to see what flower colors emerge together, jumbled up and replanted as they all are, far from my original careful mix of bloom types. That should be the next surprise.