What to Know
- Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge
- Around 30,000 tulips will bloom over the next few weeks along the garden's Promenade, with peak bloom expected in late March
- Included with admission
Something splendid in its singular form is a gift, but a plural of that pleasant thing?
We'll happily accept it in multiples, especially if the object in question is known for its rather marvelous qualities.
Consider the tulip, one of the spectacular symbols of Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge.
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We'll be enjoying tulips in pretty profusion later in March — about a month or so from now — but when it is February, and we're talking about Descanso Gardens, we're often discussing a single tulip.
For that's usually what is spied at the garden's Promenade area during the final week of February, give or take a few days: One lone tulip, the first of 30,000, making its showy stand before the rest of the flowers pop.
In past years, the garden team has trumpeted that single February tulip on social media, sharing photos of the party-of-one flower, a sign that spring is around the colorful corner. It's a lovely tradition and an uplifting one for nature mavens around Southern California.
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But 2024 is looking different, and, well, tons more tulip-y: That much-anticipated first tulip photo, which appeared on the floral landmark's social pages, actually showed several blossoms rather than just one.
Is this a sign of things soon to come?
Will the peak of all of these stately petals be on the earlier side? Or have these gray and rainy days worked wonders for these bulb-born beauties, making them rev up, as a group, well before February ends?
True, the bloom's peak is still a ways off, so March will still serve up the main tulip show.
But keeping an eye on the Descanso Gardens social pages for more tulip-based information is a wise move from this point on. Because when multiple flowers appear in the first photo of the season, and not just a lovely and lonesome specimen as in years gone by?
Our hopes are as high as a tulip is tall.
