Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Yes, you can even recycle tulips

My husband and I visited the Garfield Park Conservatory last weekend. In checking out the Web site first to see what was out, I was surprised to learn that the parks department offers what I consider to be "tulip recycling," otherwise known as Keep What You Pull Day.

After the tulips have finished blooming, volunteers come in one morning to remove the bulbs and make way for the summer annuals. Tulips are first come, first serve. You only need to bring your garden supplies.

We received this e-mail yesterday from the gardens:
There is still no date for the upcoming Keep What You Pull Day. The
cooling trend this week in the weather will most likely extend the bloom time in
the gardens well into the first week of May.

Learn more about Keep What You Pull Day, and sign up for date notification here.

It's great that they offer "tulip recycling" but would be even better if they considered native perennials for the future. When visiting, there were rows and rows of untouched dirt - so much that I asked a staffer whether they were redoing the gardens this year. No, these are annuals. Perhaps in the future the parks department would consider a more longer-term approach to the gardens.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

E-mail today from the gardens:

"2008 Keep What You Pull Day: Tuesday, May 6th at 8:30am.

(Also, Primary Election Day in Indiana)

Gates into the Sunken Garden will open at 8:30 am. This event will go until all of the tulips have all been removed. In past years, all 10,000 tulips have been gone in an hour—other times it has lasted an entire day. My best recommendation is to come promptly at 8:30. Currently weather looks favorable for a great day in the garden, but this event will happen rain or shine or earthquake.

Remember you will need to bring your own tools for digging (shovels, trowels, gloves, kneepads, etc…) as well as your own method of tulip transit (crates, boxes, 5 gal buckets, heavy duty trash bags, kangaroo pouches, etc…).

We look forward to seeing you at the Sunken Garden for another great Keep What You Pull Day event."