What to Know
- Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge
- Some 30,000 tulip bulbs were planted by employees and volunteers in January
- The tulip bloom traditionally happens later in March, with the first tulip often appearing in late February; colder temperatures meant a "late start" this year
So many moving works of art play with the notion of flowers blooming in wintry weather — the song "Roses in Snow" by Emmylou Harris captures this poetic juxtaposition — but we rarely get to behold the sights of springtime framed by a frosty world.
That changed on March 7 when Descanso Gardens posted a photograph that local flower fans wait for each year: The first tulip of the season.
It's a flower that will soon be followed by 29,999 other tulips, give or take, when the weather warms and all of the planted-in-January bulbs begin to burst at the La Cañada Flintridge destination.
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Descanso devotees know to expect this seasonal snapshot in late February, at least using the past few years have been a guide. But the first tulip of 2023 appeared a week into March, which is really no surprise, given the colder temperatures of recent days.
How cold has it been? If you look beyond the bright orange blossom, which boasts vibrant yellow hues, too, you can see the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance, still flecked by frosty white from the incredible snowfall seen at the end of February and the first part of March.
"Tulips in the Near-ish Vicinity of Snow" seems like a song that's waiting to be written.
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The historical garden has been sharing quite a few photos of the snowy mountains in the background and flowers in the foreground in recent days, a reminder of how many of our region's remarkable ecosystems live side-by-side, or at least a short distance away from each other.
So when will all of those thousands and thousands of dazzling tulips reach peak bloom-a-tude?
Watching the garden's up-to-date social feeds is a good way to stay current on the colorful scene, but if you keep late March in mind, too, you're probably in the right arena.
Of course, while the mountains are frosted, the 2023 tulip bloom remains a bit of a guessing game.
Call it an especially poetic year, when snowflakes and flower power have woven together, making this particular March especially moody, a little dramatic, and a highly memorable meet-up between the forces of winter and spring.
