Although this column is usually about food and dining experiences, today's piece is about one of my favorite local farms. It offers fresh produce, meat, prepared food, baked goods and desserts — and gorgeous flowers grown in its own field, including colorful tulips.Tulips are spring flowers I cherish, especially when they're planted in color-coordinated beds of bright orange, yellow, pink, hot pink, red, purple and multi-color. I love seeing the gardens and fields where they're in bloom during mid- to late April...
Although this column is usually about food and dining experiences, today's piece is about one of my favorite local farms. It offers fresh produce, meat, prepared food, baked goods and desserts — and gorgeous flowers grown in its own field, including colorful tulips.
Tulips are spring flowers I cherish, especially when they're planted in color-coordinated beds of bright orange, yellow, pink, hot pink, red, purple and multi-color. I love seeing the gardens and fields where they're in bloom during mid- to late April and early May such as at the Boston Public Garden, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Wellesley and Wilson Farm in Lexington.
I live near Wilson Farm and drive by often, sometimes just to admire the tulips when they're blossoming in the field. When I learned you could buy tickets to “pick your own tulips” in this very field, I couldn’t wait. It would be a fun mother-daughter event, and on April 27, in drizzling rain, blowing wind and mushy, hay-covered mud, we literally tip-toed through the tulip beds, holding a basket and picking our favorites.
We even managed to pick some with the stem still attached to the bulb that grew it. Upon checking out, Wilson Farm employees removed leaves at the bottom of the stems and wrapped our tulips in a bouquet, cutting the bulbs off so we could take them home, store them in a cool, dry place in a paper bag and plant them in the winter. I put the bouquet my daughter and I picked in a vase — it's a cheerful centerpiece on my dining room table. I also put a penny in the water to keep the tulips perky (a trick I learned long ago, but can’t remember how I learned it. But it always works).
If you’re into Instagram or Facebook, well, the opportunities for fun photos and videos in this tulip field were endless. My daughter even got one of me picking a tulip that turned into a blooper as I lost my balance and fell backward into the mud. That video was not posted, by the way, so don’t bother looking for it. But if you need a good laugh, you can email me and I’ll gladly share it, [email protected].
Whenever I visit Wilson Farm, it always lifts my spirits. During the winter, I enjoy seeing the gingerbread houses and incredible poinsettias grown in its greenhouse. In the fall, I love seeing the Halloween decorations, mum plants and smelling the freshly made cider doughnuts. And in the summer, it’s all about the incredible blue hydrangea and tropical hibiscus, my two other favorite flowers.
During spring, Wilson Farm is my top choice for "tiptoeing through the tulips" and picking my own to bring home, rain or shine. I hope to make this an annual tradition with my daughters.
Hurry or the tulips will be gone until next year.
Joanna K. Tzouvelis is Wicked Local's food and dining reporter. To see more of her stories, visit www.wickedlocal.com/staff/5983054002/joanna-k-tzouvelis/.